Miss Coulter's Comments...

¡Hola!

2008-11-16T08:05:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I've updated my blog and a lot has happened! I am now living in Madrid, Spain and teaching at the American School of Madrid!

Find España on the map on the left. It is right next to Portugal and France!

Now look to see where Madrid is located in Spain. It is in the center of the country, which is convenient since it is the capital!

Madrid is a beautiful city. Just look at some of the pictures below to get the feel of the old European streets, many of them one-way and cobblestoned. Compare this then to streets in the United States and think about when the car was invented and what impact that had on city planning...

The picture of the archway is from Plaza Mayor (the grand plaza in the middle of the city). I pass through that arch on my walk home!

Madrid is also home to the Museo del Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, two of the best art museums in the world.

I look forward to updating this site with news from Spain...at least once a month! :) I miss Falls Church and hope you are all doing well!

¡Hasta luego!

Love,
Señorita Coulter

2008-02-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

What's Happening in Class? 2/4-2/8

Language Arts: I introduced a few new (and exciting) writing initiatives this week! Students started “speed writing” where I give them a single word and then time them for one minute. They are to write as much as they can about the word given. The goal of this exercise is to energize students to write and help them practice and improve their brainstorming skills by getting their ideas onto paper. This is not an exercise in editing or revision. That comes later when students choose one speed write to elaborate on and eventually publish. Students also started journaling this week and will be using the journal for personal writing, whether it be responding to a prompt on the board, writing a story, or explaining what they did over the weekend. The Wednesday Night Write of the week had the students break down a prompt into three main ideas and then provide detail to support each. Their drafts are due Monday. In class they will revise (make it better) and edit their work. Final drafts are then due Wednesday.

In reading, we’ve been comparing books written by Doreen Rappaport, an award-winning author who happens to be coming to our school next week! We are analyzing her writing style by looking at multiple examples of her work.

Social Studies: This week, in addition to reviewing for the test students took yesterday (Atlantic) and today (Pacific), we finished our discussion about slavery in the colonies. Rappaport’s books fit in perfectly this week since she tends to writes about history and has a number of books that discuss slavery.

2008-02-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

What's Happening in Class? 1/28-2/1

Language Arts: Moving into the third quarter, we continue to scaffold expectations for students. Language arts this quarter will focus on writing a paragraph and three-to-five paragraph essay with good elaboration as we prepare for our Writing SOL in March. We will be breaking down a variety of prompts to practice and will be moving through the writing process as we go.

Friday I retested the students in Word Study and will evaluate their needs in order to place them in the appropriate Word Study level starting Monday.

Social Studies: After studying Jamestown, Roanoke, Plymouth, Williamsburg, and the three colonial regions, the students are almost at the end of our unit. Our last section is slavery. The students learned about dilemmas presented to West African leaders, slaves during the Middle Passage, and slaves in the Americas. For a more complete look at slavery, we compared numbers and found that British North America was fifth in number of imported slaves. In total, over 11 million slaves were brought into the Americas. In British North America there were many different ways slaves dealt with their hardships. Some ran away, some resisted by working slowly or breaking tools, and some worked hard in hopes of positive consequences. As we move on to the American Revolution, we will be looking at various perspectives, including those of the slave and freed African American, as well as learning about the events leading to the revolution. *Our next social studies test will be on our colonial unit and will be next week. Atlantic on Thursday and Pacific on Friday. I will be holding a review session Tuesday after school.*

2008-02-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

What's Happening in Class? 1/7-1/11

Language Arts: “Because she was late, she had to schneble to get there.” What word could fit in place of schneble?? Students have been practicing their reading strategies this week, focusing on using context clues. As students’ reading levels improve, students will be introduced to new vocabulary in more advanced books. Having strategies already in place will help them decipher the tough words. This week, we worked on skipping the tough word and substituting a synonym that could fit. We also looked at the surrounding details for clues. Next we’ll be studying a variety of Greek and Latin root words to build students’ vocabulary and deciphering skills. Students just took the SRI test again this week and received their new lexile levels. Next week they will bring home book lists tailored to their lexile level and interest. They should continue to read books that challenge their vocabulary!

Social Studies: Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth were the first three English settlements in the New World. This week the students compared the three and identified their motivations, obstacles, and strategies, looking then to see why two succeeded and one failed. Explorer tests are coming home today. Students need to do corrections (on actual test in a different color) and then return them to school with your signature!

2008-02-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Week of January 1-4, 2008

Language Arts: This week we added to our pre-reading strategy toolbox and reviewed how to make connections! There are three “big” questions to ask when making connections: How does this relate to my life? (text-self) How does this relate to something I’ve read, heard, or seen? (text-text) How does this relate to the world around me? (text-world) The students then made connections to a variety of books, both fiction and non-fiction. With their non-fictions books, they used the pre-reading preview/predict/connect strategy to warm-up their brains for reading. Then, after reading the book, the students have started answering an interpretive question, like “Why is this topic important?”, and are writing their answers in paragraph form.

