We have been working diligently this month in language arts. The fifth grade students are Reading The Sign of the Beaver. The fourth grade students are reading Island of the Blue Dolphins. We have been working on fact and opinion, compare and contrast, cause and effect, main idea and details. We have also been reviewing synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. We have been working with adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and prepositional phrases. The children will be sharing their book commercials the week of February 6.
Thank you to all of the parents who accompanied us to the Stephen Birch Aquarium a few weeks ago. We had a terrific time and did appreciate your help. Thank you for all of your support at home.

As we head into the middle of November, we continue to be busy in the classroom. During the next few days the students will be taking their  first trimester assessments in reading, writing, and math. The fifth graders are finishing up their afternoon units this Thursday, so the teachers will be collecting folders, books, or giving appropriate quizzes or tests.

The first book reports of the year were terrific on realistic fiction books. This week we will begin a biography project. The fifth graders will produce a children’s book to share with their first grade buddies, and fourth graders in Mrs. Larsen’s class will have a variety of projects to choose from this year.

Report cards will be coming home in early December.

We have been extremely busy in school the last few weeks . The children have done a great job of getting back to work and trying to do their best work in their classes. In language arts the fifth graders in my class are reading selections about “Nature’s Fury”. This correlates well with our science standards on weather. The fourth graders in Mrs. Larsen’s class have been reading selections from the theme entitled “Journeys”. We have been working on vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension skills. Some of the standards we are working on are: genres of literature, sequencing, mood, story structure and story mapping, cause and effect,predicting outcomes, author’s viewpoint, suspense, fact and opinion, flashback, text organization, kinds of sentences, and multiple meanings of words. This week we will be working on pronouns, conjunctions, and compound sentences.

Remind your child that he/she should be reading daily. A monthly book log is due at the end of every month as a portion of his/her reading grade.

Welcome back! We had a terrific day today. It was great to see some of my past students  and families as well as having the opportunity to meet and greet some new students and  their parents. We are looking forward to a year of learning and fun. We are ready for new challenges and adventures this year.  I will be keeping you informed on this website of what we are learning about as well as some important information about certain projects or assignments, deadlines, or special events.

It is official. We are in the last trimester of the school year, and we are extremely busy. The children have been engaged and involved in learning new concepts, as well as revisiting and reviewing some skills and standards from the past. In language arts, we have been working on character analysis, sequencing, chronological order, cause/effect, compare/contrast, author’s purpose, drawing conclusions, synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. In writing, we have been working on compound and complex sentences, as well as prepositions and prepositional phrases, quotation marks, and appositives. Those are just a few of the skills we have been working on lately. In addition, we are finishing research reports which are due the week of May 16-20.  For most of the students, they are really coming along very well.

The fourth and fifth graders will be doing our CST STAR TEST starting on May 9. The fourth graders have a Practice Test on Monday, May 9. All testing will be planned for the morning on testing days.  Please make sure that your child has had a good night’s rest, a healthy breakfast, and is ready to do his/her best.

When testing is completed, the fourth graders will be working on their Gold Rush musical with the teachers, as well as planning for Gold Rush Day.

The fifth grade students will be working on planning for Biztown and Colonial Days in June.

Keep in touch with your child by checking their agenda/planner regularly. This habit will set him/her up for success in the future.  Once again, thank you for your continued support at home.

We have been extremely busy at school the last few weeks. The fourth and fifth  students have been taking assessments in reading, writing, and math for the district benchmarks. Our fourth grade students also took the Star Writing Assessment for the state on March 1. They have worked so hard in their classes to show their growth and progress with grade level standards and skills.

We are working on novels right now. The fourth grade students are reading The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell, and the fifth grade students are reading The Sign of the Beaver.  While reading these novels we are working on main idea with supporting details, sequencing, making inferences, cause and effect, author’s viewpoint, compare and contrast,  and generalizations.

We have been writing summaries and responses to literature with biographies and autobiographies. We are looking to  correct run-on sentences and to create compound sentences. We are reviewing rules of capitalization and punctuation in complete sentences and quotations.  We have begun the process of research reports, which will be due in mid-May.

The fifth grade classes enjoyed their Walk Through The American Revolution Day in February, and their trip to The Birch Aquarium in March. The fourth grade classes are planning their field trips to the Midway and the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. We have  a two week vacation coming up in April and state testing in May.

Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that the winter holiday break is over. I hope that everyone enjoyed the two week vacation  with their families and friends. Now that we are back at school, we are hard at work. We are working to master the language arts, math, science, and social science standards we will need before testing at the end of the year.

We have a biography report project due on February 11. See the website for further directions and options on this project.

We are back! It was terrific to see so many happy smiling faces return to the classroom this morning. Everyone had so many exciting things to share and talk about.  Even though we enjoyed having a two week break with our friends and families, I think many of the children are happy to be back at Capri with their friends.

We are busy already. This week the students have spelling words to do, a fairy tale transformation due, and their October book logs should be turned in by Friday. Many of the children are already turning them in to me, as well as the forms for Capri Reads. Remember that 1,800 pages read will earn your child a gold medal.

The fourth grade students are working to complete their cursive writing books and the fifth grade students are continuing to study states on the map and states and capitals for their Friday quizzes. Congratulations to those students who have passed both of those tests so far.

Thank you to all of the parens who have volunteered to help us this year as room parents, art docents, and Capri Reads volunteers. I know many parents helped with our fourth grade science night before the break as well.
Once again, thank you for all of your support at home.

It is hard to believe that we have had four weeks of class already. The students have been so enthusiastic and eager to learn new things. They are working well independently and collaboratively. In  our language arts classes the fourth grade students are working on a theme called “Journeys”. The fifth grade students are working on a theme entitled “Nature’s Fury” which integrates well with our science standards.  We have discussed various genres of books. The children should be encouraged to read daily. They need to keep track of the books they have read on a monthly book log. Our first book log, combining August and September, will be due on October1. I am enjoying reading their newspaper projects, “Extra, Extra, Read All About Me” which were turned in and shared last Friday. We are also working on literary devices, such as alliteration, similes, hyperbole, and personification. We are trying to expand and enrich our vocabulary base and learning new rules about english grammar and usage. Writing is being done on a daily basis  in our classes.

In the afternoon, the fourth grade classes are studying California hisory and geography. The fifth grade classes are studying the Native Americans and Explorers of the Americas. They are working in science with Ms. Davis and Ms. Ambrose. Music classes have started. The students have a “Wheel 1/2 Day” this year, where they work in rotation with our consultants: Mrs. Pruitt for physical education, Mrs.Dolnik for music, and Ms. Davis for science.  The fourth grade does this on Wednesday afternoons, and the fifth grade does this on Thursday afternoons.

Conference Week is next week , September 20-24, so the students will be dismissed at 12:45 on those days for the conferences.

Thank you for your continued support at home.

School started on Monday. The children in our classes have been enthusiastic, happy, and eager to learn. We are still setting up routines and schedules for our fourth and fifth grade classes. We are planning some terrific challenges for everyone this year. Details will be coming soon about all of the exciting things and events we will be doing .