News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room Nov. 3-7

Things to Remember:

November 4 - No school Teacher institute
November 5 - Bueno Beef School Fundraiser
November 6 - Picture Retakes, Parent Support Group Meeting 7-9 P.M.
November 10 - poinsettia order forms due
November 14 - roller skaing permission slips due.
November 18 - Roller skating party 4-6:45

November 3 - 14 - Book Worm Angels - Gently used books or new books should be brought in to school. They will then donated to the Chicago Elementary Schools where a majority of the children read below grade level, and they do not have the funds to purchase the books on their own.


The Social Studies committee is looking for two parents who have an education or history background to be involved in the adoption of new Social Studies textbooks. You would have to meet with the committee and provide input choosing our textbook for the coming years. The Social Studies committee will be meeting once every other month for the next two years. Please email mpellin@ccsd66.org if you would be interested in joining the Social Studies committee. Thank you!


Spelling: The skill this week is writing plural nouns correctly. Words that end with a vowel + y ad the letter s. Words that end with a consonant + y change the y to i and add es. The students will be asked to write their words once each night and turn them in .

Reading: This week the students will continue to study character traits as they read Charlotte's Web. They are making character webs for the characters in the story Charlotte's web. They will also learn to use the dictionary to look up meanings of words from the story. They will have a vocab. quiz on the words on Friday, Nov. 7th. They are also learning about the different types of questioning: Right There, Think and Search, Author and Me, On Your Own.

English - We will begin a unit on nouns this week. The students will review what a noun is, common and proper nouns, and practice writing sentences that combine the same predicate to create a sentence with a compound subject.

Social Studies We will leave the Northeast and travel down to the Southeast. The students will identify and secribe major landforms in the Southeast. They will also learn about the climate and hurricanes in the Southeast. We will learn about the Southeast resources. If anyone has anything to share that goes witht he Southeast Region, please send it in. We will have a map quiz on the states in the Southeast on Wednesday of the following week, November 12. A test over chapter 6 is scheduled for Tuesday, November 18th.

Science In science we will continue to study the life cycle of plants with seeds and with spores. We are looking for a large fern that shows the spores on the underside of the leaves. If anyone has one, and would like to send in one of the leaves, we would greatly appreciate it.

Math - At this point the students should know by memory their 2's, 5's, and square times tables. They will be given timed tests on them this week. They should also learn their 3's and continue to review the other facts. It is important to practice these facts each night. A test is planned for Tuesday, November 11 over chapter 4.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Class October 27-31

Dates to Remember:

Friday, October 31st - Halloween Parties at 1:30- Parade 1:15
Tuesday, November 4th - Teacher institute No school
Thursday, November 6th - picture retakes
Tuesday, November 11 - No school


Spelling - This week is a review unit week. The students should study the patterns in the words from chapters 1-8. This test will be different. The students will have to choose the word that is spelled incorrectly from a list of words.


Reading The students will review the different types of questions ( Right There, Think and Search, and On Your Own). They will read Charolette's Web and identify and discuss the character traits of each character.

English The students will work on the final drafts of their descriptive paragraphs.

Social Studies - The students will learn about different landmarks from different states in the northeast. The students will discuss why cities attract a large number of workers.

A test is planned for Thursday of this week over chapter 5 in social studies.

Things to know:

All vocabulary
What did the Europeans bring to trade with the Native Americans?
Immigrants from Europe - Port most came to in America? Why?
Famous people of the northeast
Thirteenth Amendment
Nineteenth Amendment
How is Pittsburgh today different from Pittsburgh in the 1800's. Be able to explain at least two things about each.
Iroquois Confederacy
Cause of the American Revolution
First capital of the U.S.
Which NE cities began as ports for ocean-going ships?
What do Philadelphia, New York City and Boston have in common?
Landmarks and where they are located



We will discuss the upcoming presidential election. We will take a look at the mjor issues that the candidates are addressing and compare their strategies.

Science - This week the students will learn how plants live and grow. They will observe how seeds germinate and describe the life cycle of flowering plants. They will also describe how plants reproduce using only spores.

math The students will continue to learn about multiplication and division. They will learn to multiply and divide facts through 12. Please continue to help your child learn the facts. Look in their folders to see the facts they did not know when we quized them Friday. Thank you for all the time you spend working with them. It helps them so much.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room Oct. 20th-24th

Dates to Remember:
Wednesday, October 22 - Early Dismissal at 11:00 a.m.
Friday, October 31 - Halloween Parties at 1:30 We will dress at 1:00. Parade will begin at 1:15. Party will begin at 1:30

Spelling The pattern this week - words with ie. Remember the rhyme: i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh.

Test on Friday over unit 7 words.

