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Hello, 
I’m Mrs. Sharon Shute and this is my 17th year here at St. Joseph School! I am thrilled to be your child’s teacher this year and so excited to be leading them on their journey of wonder and wisdom. A bit of background about myself- I have been an early childhood educator for 36 years beginning as a preschool teacher in Chicago. My love of children grew and so did my education! I began teaching Montessori preschool and then went to school and earned an Early Childhood Degree from Kendall College (then in Evanston)with a minor in Psychology. I have been very fortunate to teach in two Catholic schools in Chicago before coming to St. Joe's. I have brought the spirit of my Chicago experiences to this vibrant, thriving, and flourishing school and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity of working at such a wonderful school. I have been nominated for The Golden Apple Award from my work here at St. Joe's and at St. Stanislaus in Chicago.
 
Though this is my 17th year at St. Joe's, I taught first grade for 14 of those years and now love teaching third grade. Lots of new things this year: Chromebooks, Media class with Mrs. Hoglund and Spanish class with Mrs. Leonhardt, and team building activities every Friday. So excited to journey into Third Grade with such caring and kind parents and students. Thank you for letting your child be a part of our school family. 
 
Please feel free to email me through the website or at [email protected]. Also, feel free to contact me regarding any questions or concerns that arise throughout the school year. 
 
This school year, our class will consist of: Reading, Spelling, Math, Language Arts, Religion, Social Studies, and Science. I will be teaching Social Studies to both 3rd grade classes. Mrs. D'Amore will be teaching Science to both classes. We switch classes twice a week. 
 
I feel so blessed to have been successful at piloting flex seating (with desks also) for the past 2 years in my third grade class. Looking forward to this year with half flex seating and half traditional. Thanks to a wonderful parent for donating some of our flex seating and making this new venture possible. 
 
I feel so honored and blessed to be a part of your child's journey this year! 
Most Sincerely,
Mrs. Sharon Shute
PS: Never expected but always welcomed- Amazon Wish List link below:
 
We are going peanut free in the classroom. Please read for snack: Thanks!

Our aim is to provide a safe learning environment for all people in our school Community. To support this, SJCS is designating your child’s classroom as “nut-free”. This policy aims to increase our community awareness in order to minimize the risk for children with documented allergies to nut products. Our school has developed and will maintain a whole-school action and implementation plan when dealing with students who have critically life-threatening allergies.  


WHY? Anaphylaxis is a severe form of allergic reaction which is potentially life-threatening. It can be fatal within minutes; either through swelling that shuts off airways or through a dramatic drop in blood pressure. There are many causative agents for anaphylaxis with nuts often being the precipitative factor.  Anaphylaxis is preventable.  Avoidance of specific triggers is by far the best option. Management is via immediate injection of epinephrine and emergency transport to the hospital. 


Allergy to peanuts appears to be on the rise in children. According to a FARE-funded study, the number of children in the U.S. with peanut allergy more than tripled between 1997 and 2008. Studies in the United Kingdom and Canada also showed a high prevalence of peanut allergy in school children.  

Based on recent studies, an estimated 25-40 percent of people who have peanut allergy are also allergic to tree nuts. In addition, peanuts and tree nuts often come into contact with one another during manufacturing and serving processes. For these reasons, allergists usually tell their patients with peanut allergy to avoid tree nuts as well.  


Trace amounts of peanut can cause an allergic reaction. Casual contact with peanuts, such as touching peanuts or peanut butter residue, is less likely to trigger a severe reaction. Casual contact becomes a concern if the area that comes into contact with peanuts then comes into contact with the eyes, nose or mouth (for example, a child with peanut allergy gets peanut butter on her fingers, and then rubs her eyes).  


What does this mean for me?  

  • Your child’s classroom will remain a “peanut/nut-free zone.”  Please do not send in any food items to be consumed in the classroom that contains peanuts, nuts, peanut butter, nut butters, or peanut products. 
    • This includes almonds, filberts, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nut, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts.
    • Read labels carefully to make sure the products are nut free.  
    • This includes labels that read “May contain traces of peanuts/nuts” or “processed in a facility that processes products that contain peanuts/nuts.”  Food labels and ingredients change over time, so always read the label each time before purchasing snacks. 
    • NO HOMEMADE TREATS MAY BE BROUGHT INTO THE CLASSROOM. All treats/snacks brought to the classroom must have an ingredient label.

