Update from Mr. Lucy

Word Study Notebooks
  We created Work Study Notebooks this week. The first pages include a personal spelling dictionary. As I look over weekly written work, I will highlight misspelled words and I want the students to enter them in the personal dictionary.  The middle of the notebook is dedicated to vocabulary words. Most days I will introduce the Word of the Day. Together we discuss definition, synonyms, antonyms, other forms and more. I urge you to offer words to your kids as well. They will have their notebooks in their binders. I subscribe to http://www.wordsmith.org/. I want my students become active vocabulary munchers.

The Book Fair - December 1-6 all lunches in the auditorium.

The Big Read - The Big Read is one big book club. This fall's meeting will be held at Whatcom on Wednesday, December 14th from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. We are reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. For this Big Read meeting, we'll be dividing into districts (teams) and competing in a trivia battle.

The 40 Book Challenge - I have challenged the students to read 40 books or more this year. I have asked them to read a variety of genre and keep track of their reading. The genres include historical fiction, realistic fiction, informational text, poetry, biography, science fiction, fantasy, folklore and mystery.



Reading Letter #5 - This week our focus was on imagery. Good readers are aware of the power of imagery in making meaning from reading. 

Piece of Choice is due Monday. They have used the writing process to revise and edit one or more writing pieces. Monday I will launch a new project to write a personal narrative about an event that changed their lives.

Social Studies Project due before Winter Break
  Today, I introduced the characteristics of culture in a civilization. We discussed art, architecture, religion and a writing system. We discussed the influence of natural resources on the art form, buildings, beliefs and forms of writing. I want the students to create one or more projects to demonstrate understanding of the culture in their chosen civilization. Options:

•  Create a piece of art work typical for your civilization. Make sure it uses materials available to your civilization. This can be a drawing or actual art object.
• Creating a drawing of a typical home. You can choose an example of a poor, middle class, or wealthy family's typical home. The student must describe the natural resources used that are readily available to the people at that time.
• Create a writing system
• Write a description of the religious beliefs and traditions of your civilization. Include visual examples of the buildings, art work, symbols, statues that reflect your people's religious traditions.
• Draw or build musical instrument common in your civilization and write the lyrics of a song your people sing.

I will be offering optional homework opportunities on a weekly basis. Some parents have asked for more work options for their child.

November 30, 2011

I was excited to discover a website about ancient inventions stored at Smith College. This link http://www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/  will provide you an opportunity to learn about some significant inventions in ancient history. Go on a tour of the exhibit. Choose one or more inventions and share your learning. Select from the inventions described and draw one. Describe how the invention was used.

Weekly Update from Tim Lucy

Just a short note to thank you for taking to time to attend conferences. It has been a thrill.

I wanted to alert you to a social studies quiz on Tuesday. Your child was given a packet including the targets and notes on agriculture. The maps are due on Tuesday as well.

Thanks,

Tim

Weekly Update from Tim Lucy

Families,

Your child may have shared the sad news that a boy in one of my classes lost his mother on Monday after a long illness. I was contacted by a parent anxious to help. Beth Shille, the school counselor, explained to me that the family currently does not want meals, etc. There is an account set up at Bank of America under the name of Kevin and Katie Renz. People can make donations if they want to do something to help. Please see me or Beth for the account number. Erin McEachern, a close family friend, has agreed to be a central contact person. If you have questions you may contact her at 650-0995 or email at emceachern@gmail.com .

Progress Reports went home today in my reading, writing, and social studies classes. I am asking that you sign it have your child return it so I may know that it was shared with parents.

Thank you,

Tim Lucy

Weekly Update from Tim Lucy

Greetings,
  Conferences are just around the corner. Today I sent home a confirmation letter proposing a time and date for your conferences based on your suggestions. Please detach the bottom and return ASAP.  Beginning Monday, students will begin the preparation for Student Led Conferences.

Writing Workshop - For a week now we have been writing a Piece of Choice. Students have the freedom to choose genre and topic. We will use the writing process and the writing traits of Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency and Conventions. Some kids are choosing to write personal narratives, others poetry, short stories,  or descriptive essays. My goal is to give a weekly feedback to the students myself and they are following revision guides in the five traits. 

Reading - Reading homework continues. Reading homework went home tonight. All students understand that they are to read the short pieces aloud and answer the questions thoroughly with quality handwriting. 30 minutes or more of reading five nights a week is also expected. Thanks.

Social Studies - This week we explored agriculture. Why did civilizations evolve from hunter gathers to farmers. We will be discussing domesticating plants and animals, stable food supply and surplus. 

