Weeks Ms. Brittany, Ms. Vanessa, and Ms. Sarabeth

Weeks  Weekly Concept: Skills and Talents  Essential Question: How can you use what you know to help others?

Spelling Words (plural words)  Years, Twins, Trays, States,  Ashes, Foxes, Inches,  Flies, Cities, Ponies,  Bunches, Alleys, Lunches,  Cherries, Daisies  Review: Distrust, Dishonest, Discount  Challenge: Heroes, Libraries

Plural Words  Read spelling words aloud, drawing out and slowly enunciating the plural endings in each word.  Model for students how to spell the word cities. Segment the word sound by sound, then attach a spelling to each sound. Point out that the root word city ends in a consonant and the letter y, so to form its plural, you need to change the y to i and add the ending -es.  Demonstrate sorting the spelling words by pattern under key words years, foxes, and cities. (Write the words on index cards) Sort a few words. Remind them that nouns ending in s, ss, x, ch, or sh form the plural by adding -es to the root, as in foxes.

Plural Practice: 1. Fox  2. Box  3. Church  4. City  5. Library  6. Cherry  7. Park  8. Ferry  9. Boat  10. Shoe 

Vocabulary  An achievement is something that you accomplish.  If you apologized, you said you were sorry.  An audience is a group of people gathered to hear or see something.  When you have confidence, you have trust or faith in something or someone.  When you give something your attention, you watch, listen, or concentrate on it.  When you feel embarrassed, you feel shy, uncomfortable, or ashamed.  If you realized something, you understood it completely.  Talents are natural abilities or skills.

Comprehension Strategy: Ask and Answer Questions  Explain to students that as they read, they may come across a part they do not understand. Remind them that they can ask questions about what is happening in the story and then look for answers in the text.  Good readers think of questions about the text as they read.  When reading fiction, students can ask who, what, when, where, why, and how questions to help them understand what is happening in the story.  Students should look for details in the text to help them answer their questions.  When they do not find an answer to a question, they can reread the text.  Point out that asking and answering questions about a story will help them understand it better.

Comprehension Skill: Point of View  Explain to students that fiction is often told from the point of view of the narrator or one of the characters telling the story. The point of view is what the narrator thinks about the story’s events or other characters. In “The Impossible Pet Show,” Daniel is the narrator.  Good readers identify the narrator by asking, “Who is telling the story?”  To find the narrator’s point of view, students should look for details that show the narrator’s thoughts.  Students can then distinguish their own point of view on the same topic from that of the narrator.

Vocabulary Strategy: Prefixes  Explain to students that a prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word. Prefixes change the meaning of a word.  Readers can determine the meaning of a new word by looking for prefixes.  The prefixes un-, non-, and im- mean “not” or “opposite of.”  The prefix pre- means “before.”

Prefix Practice  Have students work in pairs to determine the meanings of the words to determine the meaning of the following words.  Uncomfortable  Impossible  Nonsense

Grammar: Contractions with not  A contraction is a shortened form of two words.  An apostrophe takes the place of one or more letters in a contraction:  is not = isn’t  was not = wasn’t  Some contractions are formed with forms of the verbs be, do, and have:  do not = don’t  have not = haven’t  Won’t is a contraction for will not. The spelling of the verb will changes.

Practice: fix the following sentences 1. charles hasnt played soccer in over a week. He said he wasnt feeling well 1. Jerry doesnt have practice on mondays. He has practice on Wednesdays and fridays 1. Maria hasnt been to a peting zoo. She is going to go with her friend Tyrone and his family next week

Grammar Notes  Introduce More Contractions with Not  A contraction is a shortened form of two words:  cannot = can’t  are not = aren’t  does not = doesn’t  did not = didn’t  has not=hasn’t  An apostrophe takes the place of one or more letters.

Other Skills: Using apostrophes  Do not confuse contractions with possessive nouns. An apostrophe is used with a possessive noun to show ownership:  The boy’s boat.  The family’s car.  The words don’t, won’t, and haven’t are contractions. They each have an apostrophe which shows where letters are left out.  When spelling contractions, make sure the apostrophe is in the correct place.

Grammar Practice: Fix the following sentences  Lucia didnt know how to fly a kite until Dwaine teached her.  Jon wasnt sure he could draw a picture of a horse without Amys’ help.  Mr. Brown said, “I cant say this enough. write your name at the top of the test  Darnell wont be going because he did not bring his permission slip.

Circle and correct each misspelled word.  Many yeares had passed since the twinies were born.  They always serve cherrys at the lunchs in May.  There were bunchs of foxs in that meadow.  My favorite cites are in other staties.  Alleies are bad places to look for daisyes.

Replace the Contraction  Have groups write five sentences using contractions with not.  Ex:  Should not = Shouldn’t  Could not = Couldn’t  Would not = wouldn’t  Did not = didn’t  Then have each student read the sentences aloud.

Genre: Realistic Fiction  Realistic fiction is a type of fiction, or made-up story.  The events could happen in real life, and the characters act and talk like people in real life. The setting might be a real place, but the story is not based on history.  It includes dialogue, which tells readers exactly what the characters say when they talk to each other.  Students can use the story’s illustrations to help them better understand the characters, setting, and events.  It might be written in the form of a series with the same character but with different settings and themes.

Writing Prompt: Preparation for 4 th grade FSA Essay Assessment  Topic: Skills and Talents  You have read about different characters that discovered they had special talents. Write an opinion essay on why it is important for people to use their special talents to help others. Use evidence from sources to support your opinion.

Features of an Opinion Essay  Introduce the topic  State an opinion  Create an organizational structure to list reasons  Use linking words to connect opinions and reasons  Provide a concluding statement or section