  • A peanut free table will be designated in the lunch room for all students with peanut/nut allergies.  
  • Peanut butter and peanut/nut products may be packed in your child’s lunch, but CANNOT be eaten in the classroom, or at the peanut/nut free lunch table.  

Thank you for your continued support with keeping our students safe.

Mrs. Blake    

 

 




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Enter your text here...

TIME

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

7:30 – 7:34

Homeroom

Homeroom

Homeroom

Homeroom

Homeroom

7:35 – 8:15

Spanish

Math 

Math

PE

Prayers, Devotions, Intentions, Songs

8:17 – 8:57

Music

Math

8:30 Mass

Math Groups/ ELA

Math 

Spelling, Reading Tests

8:59 – 9:39

Math

9:20- 9:50- PE

Art

Math Groups/ ELA

ELA

9:41 – 10:21

Math Groups

Math/ Begin ELA

ELA

ELA/ Lit Circles

Lit Circles

10:23 – 11:03

ELA

ELA

ELA

SS Switch Classes

STEAM

11:05 – 11:45

Lunch Recess

Lunch Recess

Lunch -

Lunch Recess

Lunch Recess

11:47 – 12:27

ELA Lit Circles/ Workshop

11:37- Lit Circles/ Workshop

ELA Lit Circles/Workshop

Library/ Media

Social Studies- Mrs. D's Class

12:29 – 1:09

Library/ Media

12:19- ELA Lit. Circles/ Workshop

Lit Circles/ Workshop

ELA Lit Circles/ Workshop

Social Studies My Class

1:11 – 1:50

Religion-Gratitude Journal

Finish Lit Circles

Gratitude Journal/ SS My Class

Religion

Gratitude Journal

Religion

Gratitude Journal

Fun Friday Team Building Activities

Gratitude Journal

1:50 – 2:00

Dismissal

Dismissal

Dismissal

Dismissal

Dismissal
 

Posts

Week at a Glance: February 18-21, 2025

Week at a Glance: February 18-21, 2025

Highlights of the Week:

Reading: Continuation of Heroes

Writing: Prepare for Historical Fiction Stories

Spelling: Irregular Nouns

Math: Begin Chapter 9

Social Studies: Black History Month Continues

Religion: Celebrating Christmas


No School on Monday for Presidents Day-

Spelling Words: 

Wolves, knives, children, sheep, heroes, scarves, geese, calves, volcanoes, loaves-

Bonus spelling words: crises, cacti, vertebrae

Unit Vocab words: encourage, defeat, distinguish, achieve, command

Weekly Vocabulary Words:  triumphant, company challenge, twinkle, curious

High Frequency Words: ago, stood

Here is the link for Spelling City to practice spelling words

Students will practice spelling words through h/w and daily SeeSaw lessons


Reading: Unit 3 Week 5- Theme- Heroes- Weekly Question- What kind of actions can be heroic? People can be heroes in many ways, big and small.

  • Make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society.
  • Interact with sources in meaningful ways such as note taking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating.
  • Identity and analyze the heroic deeds of individuals, including military and first responders such as Four Chaplains.

Questions to guide discussions:

  • Which heroic actions surprised you the most?
  • What are the similarities between the four heroic actions described in this infographic?
  • What are the other small ways that you and your classmates can act heroically?

Objectives:

  • lIsten attentively, ask relevant questions to clarify information, and make pertinent comments.
  • Recognize and analyze genre specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
  • Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression.
  • Some types of poetry to be examined include: narrative poetry, free verse, concrete-
  • Parts of Speech reviewed: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs-
  • Identify, use, and explain the meaning of synonyms, homophones, idioms, antonyms, and homographs in a text.

Learning Goals:

  • I can learn more about themes concerning heroes and explain poetic elements in poetry.
  • I can develop knowledge about language to make connections between reading and writing.
  • Words to know to understand poetry: line breaks, stanzas, imagery, sound devices, figurative language.

**Daily Simple Solutions Grammar and Daily Oral Language packets to practice and enrich skills learned in grammar and phonics.

*IReady Reading Practice Lessons


Writing: Students will write daily in their February creative writing notebooks and follow the writing prompts in their February Journal. 