Poetry Workshop to Benefit the 2012 Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest
Saturday, November 12, 2011 at Mindport, 210 Holly, Belligham.
10:30 - 12:30
Intergenerational Poetry
Instructor: Luther Allen
Collaborative poetry writing for pairs of people from different generations - kids and parents, kids and grandparents, adults and parents, maybe just someone you want to get to know better who's younger or older than yourself. The younger partner should be at least 10; a difference of at least 20 years is suggested. The instructor will lead the participants through a step-by-step process to create a collaborative poem. Cost: $44 for two intergeneration partners. To register, e-mail boyntonpoetrycontest.  If you have any questions just ask me. I think I will attend. @hotmail.com

Thanks,
Tim Lucy

Social Studies Quiz Tomorrow

Families,
  Just a note to let  you know my students have a short social studies quiz tomorrow morning.

The targets include:

• I can identify and spell the names of the six continents we explored.
• I can explain what climate means.
• I can explain what physical features are.
• I can explain what natural resources are.
• I can explain the difference between natural resources and physical features.
• I can describe where on the earth a site is located using some of the following terms: Northern, Southern, Eastern or Western Hemisphere, Lines of Latitude, Lines of Longitude, Continent, Equator and more if you wish. For instance: Describe the location of South Dakota.

Early release tomorrow at 12:15.
Thanks,
Mr. Lucy

Weekly Update from Mr. Lucy, Thursday, October 27th.

Hello from room 217,

  I found much improvement with home reading assignments this week. Remember that I want my students to read the passages aloud to you each week. Hopefully, the reading can be followed with a discussion as your child is reading the questions. Another assignment went home today.
  I want to share a quote from my own reading of 40 Reading Intervention Strategies for K-6 Students, by Elaine K. McEwan. "Pervasive reading, in every subject, in every physical space, reading just about everything, just about all the time--is the key to reading success." Peter Temes. I hope you catch your child reading at home at least 30 minutes per night, five nights a week.
  We began writing a piece of choice this week. Ask your child about his/her heart map.
Thanks,
Tim Lucy

Weekly Update from Mr. Lucy, Friday, October 20th.

  The magazine drive assembly today launched the fund raising drive for Whatcom. Your child may approach you with a packet of materials.
  The Weekly Reading Homework is due tomorrow. The expectation is that your child read the short story aloud to an adult. I want you to sign the sheet and have your child return it tomorrow. And a new letter will be coming home tomorrow night. It will be due next Friday. Students are completing Reading Letter #3 this week. The newest  target focuses on questioning as they read.
  Most students have begun to illustrate their civilization on a map.
  I asked students to turn in their first drafts of the New Secret Shortcut so I could provide feedback.

 

Weekly Update from Mr. Lucy, Friday, October 14th.

Dear Families,

     MAP (Measure of Academic Progress)  The MAP reading tests were completed on Monday and Tuesday. Some students asked, "did I pass?" I responded that the standard for the fall sixth grade reading MAP test is 212. What that means to me is that a sixth grade scoring at that level or higher will probably be successful or at standard on the Spring MSP test. Wow! I explained to the students that I want them to grow each year. If they scored below 212, I will work with them to build fluency and comprehension through the year. Most students below standard are already in my Extended Learning Group during seventh period. I posted the student scores on Zangle (for information only). The scores do not influence semester grades. If you have further questions, call or write me an email.

     Home Reading Our second Home Reading Assignment was due today and a third went home today.  I have a few observations. Firstly, this is an opportunity for students to practice getting work done thoroughly and on time. Students that failed to complete the assignment fully were asked to stay in during lunch. Next, the questions associated with the reading activity are not difficult.  I expect the questions to be answered in complete sentences, neatly. Also, I want the students to read the passages to a family member, preferably an adult. It gives you a chance to hear your child read aloud. You will become aware of their sight vocabulary, fluency, and their word attack skills.  In addtion, I want the passages to be read to be understood. Note if your child is attentive to puntuation. Do they pause or come to a full stop? Do they recognize and appropriately attend to question marks, exclamation marks, and so on? Finally, I prefer that the books that students choose to read contain more text than pictures. And I encourage them to read books that will build vocabulary.

     Social Studies Most students have located a place on earth to establish a created civilization. We have discussed the importance of water in their decision. We have discussed natural barriers such as mountains, deserts and bodies of water in the formation of a civilization. Some students want to establish a civilization on an island. The Greeks had hundreds of city states forming their civilization. But they also needed more than the mountainous islands to support their people so they established settlements across the Meditarranean and Black Seas.

     Writing  The first revised draft of "Wendall and Floyd's New Adventure" is due Tuesday. They are reviewing their first draft in terms of organization and sentence fluency. A good story needs a hook, a detailed series of events and a satisfying close. Organizaton. And sentence fluency is important. We have discussed those features that make a piece of writing sound good when read aloud. Varying sentence length and sentence beginnings can help. I introduced a useful program on our Windows 7 machines called Audacity. I want students to record themselves reading their story aloud. When they play it back, they become aware the sentence fluency (smoothness) of the written piece. We are using Audacity in Extended Reading to help build reading fluency as well.

