GROUP B

Week of June 15th-June 20th

Hi Group B,

Our year has come to an end. I want to thank each and one of you who take your time to help your child learn and succeed- it’s not an easy task juggling this amongst everything happening around us right now. For this last week, as a closing activity, I would like to invite you to make a gratitude jar.

If you have real jars, that would be great. The jar can be stuffed with cut-up confetti made with construction paper, rocks, or anything you desire (i.e. beans). This goal of this activity is to come up with vocabulary words/ sentences that describe what they are thankful for this year. I thought this activity would be a good wrap up to our challenging year.

Please have your child write in detail what they are thankful for, whether that is a specific moment or a thing that had happened. If your child has written, “I’m thankful for food”, please have them be specific about what food moments they are thankful for (i.e. I’m thankful Aunt Lily’s stuffed wontons when we visit her on weekends).

It has been a pleasure teaching you all this year. Have a great summer!! PS: I would absolutely love to see some of the gratitude jars 🙂

 

Week of May 25th- May 29th

Hi Group B,

Please be sure to check out the important announcement about ELL year-end assessments on the main page.

This week we are learning about similes. Similies are used to compare two things that are alike(i.e. His scream was as loud as a siren.). Here, we are comparing his scream to the siren. The similarity between them is the loudness. Similies are used by the word “as” or “like”. Please watch the video on similes, be sure to follow along with the exercises, and then complete the sentences below with similes.

It’s important to use similies in your writing to add details.

Complete these sentences and submit to Ms. Tong:

The yogurt is as _______________________.

The flower is like _______________________.

My car is as ___________________________.

Week of May 19th- May 22nd

Hi group B,

As I may have mentioned before, the amount of work I have been receiving back have significantly decreased from the beginning of online learning. Thank you for those who submitted “adding details” to Mr. L’s story. It was great to see how stories came alive when reading about conversations and how people feel in your stories- I hope you found it meaningful too.

For this week, I will not be uploading another video but instead, post an optional activity.

Instructions: Have your child write a 1-page journal about how he/she is feeling about returning to school. If she is happy, what is she excited about? If she’s worried, what are her concerns? For this assignment, focus on providing more detailed explanations of why you are feeling the way you are feeling. Ask yourself, “Can I say more?” each time you finish a sentence. Rather than have multiple sentences talking about different things, it’s important to focus on one thought and telling more about it.

I look forward to reading your responses. 🙂

 

Weeks of May 4th- May 15th

Hi group B,

This week, I added a video to discuss how we can add details to our story. Our learning goal for the next two weeks is the explore the 4 ways discussed in these videos to add details to our writing. The video file was too big this week so I had to resort to Youtube. Here’s a link to the video: https://youtu.be/RUa3LsU5uxY

Please note that this is a biweekly assignment, so please take your time to explore each method. I’m excited to read your revised stories. 🙂

Week of April 27th-May 1st

I’m back, Team B. This week we are reading the story Mr. L’s House by Helen Kampion(https://schools.boomwriter.com/sw/73324/settings/1). This is a story on BoomWriter that is used as a story starter to allow kids to write different extensions to the story. I didn’t choose to use BoomWriter because I know typing may be an issue. Instead, I will be adapting the story as a read-aloud for our use. Press “play” if you like to hear me read the story. After you’ve read the story, scroll down to “step 2” below.

Vocabulary List:

Shimmering- when something has a shiny reflection (For example-when the sun shines onto the lake, it shimmers)

Glare- A strong light (You close your eyes or wear sunglasses when the sun's glare is strong.)

Mr. L’s House

Chapter 1 – By Helen Kampion

Eva saw the light just before dawn on a Saturday morning. The shimmering colors against her bedroom curtains had woken her up. Or maybe it had been the noise, a low rumble like a subway train approaching.

The clock read 4:17 AM as Eva sat up in bed and looked over at her twin sister, Lacey. Somewhere beneath the pile of covers, Lacey slept like a hibernating bear.

Eva hopped up from her bed, crossed the carpeted room to the window, and pulled back the curtain. The glare from the street lamps reflected on the wet surface of the road, even though Eva knew there hadn’t been any rain in the forecast.

She scanned the street and, at first, nothing struck her sleepy brain as strange. Newspapers dotted the driveways. Overflowing trash cans stood next to mail boxes. A few bikes lay scattered on lawns.

Then she saw it.

She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. A blueish-green oval light about twelve inches long hovered in front of the white house across the street. Mr. L’s house.

Eva ran over to her sister and shook her. “Wake up Lacey! Wake up!”

“Huh? What’s going on?” Lacey asked.

“There’s something weird at Mr. L’s house.” Eva flung off the blankets and dragged Lacey to the window. “Look! Look at the light!”

Step 2: You will now use the template below to write 1-2 sentences for the “middle”(problem) and “end”(solution) of your version of Mr. L’s house. You will only be required to write the framework of your story, so please do not try to add more details. In the following week,  I will give specific instructions on how we can extend from that framework. I look forward to reading your ideas 🙂

 

Weeks of April 14-28th

Hi team B,

For our virtual classroom, we will continue our unit on narrative texts. We will quickly review of the features of narrative text. In the upcoming weeks, we will be working on a group story together.

For these two weeks, you will watch Hair Love, a short film produced by Matthew Cherry about a father, Stephen, who styles his daughter’s hair for the first time.

Step 1: Please watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28

Step 2: Then on a sheet of paper, draw an organizer like the following and fill it out.

Also, please use a separate sheet of paper and write about the problem of the story and how it was solved. It should look like this:

For handing in assignments, please see “Submitting Assignments” tab.

 

Activity extension(Choice activity):

In this beautiful short film, the father and mother shows their love for their child through styling her hair, and ensuring she looks ready for the day. Think of ways that your parent(s), step parent(s), siblings, or any family member show their love for you. What do they do to make you feel loved? Draw a picture and write a few sentences to tell about ways your family members care for you.