  • Daily Gratitude journals
  • Discussion of Historical Fiction stories students will write next week
  • Wednesday-Friday- Abolitionists study in small groups

Math: Chapter 9- Properties and Equations

Vocabulary Words: Associative Property of Multiplication, Distributive Property, equation, evaluate, expression, operations, variable, 

Mathematical  Practices:

  • Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  • Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
  • Look for and make use of structure.
  • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
  • Attend to precision.
  • Look for and make use of structure.
  • Model with mathematics

Monday- Lesson 1- Hands on: Take apart to multiply- Explore how to take apart factors to multiply. Students will explore how to take apart factors to multiply.

Tuesday- Lesson 2- The Distributive Property- Apply the Distributive Property of Multiplication to find products. Students will apply the Distributive Property of Multiplication to find products.

Wednesday- Lesson 3- Hands on: Multiply Three Factors- Explore how to find the product of 3 numbers. Students will explore how to find the product of three factors. 

Thursday- Lesson 4- The Associative Property--Apply the Associative Property of Multiplication to find products. Students will apply the Associative Property of Multiplication to find products.

  • Daily Simple Solutions Math Packet
  • Daily practice with IReady Math lessons

Social Studies:

Conclusion of Black History Month with presentations of February book reports and students will assemble in small groups to study abolitionists and create a biographical report on the person to present in class. Wednesday-Friday will be devoted to abolitionist studies.

Students will also learn more about Harriet Tubman and other civil rights leaders




Religion: Session 15- Celebrating Christmas

On Christmas, we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus, the Son of God, who came to us through Mary. The Christmas season begins with Mass on Christmas Eve and extends through the Feast of the Epiphany.

  • Explain how Joseph learned that Mary and her child were holy.
  • Describe how we celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas.
  • Describe how we celebrate Christmas at Church.
  • Explain that the name Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born, means “house of bread” in Hebrew.

Session Theme: Christmas is a time to celebrate as a Church the birth of Jesus.

-Daily songs, prayers, and devotions

-All School Mass Tuesday at 8:30- non buddy Mass

HW for 2/13/25
-- Math Lesson multiply by 11 and 12
-- Spelling practice for tomorrow's test
Tomorrow:
Vinnie's first birthday! 
Valentine's Party from 12:30-1:30- Can't wait!
- Practice songs for the Freedom Tea/ Learn more about Dr. King
Much Gratitude,
Sharon Shute

Homework for Tuesday, 2/11/25

Homework for Tuesday, 2/11/25
--Spelling traffic light h/w to practice spelling words for Friday's test
--Black History Month Report due 2/21
--Tomorrow is Food Pantry Collection- Any help would greatly be appreciated!
Tomorrow:
--Art class
My favorite day is Wednesday because I only lose the kids once for Art- so hopefully we can get lots done tomorrow with BHM, Dr. KIng, The One and Only Bob, etc...
 
Stay safe and warm!
With Much Gratitude,
Sharon Shute

Homework for Monday, 2/10/25

Homework for Monday, 2/10/25
--Only spelling h/w tonight- we completed math in class today- Kids can always work in IXL lessons and/or SeeSaw at home
Tomorrow:
--Gym, Library and Mass- busy day for our class
Friendly Reminder- Food Pantry is welcomed on Wednesday- Thanks for your participation in advance
Also: Black History Month Reports are due next Friday, 2/21- Thanks to all of you who've turned the reports in early.
 
Have a lovely evening,
With Much Gratitude,
Mrs. Sharon Shute

Week at a Glance: February 10-14, 2025

Week at a Glance: February 10-14, 2025

Highlights of the Week:

Reading: Why do people need heroes?

Spelling: Vowel digraphs

Writing: Written responses re: Dr. King

Math: Completion of Chapter 8

Social Studies: Black History Month

Religion: Ties in w/studies for Dr. King

February Book Report due Friday, 2/21


Other Highlights: Friday- Valentine’s Day Party* 

Friday- Meet up with our 6th grade buddies at 12:30

Food Pantry Collection on Wednesday this week- thanks!


Reading: Reading: Unit 3 Week 4; Weekly Question- Why do people need heroes?

Learning Goals:

  1. I can learn more about themes concerning heroes and analyze text structure in a biography.
  2. I can develop knowledge about language to make connections between reading fiction and writing.
  3. I can use elements of narrative text to write a historical fiction story.