     Reading Workshop Our second reading response (letter) was due today. The focus again was on summarizing. The students are expected to retell story elements accurately. An extended response includes interactions between story elements (how the problem affects the characters or how setting changes the problem for example.)





    

Weekly Update, Friday, October 7th

October bluster,
 
Reading - Our first Home Reading assignment  is due tomorrow. I hope you know what I'm talking about. If a child fails to complete the assignment at home, I will request that he/she do so in class at lunch. I hope you enjoyed listening to your child read. Fun, huh? Just a reminder that reading MAP testing is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. I intend to pass along your child's performance results.

Writing - All students turned in drafts of the Nothing Ever Happens at Whatcom. I am just about finished reading them. This is a formative assessment (practice score) in the traits of ideas and word choice. I will post the scores in Zangle as practice. I have launched a new writing opportunity with a focus on organization. Wendall and Floyd's New Adventure is an opportunity to practice writing a plan and focussing attention on a strong beginning, a detail rich middle and strong close.

Spelling - I conducted a spelling inventory today with one group. I intend to administer the test for the second group tomorrow.  I asked the students to spell thirty one words. I will analyze their spelling accuracy and determine where I can be provide support using word sorts from the curriculum Words Their Way.

Social Studies - Our vocubulary this week included latitude, longitude, hemisphere, and equator. Using these terms and more the students are locating their invented civilization on a continent. During the weeks ahead we will explore agriculture, government, family, culture, agriculture, domestication and more. Students are choosing a location on the earth near fresh water to locate a civilization.

Thanks,
Tim Lucy

Weekly Update, Friday, September 30

Greetings,

Language Arts (Writing) - Most students created a substantial story entitled "Nothing Ever Happens At Whatcom". I introduced word choice as a second writing trait this week. The targets include:
I can use specific nouns, action verbs, and adjectives to make my writing clear and vivid.  I can choose just the right words for the right places.  We used a self-revision pages to revise drafts for ideas and word choice. On Monday, I will collect all of the students' progress so I can provide my teacher feedback.

Reading - I collected reading letters and provided my assessment using the rubric from their reading folder. Monday I will send home the first home-reading assignment, due next Friday. Again, students should be reading a minimum of 30 minutes a night, five nights per week.

Social Studies - We explored the ancient world information by viewing a short video entitled "The Birth of Civilization" and reading from our text. Our vocabulary included history, geography, prehistory, oral traditions and we continued to explore phyical features, natural resources and climate. Today, we wrestled with the question: What are the connections between geography and history? The DVD did a nice job of explaining that major rivers and natural barriers influenced the locations of civilizations.  I was learning right along with students.

Weekly Update, Thursday, September 22

Greetings,
     Reading - We are practicing tenacity in reading. Today we began writing our first reading response. Every other week, I intend to assign a letter in which the students will react to their reading. The letters will focus on reading targets. This week the targets include:
I can identify major and minor characters in a story
I can identify the major events in the plot of a story.
I can summarize the plot of a story.
In other words, we are summarizing the story elements in the book so far. I am looking for a letter in which story elements are clear in an accurate retelling. To excell a letter would refer to interactions between story elements. This is a practice letter. Letters are usually completed in class.
Reminder: Students are to read a minimum of 30 minutes a night five nights a week.

   Writing - Time for writing Nothing Ever Happens at Whatcom is nearing an end. I don't expect students to publish this piece. The purpose of the writing is to practice using self assessment in the writing process to improve on written work with a focus on Ideas. Yesterday, we used the rubric for ideas to assess two anonymous pieces from fifth graders.

   Social Studies - We have begun to explore civilizations. I read Weslandia to the class. We created folders and I shared the targets for the unit. Today and tomorrow I will introduce vocabulary of climate, natural resources and physical features. Using an atlas we will label maps of the continents in terms of climate, phsical features and natural resources.

   Thanks,

   Tim Lucy

Weekly Update from Mr. Lucy

I enjoyed meeting many parents last night. Remember, if you have questions or concerns email or call me. My email is timothy.lucy@bellinghamschools.org and my phone is 676-6460 extention is 4347.

We launched Reading and Writing Workshops this week. Yesterday we began our first writing activity, "Nothing Ever Happens at Whatcom". The targets include:
2a  I can make my topic and purpose clear to my reader.
and
2b  I can include important and interesting details.

Today, the students moved through a dozen stations throughout the building, noting fun details like smells, sounds, feelings. They have been encouraged to use them in their first writing project.

Students are assigned home reading 30 minutes per night five nights per week.

I will begin  Social Studies next week.

Extended learning is scheduled to begin on Monday. Picture day is scheduled to Friday, September 23rd. Picture packets will go home Monday.

Thanks,
Mr. Lucy