English - This week the students will continue the study of figurative language. They will share figurative language that they find in their independent reading as well as from magazines, newspapers, advertisement and t.v.

The students will use sensory words and figurative language to "paint a picture" in their readers mind as they describe their favorite fruit. They will use "voice" to make their description come alive for the reader.

Would anyone be interested in sending in a fruit salad Wednesday, Ocotober 29th, to help us in celebrating our hard work on our descriptions? Please let me know if you would be interested.

Reading - The students will finish their reading projects. They are making a flap book which shows the story structure of the book they read during their independent reading.

Towards the middle of the week we will begin reading Charlottes' Web. This will be their independent reading book for the next couple of weeks. They should bring this book home each night to read and then bring it back to school every day.

This week the children will analyze the characters in the story and identify their personality traits based on their behaviors.

Science We will begin a new unit. The students will begin to study the "Big Idea" Living things inherit traits, grow, and develop according to life cycles. The first essential question they will study is What is Heredity? They will investigate their own inherited characteristics. How do parents pass traits to their offspring?

Social Studies We will continue our study of the Northeast. The students will learn that the Northeast was the birthplace of the abolitionist movement. They will compare the similarities and differences of the abolitionist movement and the women's rights movement. Who were the reformers and why did they fight for the voting rights of women?

A test is planned over unit 5 on Tuesday, October 28th.

Math- A test over chapter 3 is on Monday. The students have a pretest to help them study the information that will be on the test. They should also have their books for extra practice.

We will begin multiplication this week. Please look for handouts to come home. Family involvement is going to be very important in the process of your child learning their facts.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Class Oct. 13- 17th

Dates to Remember:

Monday, October 13 - No School
Thursday, October 16th - Book Fair - starts at 6:30 p.m
Friday, October 17th - Reading folders are due
Wednesday, October 22 - Early Dismissal 11:00
Friday, October 31st - Halloween Parties at 1:30 p.m. parade begins at 1:15 Costumes should be brought to school. We will dress at 1:00.

Spelling - No spelling test this week

Reading - We will continue to work with story structure. The students will read stories and fill out story maps to go with them. We will also work on the visualization strategy. The students will listen to poems and stories and draw what they visualize in their minds.

We will begin our Reading projects on Thursday, October 16th. The children must have the books they have been reading for their silent reading in class to do this project.

Reading folders are due on Thursday. This is the last day to turn them in to earn the full 4 points credit. You may check your points under your grades to see how many you have. If you have 4 than you do not need to turn your folder in.
Our reading popcorn party will be on Friday, Oct. 17th.
You should already be reading for the next 4 points, if you have finished the other 4.

English We will review the skills that were learned throughout chapter 1. A test over chapter 1 will be on Thursday of this week. Homework will go home each day to help them study for their test.

Math - This week we will work with the problem solving skills of working backwards and finding patterns. It is very important that they review this at home. A test is planned for Monday, October 20th of the following week.

Science - This week the students will make posters to illustrate the information they have learned about invertebrates. The will have a test over chapter 1 Classifying living things on Friday, October 17th.

They should:

Know all vocabulary
Study all sheets in their binder
Review main concepts of each lesson
Know why plants are classified vascular and nonvascular
Know the characteristics of arthropods
Know the differences between plant and animal cells
Explain at least 2 ways bacteria can be helpful
know characteristics of living things
know the 5 classes of vertebrates (at least 2 facts of each)
know invertebrates ( be abe to name at least 2 groups of invertebrates and give examples of invertebrates in that group)

Social Studies - In social studies this week the students will learn how the Northeast played an important role in our nation's history. They will learn about people and events that helped shape and develop our nation.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room October 7-10th

Reminders:
Tuesday, October 7th - Midpoint in the trimester- check your child's grades on line
Monday, October 13 - No School Columbus Day
Thursday, October 16th - English Test
Thursday, October 16th - Book Fair
Wednesday, October 22 - Early Dismissal

Reading This week the students will study story structure- setting, characters, plot, problem and solution. They will read Akiak and complete a story map. They will study the vocabulary from the story and use those words in good sentences to show they understand their meanings.

English The students have been working on finding the simple subject and simple predicate of a sentence. They should continue to practice this at home as it is a difficult skill to master. This week they will review writing run-on sentences correctly, and using and, but, and or to write better sentences.

A test over chapter 1 in English will be given next Thursday, October 16th.

Math This week the students will be writing expressions to go with word problems and finding the value of the expressions. They will also understand that a variable is a symbol or a letter that represents a missing number in a problem. They will solve problems with missing variables. Remember if you are not sure of how to help them with an assignment, you can look in their math binder for a worksheet of the skill that we have gone over that day.

Science The students will learn about vertebrates, invertebrates and insects this week. The Chapter 1 science test is planned for Friday, October 17.