Objectives:

  • Develop social communication such as conversing politely in all situations.
  • Identify and compare the heroic deeds of state and national heroes.
  • How do heroes distinguish between them? What are some ways heroes encourage each other?
  • Learn about Malala Yousafzai for someone who is brave and courageous here is a video about her life.
  • Recognize characteristics and structures of informational text.
  • Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meaning of words and phrases in context.
  • Using figurative language such as similes.

Phonics: Vowel teams for this week: oo, ew, ue, ui, eu-

Language of the Biography Genre vocabulary words: historical time, time order, facts, details, story elements

Vocabulary words: ceremonies, tradition, medicine, lamenting, offering-

Unit Vocabulary words: encourage, defeat, distinguish, achieve, command-

Spelling Words: balloon, choose, feud, newest, recruit, rescue, spooky, statue, suitable, threw-- bonus words: soothe, renewal, nuisance-



Writing:

  • Writing written responses connected with Dr. King for Freedom Tea
  • Friday- Typed response to question in assessment
  • Simple Solutions Grammar packet
  • Daily love notes to teachers to express gratitude and love
  • Hero thanks your to parents and teachers who participated in our hero project
  • Daily Oral Language Packet


Math: Chapter 8-Apply Division and Multiplication

  • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
  • Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  • Model with mathematics.
  • Use appropriate tools and strategically.
  • Attend to precision.
  • Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
  • Look for and make use of structure.
  • Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

Vocabulary Words: dividend, divisor, quotient

  •  Tuesday: Lesson 8- Divide by 11 and 12- Students will use different strategies,such as equal groups, repeated subtraction, and related facts, to divide by 11 and 12.
  • Wednesday- Review Chapter 8 skills/ lessons learned and practice fluency in multiplication/ problem solving and reflect on the chapter.
  • Thursday-  Chapter 8 Assessment
  • Daily IReady practice in math, mental math problems, IXL and IReady lessons
  • SeeSaw- Math activities related to multiplication and division
  • Simple Solutions Math Packet

Social Studies: Civil Rights Month

Goal: Students will read and discuss historical fiction and make connections between text and primary sources [photographs] that provide evidence of social conditions in the past. Students will follow guidelines from worksheets adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration. At the end of the unit, students will “blog” or make a written entry into a classroom writing folder where the question is: “What is worth standing up for?” Objectives: Students will be able to define primary sources, investigate evidence of past events through analysis of photographs and develop new vocabulary in context. Students will be able to make connections between primary sources and historical fiction text as they relate to the Civil Rights Movement. 

Book: Here- The Other Side by Jacqueine Woodson will be the basis for our discussion

Also, Dr. King will be introduced this week through stories, videos and songs.

Social Studies: Civil Rights Movement continued-

Continuing our Civil rights unit with discussions about Dr. King, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman- Through stories and songs, we look and learn about the consequences of segregation and inequalities. This week we’ll focus on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

 

Religion: Practice for the Freedom Tea

This week students will continue Black History Month discussions based on stories/ videos. Students will be sharing their views of what world peace would look like from their perspective and will share at the Freedom Tea next week.

  • All School Mass at 8:30 on Tuesday
  • Daily songs, prayers, and devotions

 

Homework for Monday, 2/3/25

Homework for Monday, 2/3/25
--No h/w today- 
--February book report went out today for both third grade classes. The reports are due on Friday, Feb. 21- The paper passed out today is the actual report. Please email me if you have any questions. This report is completed at home-
Students will present their reports beginning on Feb. 21. Thanks!
 
Tomorrow:
--Buddy Mass at 8:30
--Lots of Dr. King work along with Black History Month stories/ songs
--Lit Circles
--The One and Only Bob! We are 3/4 complete and enjoying reading about favorite pup- Bob!
--Library tomorrow- Please bring library books back
 
With Much Gratitude,
Mrs. Sharon Shute

Week at a Glance: February 3-5, 2025

Week at a Glance: February 305, 2025

Highlights of the Week:

Reading: Figurative Language Review

No Spelling words this week-

Writing- Love notes to teachers

Math- Continue Chapter 8 Continuation

Social Studies- Black History Month begins

Religion- All School Buddy Mass 8:30 Tuesday


Also: Art in the Box: Tuesday 12:45-1:30


Reading/Writing/Social Studies: I will take these three days to review figurative language with the class.