Social Studies: As a conclusion to our exploration unit, we talked about the main impacts of cultural contact and were able to apply historical examples. In addition, the students then brought up current examples of cultural contact and conflict. We encourage students to start becoming more aware of the world around them by watching and reading the news more often. Our next unit is colonization and our first mystery is the lost colony of Roanoke.

2007-12-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

What's Happening in Class? 12/3-12/7

Rafa! Rafa!
Today students took part in a cultural simulation that divided the classes into two different cultures. One, the Alpha culture, believed in luck and that luck came from games and other people. They also respected their “Olders.” The Beta culture believed in hard work and traded for money. The most successful Beta was the most respected. Betas also did not like getting too close to others in their community.

As the students interacted, they made observations about the other culture and were able to participate in the other culture’s community. After the simulation, the students debriefed each other and discussed any misperceptions and evaluations that were made. Then students were asked to make connections to real-life and were able to apply it to our unit on explorers (and their contact with Native Americans). We will continue to use this experience to discuss current events and cultural interactions.

Language Arts: Grammar!! Your students have worked very hard this week dissecting a sentence not only into the different parts of speech, but also into the type, purpose, and parts of the sentence (subject, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, etc). They are even learning how to diagram a sentence, a tough skill which they are trying! Just this week, the students’ grammar vocabulary has increased leaps and bounds. A few things they’ve identified this week are: a helping verb in the future tense, an action verb, and a preposition and prepositional phrase. Through practice, the students will continue to improve!

Social Studies: What were the costs and benefits of exploration? Both sides, the explorers and Native Americans, suffered and gained as an impact of exploration. This week we also started looking at specific explorers and identified their personal background, motivations for exploration, route traveled, and impact. Next week we’ll continue to go into more detail about these explorers and then will compare the major countries, like France, Spain, England, and Portugal.

2007-11-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

What's Happening in Class? 11/26-11/30

Language Arts: Book projects look great! The students were able to share their puppet shows, t-shirts, new endings, and more with their fellow creative classmates!

Have you ever wondered why the sun sets in the west? Or why there are deer in the Eastern Woodlands? This week, the students set to explaining natural phenomena like these through Native American-like origin stories. Following the examples from Native Americans, the students wrote origin stories explaining how something in the environment came to be. Today we got to share a few of the stories and heard about some fascinating characters, problems, and solutions!

Why does a non-fiction text include so many different conventions, like pictures, subheadings, and captions? As we’ve just learned, by looking at the conventions of non-fiction before we read, we are helping our brains to warm up to the information we are about to read. By previewing the text, our Velcro is up and we won’t be reading coldly. In our newest literature unit, non-fiction, we are going to be examining a variety of non-fiction texts, focusing on strategies to understand the layout and comprehend the text.

Social Studies: We DOVE into exploration this week! Today’s unexplored frontiers are space and the ocean, but go back 500 years and the unexplored frontier was land! Students used their observation and research skills when they became deep-sea archaeologists exploring a sunken ship. Each artifact they found told them about explorers’ motives, technology, and discoveries! Students grouped our discovered artifacts into three categories: motivation for exploration, new technology that encouraged exploration, and new products from the Americas. This helped them identify some impacts of exploration. We also discussed the exchange that occurred between the Americas and Europe. Do you know from where bananas, beans, and pigs came? Next week we will look at individual explorers and their contributions.

***Social Studies tests came home this week. Students need to get them signed and returned (with corrections). Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

2007-11-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

What's Happening in Class? 11/12-11/16

Language Arts: How is a protagonist developed in literature? As we come to the end of our character development unit, students have learned that characters are developed by what is directly stated in the text, their speech and actions, and what other characters in the story say or think about them, among other things. To further extend their understanding about protagonist development through other characters, we’ve been working on character sociograms this week. A character sociogram is like a social diagram of the book. The students show the various relationships between characters using solid and dotted lines and describe what each character thinks about the others. So far the students are doing a great job!

Students also received an end-of-book project this week, which is due this Tuesday, November 20. The project list includes a variety of options, each one applying to different multiple intelligences. I’ve already heard talk of some puppet shows and newspapers and can’t wait to see the final products!

Social Studies: The students finished their research on the different cultural regions and have been able to apply their knowledge of the regions’ climates and land to figure out the different types of food, shelter, clothing, and even religious beliefs. They’ve also identified artifacts from each region, based on their new information.

***The unit test is next week (Monday for Atlantic, Tuesday for Pacific). Students should use their two Native American packets (1. map/artifacts 2. graphic organizers) and their workbooks to study.

2007-11-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

What's Happening in Class? 11/7-11/9

Language Arts: Reading: What is the difference between a flat and dynamic character? Students looked to find examples of the different types of characters and their roles in their books, specifically answering the question, “What do the flat characters teach us about the dynamic character?”

Social Studies: What are the eight different Native American cultural regions? Students started their research with the Pacific Northwest Coast region where the Tlingit, Chinook, and Kwakiutl tribes live. We will be researching and discussing the California-Intermountain, the Southwest, the Great Plains, the Plateau, the Eastern Woodlands, the Southeast, and the Arctic Ice Field regions over the next few weeks. Students have done a nice job highlighting important information from the text and categorizing it onto graphic organizers. Who knew that you could make waterproof clothes out of wood?! The Kwakiutl knew, that’s who!

