Author Visit and Homework Update

Last week, Ben Hatke, author of "Mighty Jack" and "Zita the Spacegirl", came to speak to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade students in the commons. He talked about how he comes up with his ideas for graphic novels. He showed the students how he illustrates his graphic novels using action in replacement for dialogue. It is wonderful for the students to see writers in action, as they themselves are working on narrative pieces of writing during writers workshop. We even used Hatke's idea of drawing small actions to plan out how their stories will go in class.

We started our second unit in math which focuses on multiplication. I will be giving the students periodic timed tests for each set of basic facts. Last week, the students took the 1's and 2's test. Today they will take 3's and 4's, and on Friday, they will take 5's and 6's. As they pass each set, they will receive a sticker. One day a week I will allow students to choose a set to retake to earn their stickers if necessary. Please continue to work on these facts at home! I appreciate all of your help with this!

The students will have a test in social studies on Friday about glacial landforms in Wisconsin and where Wisconsin falls on the map. We will have a review day in class on Thursday. The students can bring home their social studies books and vocabulary lists to study at home during the evening this week.

As a reminder, students should be reading for at least 20 minutes per night as part of their homework assignment. If children are reading silently, they should be reading "good fit books", which are books they can read and understand independently without help from an adult. These books are not too hard and not too easy. I have taught the children strategies for finding good fit books, so hopefully they will use them at home!

I update the homework assignments on my school web page each week. Please note that we are switching around the way math homework is done. The students will complete what they can of the "Homework" side in class and they will complete the entire "Remembering" side at home.

Here is the link to the homework site:

Mrs. Becker's Homework Page

Have a great week!