  • IReady Lessons in reading
  • Black History Month
    • Read stories about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and students learn the live of this civil rights activist, along with other leaders: Harriet Tubman, Ruby Bridges, Sojourner Truth-
    • Students will be reading short stories about Dr. King to familiarize students with his life.
    • Students will be sharing their thoughts, opinions and facts about Dr. King.
  • Figurative Language will be reviewed and practiced to help students differentiate between figurative language types.

Math: Continuation of Chapter 8 Multiplication and Division Strategies:

  • Lesson 5- Multiply by 9: Students will use known facts to help solve problems with multiplication by 9
  • Lesson 6- Divide by 8 and 9; Solve real world problems
  • IReady math lessons
  • IXL activities
  • SeeSaw activities for additional help with multiplication and division.
  • Multiplication and Division fluency quizzes

Religion: 

  • 8:30 All School Mass at 8;30- Buddy Mass
  • Learn the songs for the Freedom Tea and find the connection to the Church.
  • Daily prayers, songs, and devotions

Writing:

  • Daily love notes to teachers to express gratitude and love
  • Hero thanks your to parents and teachers who participated in our hero project
  • Gratitude journal entries
  • Figurative language packet entries

Homework for Thursday, 1/30/25

Homework for Thursday, 1/30/25
--Math Lesson 4 Multiply by 8
--Spelling Sentences to prepare for tomorrow's spelling test
Tomorrow:
--Spelling and Reading Test
--Noodle Jar Party! Watching The Wild Robot and enjoying Skinny Pop! Way to go, everyone!
-STEAM-
--Afternoon: Mayor Johnson will visit us in regards to the letters we wrote to her about park safety. We'll think of some neat questions to ask her.
--Pep Rally at 12:30 for Student's Day
 
With Much Gratitude,
Sharon Shute

Homework for Tuesday, 1/28/25

Homework for Tuesday, 1/28/25
--Spelling Synonyms- Kids can use Chromebooks to look up spelling word synonyms.
--Math Lesson 2- Multiply by 7
 
Today:
--We did get to mentor our second grade friends for their gym class.
--We read Little House on the Prairie and House on Silver Lakes.
--The class created thank you cards for the LA firefighters and will mailed today!
--Students checked out books at the library.
Tomorrow:
--Hopefully, The One and Only Bob reading-
-- Working on our Little House on the Prairie packet for reading.
--Art class
 
Have a wonderful evening!
With Much Gratitude,
Sharon Shute

Homework for Monday, 1/28/25

Homework for Monday, 1/28/25
--Math Lesson 1 Chapter 8- Multiply by 6
--Spelling homework- Suffixes
Tomorrow:
--Gym and Library
--Crossing fingers we get back to The One and Only Bob
--Buddy Mass
--Also, writing letters to the firefighters in L.A.
Thanks so much for all your donations today for the dress down. Our school raised over $500 for the wildfires in LA.
 
Have a lovely day!
With Much Gratitude,
Sharon Shute

Week at a Glance: January 7-10, 2025

Happy New Year Everyone!

Week at a Glance: January 9-10, 2025

Highlights of the Week:

Reading: Make a scrapbook

Writing: Research and type a Google Doc (informational non-fiction)

Math: Begin Chapter 7 in Math book

Social Studies: Compare and contrast geography of different regions

Religion: The Church Prays


Spelling- Spelling words are a review of some of this unit’s spelling words:

I’ve, let’s, can’t, include, mistake, reptile, popcorn, moonlight, outside, morning, explore, finish, minus-- no bonus words this week-


Language Arts: Review of the following lessons:

This week, students will research plant and animal relationships and create a scrapbook about a plant and animal relationship.

