Room 5 students working hard on the California Star Test.

CST, or California Star Test
The California Star tests will finish for most students by the end of this week.  So far students have been focused and doing well.  As I mentioned last week, make sure your students get plenty of sleep each evening and a good breakfast every morning.  Your students have definitely been prepared and ready, I've been seeing their efforts and knowledge come through on the exam.

Look for math homework to be pretty light again this week, with no homework assigned on some days.

Writing Journal
This week I want your students to complete only two entries.  I will send home the two assignments with your students today.  One will be another question about the Cinderella stories we are reading in class.  The second assignment will be a brief study of commas and quotation marks.

Important Upcoming Dates
May 23 - Wednesday - Open House
May 28 - Monday - No School, Memorial Day

Curriculum Overview

Literacy - Examine how cultural values are reflected in fiction.  Read different retellings of the story of Cinderella.  Compare their similarities and differences.

Math - Division, Review

Writing - Writing about the Cinderella stories we are reading.  Our writing may include the conflicts driving the stories and the feeling the characters have at different points in the books.

Language Conventions and Word Study - Commas, Prefixes, Other Review

In-Class Art - A Study of Vincent Van Gogh

California Star Testing This Week

Last week we pulled baby carrots out of our garden to make more room for the main crop to grow.

CST, or California Star Test
The California Star tests starts this week.  As I mentioned last week, make sure your students get plenty of sleep each evening and a good breakfast every morning.  Your students are definitely prepared and ready, I've been very impressed in our review sessions.

I will continue to give homework this week but I will make sure it is on the light side.  If you need to skip the homework in order to get your student to bed early, please do.

Writing Journal
I still have the journals with me now, I will send them home tomorrow.  This week I want your students to complete only two entries.  For one of the entries I will send home a question about the Cinderella stories we are reading in class.

Art, Music
To accommodate testing, art and music lessons with Mrs. Yzaguirre and Mrs. Tang have been moved to Thursday afternoons for the next two weeks.

Curriculum Overview

Literacy - Examine how cultural values are reflected in fiction.  Read different retellings of the story of Cinderella.  Compare their similarities and differences.

Math - Division, Review

Writing - Writing about the Cinderella stories we are reading.  Our writing may include the conflicts driving the stories and the feeling the characters have at different points in the books.

Language Conventions and Word Study - Plurals, Suffixes, Review

In-Class Art - A Study of Vincent Van Gogh

California Star Testing Begins Next Week

Using arrays like these is one way to understand multiplication problems.

CST Testing
CST testing will begin next week on Tuesday, April 24th.  The test has six sections and will be administered over two weeks, but only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

I will send home some more sample questions this week.  If you are interested in more information and question types you can visit: http://www.starsamplequestions.org/

Writing JournalBecause of the extra sample test questions and exercises I am sending home I only expect your students to do one journal entry this week. 

School Pictures
Don't forget that Spring pictures are scheduled to be taken tomorrow.


Curriculum Overview

Literacy - As a class, writing a non-fiction report on blue whales. Organizing our collected notes into paragraphs of similar information with clear topic sentences.  Adding to and editing our initial writing.  Creating a Bibliography.

Math - Multiplication and Division, Review

Writing - Individually writing a non-fiction report on a wild animal. Organizing our notes into paragraphs of similar information with clear topic sentences.

Language Conventions and Word Study - Plurals, Suffixes, Review

In-Class Art - A Study of Vincent Van Gogh

Welcome Back

I mentioned that last Wednesday was Science Discovery Day.  Students had the opportunity to learn about all sorts of science topics.
In this photo a scientist from UCSD explains how embryos are formed.

Welcome back to TPES, I hope you had a great Spring Vacation.  From talking with students it sounds like you all did a wide variety of things during the break.  My wife and I spent most of the week in the Caribbean on Turks and Caicos Islands. 

Important Upcoming Dates
Tuesday, April 17th - Spring School Picture Day
Friday, April 27th - TPES Gala Fundraiser at 6PM

Writing Homework
This week continue working on the non-fiction animal research project that was started during the last school week.  I expect students to complete only one or two sections this week as I will be sending home other literacy work.

Guidewords
One of the areas students will be tested on in May is how to use a dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and atlas.  We have spent time in class studying the structure and features of these reference books.  One aspect that we have covered, but that is somewhat difficult, is the guidewords that appear at the top of every dictionary page and sometimes in an encyclopedia as well.  We are covering them again this week.  Please take a minute to look through a dictionary with your students, I will also send home some practice on this esoteric skill tomorrow.

Curriculum Overview

Literacy - As a class, writing a non-fiction report on blue whales. Organizing our collected notes into paragraphs of similar information with clear topic sentences.  Adding to and editing our initial writing.  Creating a Bibliography.

Math - Multiplication and Division

Writing - Individually writing a non-fiction report on a wild animal. Organizing our notes into paragraphs of similar information with clear topic sentences.

Language Conventions and Word Study - guidewords, plurals, review of vowel sounds.

In-Class Art - A study of Vincent Van Gogh