We are also working on two reading strategies, previewing and predicting, with our textbooks. Before we read we want to be sure to have our VELCRO up! By going through the section and looking at the pictures, bold words, captions, and headings before we read, we are able to get our minds thinking about things we already know. That way, when we do start reading, the information has something to STICK to!

Blog Change

2007-10-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Students and Parents!

While a blog can be used as a homework reminder, I have decided to use this blog primarily as a resource for students from here on out. Homework will be posted in the classroom and I will continue to sign/stamp the students' agendas each day. I hope that this helps students become more responsible for their work. I also hope that this blog will be a useful tool for students. I will post announcements, related links, and events going on in the classroom.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Sincerely,
Miss Coulter

Week of October 8-13

2007-10-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 8

No school

Tuesday, October 9
Social Studies:

Atlantic: none
Pacific: Finish Natural Resources Map

Language Arts:

Reading Log. New month goal: 800 minutes!
No WS Packet this week

Wednesday, October 10
Social Studies:

Atlantic: Finish Natural Resources Map
Pacific: Locate and write down a geographic coordinate (latitude, longitude) of somewhere in the world you would like to go

Language Arts:

Atlantic: Complete Sentences! worksheet due tomorrow and Reading Log
Pacific: Reading Log

Thursday, October 11
Social Studies:

none, unless you are finishing a map

Language Arts:

Reading Log due tomorrow
Pacific: Complete Sentences! worksheet due tomorrow

Friday, October 12
Social Studies:

Atlantic: Study Guide due Tuesday--finish any incomplete maps
Pacific: finish any incomplete maps

Language Arts:

Read--(Keep track of your minutes in your agendas. You will be getting your new reading logs on Monday!)
Pacific: Complete Sentences! worksheet due date moved to Monday

Week of October 1-5

2007-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

KEY:
purple=both classes
blue=Atlantic
red=Pacific

Monday, October 1
Social Studies:

Atlantic: Finish landform map for tomorrow
Pacific: None

Language Arts:

Atlantic: Word Study sort in notebook-due tomorrow
WS Packet due Friday
Reading Log. New month goal: 800 minutes!

Tuesday, October 2
Social Studies:

none

Language Arts:

Bring in summer reading notes and/or summer reading book
Word Study Packet
Reading Log

Wednesday, October 3
Social Studies:

Study US Geographic Regions Map

Language Arts:

Bring in summer reading book and/or notes to school
Word Study Packet
Reading Log

Thursday, October 4
Social Studies:

Pacific: Finish Physical Characteristics Map for tomorrow
Atlantic: Study Geographic Regions for Challenge tomorrow

Language Arts:

Word Study Packet and Reading Log due tomorrow!
Word Study Quiz tomorrow

Friday, October 5
Social Studies:

Atlantic: Finish Natural Resources map

Language Arts:

Reading Log

HAVE A GREAT 3-DAY WEEKEND!

Week of September 24-28

2007-09-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

KEY:
purple=both classes
blue=Atlantic
red=Pacific

Monday, September 24
Social Studies:

Atlantic: Study for US Bodies of Water quiz tomorrow
Pacific: None

Language Arts:

Word Study Packet due Friday
(Be sure to finish sorting, alphabetizing, and writing (SAW) your words in your WS notebook if you did not finish that in class today.)
Reading Log (30+ minutes)

Tuesday, September 25
Social Studies:

Atlantic: SS Challenge on Thursday (including bodies of water)
Pacific: SS Challenge tomorrow (Wed)

Language Arts:

Word Study Packet due Friday
Reading Log (30+ minutes)

Wednesday, September 26
Social Studies:

Atlantic: SS Challenge tomorrow

Language Arts:

Word Study Packet due Friday
Reading Log (30+ minutes)
Pacific: Reading Inventory due tomorrow

Thursday, September 27
Social Studies:

None

Language Arts:

Word Study Packet and Reading Log due tomorrow
Word Study Quiz tomorrow

Friday, September 28
Social Studies:

None

Language Arts:

WS Quiz today (Pacific--your quiz has been moved to Monday due to the fire drill.)
Reading Log (read at least one hour over the weekend)

Have a great weekend!

Homework for Friday 9/21/07

2007-09-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

Everyone got a new Reading Log today!
This weekend, read at least 30 minutes each night. Sometime this week be sure to answer a comprehension question. Pick a different question each week and write in complete sentences!

Pacific: SS Geography Challenge on Monday

Atlantic: SS quiz Tuesday on U.S. bodies of water

**If you did not turn in your WS packet or Reading Log from this week, be sure to bring it Monday!

Homework 9/20/07

2007-09-20T12:35:00.001-07:00

Word Study Packet and Reading Log due tomorrow
Word Study Quiz tomorrow

Back To School Night

2007-09-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hello Parents! Welcome to my blog.