Lesson 1- Compare across texts- Answer the essential question:

  • Introduce inquiry project
  • Read Relationships in Nature 
  • Generate questions about the topic
  • Apply academic vocabulary

Lesson 2:- Explore and Plan--

  • Informational Writing
  • Read Coral Reefs: Living Environments
  • Develop a topic
    • Conduct research- use a library database 
    • Gather information on research topic

Lesson 3 Collaborate and Discuss--

  • Read a student model
  • Identify features of informational texts
  • Refine research:
    • Cite sources
    • Read Why We Need Plants
    • Apply citing sources to article

Lesson 4 Extend Research--

  • Investigate a variety of visuals and media
  • Incorporate media into a scrapbook
    • Collaborate and discuss
    • Revise, edit, and clarify
    • Peer review scrapbooks

Lesson 5- Celebrate and Reflect--

  • Share  your scrapbooks
  • Reflect on project--Reflect on Unit
    • Reflect on goals
    • Reflect on reading
    • Reflect on writing
  • Assessment on Unit 3.2
  • Daily writing in Simple Solutions Grammar packet

Writing:

  • Daily Writing in Daily Oral Language packet
  • Daily writing in January creative writing journal
  • Daily writing in notebook with January prompts
  • Daily writing in Gratitude journal

Students will research, with a partner and type on a Google Doc, a plant/ animal relationship in the rainforest. This is a short week so we’ll do some quick searches on Google


Math: Chapter 7- Multiplication and Division-

Vocabulary words to know: Commutative Property, decompose, Identity Property of Multiplication, Zero Property of Multiplication, dividend, divisor, inverse operations, quotient,

Mathematical Practices:

  1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
  2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  3. Model with mathematics.
  4. Attend to precision.
  5. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
  6. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
  7. Use appropriate tools strategically.
  8. Look for and make use of structure.

Tuesday- Lesson 1- Multiply by 3; Use different strategies, such as arrays, equal groups, and properties, to multiply by 3.

Wednesday- Lesson 2- Divide by 3; Use different strategies, including related multiplication facts, to divide by 3.

Thursday- Lesson 3- Hand on: Double a Known Fact; Explore how to double a known fact in order to multiply.

  • Daily practice with SeeSaw math activities and IReady lessons
  • Math Prodigy lessons and Kahoot math games
  • Daily work in Simple Solutions Math

Religion: Unit 3 Session 13- The Church Prays

Session Theme- The liturgy, with the Eurchrist at its center, is the Church’s prayer that nourishes our faith.

Outcomes:

    • Describe how Jesus teaches us to pray.
    • Explain how Jesus is present in the Mass and the sacraments.
    • Identify sacramentals as blessed objects that help us pray.
    • Tell the story of Jesus healing the Roman officer’s servant.
    • Define blessing, crucifix, rosary, and sacramental.
  • Vocabulary words: faith, present, blessing, Eucharist sacrament, grace-

All School Tuesday Mass at 8:30

Daily prayers, songs, and devotions


Social Studies:

Essential Question

How does geography affect our community?

Overview

Create a brochure about the geography of your community. Play a matching game to find out how people in different communities adapt to geography.

Objectives Social Studies 

  • Identify and describe the physical features, climate, and natural resources of various geographic areas, including the local community. 
  • Compare and contrast different regions in terms of their geographic characteristics. 
  • Use map tools: scale, grid, key (legend), symbols, title, and compass rose.

Language Arts 

  • Orally present solutions to environmental problems in response to ideas offered by others. (speaking, listening) 
  • Organize information in chart form. (writing) 
  • Identify examples of categories found in text. (reading) 
  • Write and illustrate descriptions of geographic locations. (writing)

Preview 

  • Describe different land features and how diverse different communities can be. 
  • Hands-On Activity: Exploring Geography and Our Community 
  • Create a brochure about the geography of your community.
  •  Hands-On Activity: Exploring Other Communities 
  • Play a matching game to find out how people in different communities adapt to geography.
  •  Show What You Know 
  • Describe how you and your family have adapted to your community’s geography. 
  • Assessment 
  • Complete the Unit Inquiry supporting question that corresponds to the lesson, play the lesson game, and create an assessment using TCI questions or your own in the test builder. 

Week at a Glance: January 27-31, 2025

Highlights of the Week: Catholic Schools Week!

Reading: Historical Fiction: Little House on the Prairie

Spelling: Words with suffixes

Math: Begin Chapter 8 Apply Multiplication and Division

Social Studies: Begin Black History Month

Religion: A look at Dr. King’s life and Dream

Writing: Students will be writing about Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders to prepare for our annual Freedom Tea on 2/28- More information to come!


