Weekly Parent Letter for November 16-20, 2015
Yonder Mountain
Spelling: Contractions
1. they’re
2. I’d
3. haven't
8. doesn’t
9. she’s
10. he's
Words will be reviewed orally and written daily.
4. what’s
11. wouldn’t
5.aren’t
12. let’s
6. hasn’t
13. couldn't
7. there’s
14. he’d
Reading: Story of the Week: Yonder Mountain: A Cherokee Legend pp. 430-446
Genre: Legend – a very old popular story that may be true
Target Skill: Compare and Contrast – tell how ideas or details are alike and different.
Vocabulary Strategies: Homophones/Homographs – bear cub or bare feet, take a bow or tie a bow
Vocabulary Words:
fondly-in a loving or caring way
mist-a fine spray or light fog
peak-the pointed top of something
rugged-rough and uneven
pausing-stopping briefly
steep-having a sharp slope
examined-looked at closely
pleaded-argued or begged
Grammar: Subject/Verb Agreement – the correct form of the verb used in a sentence depends on if the subject is singular or
plural.
Ex. A young man walks up a mountain. (singular subject)
Two young men walk up a mountain. (plural subject)
Math – Students will be reading charts and graphs.
Sports Bar Graph
Tally Sheet
Science:
1. The top part of Earth’s land is mostly covered with a material called soil.
2. Soil can be classified based on content, texture, or grain size.
3. Humus is a soil that is made up of decayed parts of once-living organisms.
4. Humus is dark, soft, and very crumbly. Humus contains a lot of nutrients.
5. Types of soil include humus, sand, clay, and silt.
6. Sand has large grains with large spaces between the grains.
7. Sand feels gritty.
8. Clay has very small grains and holds water easily.
9. Silt has pieces that are smaller than sand. It feels like powder.
10. Some soils are combinations of different soil types.
11. Loam soil is a mixture of sand, humus, silt, and clay.
12. The best kind of soil to use to grow fruits and vegetables is loam.
Social Studies:
1. When South Carolinians returned home after the Revolutionary War, they found their homes and farms destroyed, or ruined.
2. Many people were poor and in debt, or owed money to others, because they borrowed money to survive during the war years.
3. After the Revolutionary War, our country needed rules to keep order and fairness.
4. In 1787, representatives from all the states met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to make the new rules for our country.
5. The representatives created a document called the Constitution.
6. The rules in the Constitution created the U.S. government.
7. The Constitution divided government into three parts: the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court.
8. The President is elected, or chosen by votes, to make decisions for our country.
9. Congress holds two groups of people who make the laws for our country: the Senate and the House of Representatives.
10. The Supreme Court decides if the laws are fair.
11. Each state makes many of its own decisions.
12. South Carolina decided its state government would be like the U.S. government.
13. The governor is elected to lead our state.
14. Representatives from across our state meet in the General Assembly. It has two groups: the state Senate and the state
House of Representatives.
15. The state Supreme Court decides if our state laws are fair.