Spelling: readiness, cloudy, stormy, peaceful, eagerness, illness, freshness, happiness, graceful, frightful, bonus words- plentiful, billowy, fierceness

Academic Vocabulary: horribly, furious, insisted, terribly, disturbed

Unit Vocabulary Words: encourage, defeat, distinguish, achieve, command

High Frequency Words: nothing, scientists


Reading: Focus on American Heroes- Weekly Question- How do challenges turn ordinary people into heroes? See objectives below-

  • Make inferences and use evidence to support understanding.
  • Interact with sources in meaningful ways such as note taking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating.
  • Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information  presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
  • Establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts.
  • Recognize and analyze genre- specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
  • Compare and contrast the themes, settings, plots of stories written by the same author about the same characters (e.g.,in books from a series)
  • Identify a hyperbole and explain the use of-
  • Demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by decoding words using knowledge of suffixes, including how they can change base words such as dropping -e, changing -y to -i, and doubling final consonants. 

Learning goals-

  • I can learn more about historical fiction and infer themes in historical fiction texts.
  • I can develop knowledge about language to make connections between reading and writing historical fiction.

Writing:

  • Daily entries in Reading book
  • Daily entries in Gratitude Notebook
  • Simple Solutions Grammar book and Daily Oral Language Packet

Math: Beginning Chapter 8-Apply Multiplication and Division

Vocabulary words: decompose, Commutative Properties, repeated subtraction

Mathematical Practices:

  • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
  • Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  • Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
  • Attend to precision.
  • Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
  • Model with mathematics
  • Use appropriate tools strategically.

Monday- Fluency Test on Multiplication and Division/ IReady Math Lessons

Tuesday-  Lesson 1- Multiply by 6- Use different strategies, including doubling a known fact, to multiply by 6.

Wednesday- Lesson 2-  Multiply by 7- Use different strategies, such as properties, arrays, and composing factors, to multiply by 7.

Thursday- Lesson 3- Divide by 6 and 7- Use different strategies, including arrays and repeated subtraction, to divide by 6 and 7.

  • Daily mental math practice with IReady math lessons
  • Daily Simple Solutions math lessons M-F

Social Studies: Introduction of the life and legacy of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement-

Religion and Social Studies: Civil Rights Month

Goal: Students will read and discuss historical fiction and make connections between text and primary sources [photographs] that provide evidence of social conditions in the past. Students will follow guidelines from worksheets adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration. At the end of the unit, students will “blog” or make a written entry into a classroom writing folder where the question is: “What is worth standing up for?” Objectives: Students will be able to define primary sources, investigate evidence of past events through analysis of photographs and develop new vocabulary in context. Students will be able to make connections between primary sources and historical fiction text as they relate to the Civil Rights Movement. 

Book: Here- The Other Side by Jacqueine Woodson will be the basis for our discussion

Also, Dr. King will be introduced this week through stories, videos and songs.

  • This week we’ll introduce the following books:
    • Who Was Harriet Tubman? Bu: Yona Zeldis McDonough
    • What Was the Civil Rights Movement?   “
    • What was the Underground Railroad?   “
  • Through discussion, videos, songs, and books we will discuss the Civil Rights Movement and the leaders/ heroes that changed American history.
  • Students will be learning Dr. King’s I Had a Dream speech and will be learning songs related to Dr. King and The Civil Rights movement

Homework for Thursday, 1/23/25

Homework for Thursday, 1/23/25
--Spelling Sentences h/w
--Math fluency sheet
--Parent's Heroes h/w sheet 
Tomorrow:
--Reading, Spelling, and Religion tests
--Social Studies/ Science
--Cleaning the room for Open House
--STEAM
--More Hero discussion...we have big things up our sleeves!
 
With Much Gratitude,
Sharon Shute
 
 
 
 

Homework for Monday, 1/21/25

Homework for Monday, 1/21/25
--Only spelling homework tonight- We completed math h/w in class-
Tomorrow:
--Mrs. Sidlowski will kindly take the students who have not completed math IReady to help them along.
--Art Class
-- Back to completion of symbiotic relationships on Slideshow
--Back to The One and Only Bob
 
Stay toasty warm and thanks for all you do!
With Gratitude,
Mrs. Sharon Shute

Week at a Glance: January 21-24, 2025

Week at a Glance: January 21-24, 2025

Highlights of the Week:

Reading: Another historical fiction story

Math: Chapter 7 Assessment Multiplication and Division

Spelling: Abbreviations

Writing- Begin writing about Dr. King

Religion- Mother Mary

Social Studies: Begin Civil Rights Unit for Black History Month


Other highlights this week:

  • Tuesday- Students go to the Book Fair to get a sneak peak and fill out wish lists
  • Tuesday- All school Mass with buddies
  • Friday- Afternoon prayer in the gym and Begin creating Black History Month signs
  • *No Media or Library this week due to the Book Fair

Spelling: Spelling words for this week:

A.M., ASAP, Blvdl, etc, no, P.M., P.S., Rd., vs., wt. Challenge words: dept., hrs., FYI

Develop Vocabulary words: figured, complain, patience, temper, remembered

Key Vocabulary words: humble, quietly, unshaken, rustle- 

Unit Academic Vocabulary: encourage, defeat, distinguish, achieve, command

High Frequency Words- building, ocean

Reading: Unit 3 Week2 Heroes-

Weekly Question- How can a hero’s actions affect others?

Learning Goals:

  1. I can learn more about historical fiction and analyze plot and setting in historical fiction.
  2. I can develop knowledge about language to make connections between reading fiction and writing historical fiction.
  3. I can use elements of narrative text to write a historical fiction story.

Goals of the week:

  1. Listen attentively, ask relevant questions to clarify information, and make pertinent comments.
  2. Identify, use, and explain the meaning of antonyms, idioms, homophones, and homographs in a text.
  3. Make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society.
  4. Read on-level text with a purpose and understanding. 
  5. Make inferences and use evidence to support understanding
  6. Evaluate details read to determine key ideas.
  7. Synthesize information to create new understanding
  8. Explain the author’s purpose and message within a text.
  9. Demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by decoding compound words, contrats, and abbreviations.
  10. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Writing:

  • Morning Work: Daily Oral Language Packet
  • Simple Solutions Grammar lessons Tuesday- Friday
  • Writing portion of the Reading test on Friday

Whole Group Reading M-Thursday- The One and Only Bob


Math: Chapter 7-Division and Multiplication

Vocabulary words for this week: decompose, known fact, equal groups, Zero Property of Multiplication, Identity Property of Multiplication, dividend, divisor

Mathematical Practices:

  • Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  • Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
  • Model with mathematics
  • Use appropriate tools strategically.
  • Attend to precision.
  • Look for and make use of structure.
  • Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
  • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Math vocabulary: dividend, divisor, zero property of multiplication, identity property of multiplication

Tuesday- Lesson 7- Review Chapter 7 lessons and practice fluency with multiplication and division problems.

Wednesday- Lesson 8- Students will use division rules to divide  with 0 and 1.

Thursday- Review for Chapter 7 Assessment: Multiplication and Division

  • H/W will include a practice test-

Friday- Chapter 7 Math Assessment

*** Daily work with IReady Math and Math SeeSaw activities

***Simple Solutions Math Lessons T-F


Social Studies: Civil Rights Month

Goal: Students will read and discuss historical fiction and make connections between text and primary sources [photographs] that provide evidence of social conditions in the past. Students will follow guidelines from worksheets adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration. At the end of the unit, students will “blog” or make a written entry into a classroom writing folder where the question is: “What is worth standing up for?” Objectives: Students will be able to define primary sources, investigate evidence of past events through analysis of photographs and develop new vocabulary in context. Students will be able to make connections between primary sources and historical fiction text as they relate to the Civil Rights Movement. 

Book: Here- The Other Side by Jacqueine Woodson will be the basis for our discussion

Also, Dr. King will be introduced this week through stories, videos and songs.


Religion: Session 14- Mary is Holy- Unit 3-The Church, The Community in the Spirit-

Session Theme: Mary is our model and teacher of faith and love.

The Church is united before God in the Communion of Saints, Mary, the mother of Jesus and the Mother of the Church, is our model. Through her life she shows us how to believe and how to love. When praying the Rosary, we remember the principal events in the lives of Jesus and Mary. 

Outcomes:

  • Describe how Mary responded to the shepherd’s news.
  • Identify Mary as the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church.
  • Describe the Rosary as a way of honoring Mary.
  • Discuss the prayer of the Magnificat
  • Define: Annunciation, Communion of Saints, Rosary, and Visitation

Daily prayer, devotions, and song-

Tuesday- All School Mass with buddies at 8:30