See you guys next Wednesday

We only had English for an hour today because the students had art.

The students had their spelling test and did well. There were some hard words this week like difficult, chocolate, and vegetables. Nareem, Masoud, Ali, Rifaat, Shahed, Ameed, Beesan, and Omar A., did a great job on the test.

Lyana, Tareq, Masoud, Maya, and Ali told their stories today and did a great job.

Have a nice weekend. I will see you guys next Wednesday. We will have a very short week.

Next Week: reading, verbs, and how to tell time.

The Big Science Test

We had our science test today and the students did a good job. Some struggled but they have learned a lot about our bodies and the different systems in our bodies.

The grade they get on the test isn't important. What I want is for them to remember the vocabulary. Next semester we will continue studying science in class but we will study exercise and nutrition. It's important that the students remember what we've learned this semester about our heart, brain, lungs, stomach, muscles, and bones, because we will be talking about them again, and again, and again.

Today Rifaat, Fitian, Lilia, Shayma, and Kareem told their stories.

Tomorrow we have a spelling test.

Maya, Tareq, Ali, Masoud, and Lyana will tell their stories to the class.

Studying for the Science Test

Today I read with Fitian, Shayma, Ward, Kareem, Maya, and Rifaat.

Today we studied for our science test tomorrow. Students should be studying tonight.


Adam, Shahed, Narmeen and Amelia told their stories to the class and did a great job. Tomorrow Shayma, Lilia, Rifaat, Fitian, and Kareem will tell their stories.

The students have homework tonight.

Writing Today

I read with Taleb, Masoud, Lyana, Beesan, and Shahed today.

We worked on writing today and students wrote "The scariest thing in the world is __________." Some of the students did not finish so they need to finish writing tonight. Parents, please do not write for the students. They need to do it by themselves. If I think they didn't write it, they will do it again.

Today Beesan, Ameed, Mohammed, Ward, Taleb and Omar A. told their stories to the class. Great job. Tomorrow Adam, Shahed, Lyana, Narmeen, Amelia will tell their stories.

Students have past tense homework tonight.

The Goblins have reading homework tonight.

Life is Highway

Here is the song....

Sunday December 18th

We practice using the past tense in class today and using it correctly when we talk.

I read with Ameed, Adam, Amelia, and Omar A.

We are doing storytelling again this week. Students need to tell the class a story about a time when they were younger. Here is the schedule for the week.

Monday (tomorrow): Mohammed, Ward, Taleb, Omar A., Beesan, Ameed.

Tuesday: Adam, Shahed, Lyana, Narmeen, Amelia.

Wednesday: Shayma, Lilia, Fitian, Rifaat, Kareem.

Thursday: Maya, Ali, Tareq, Masoud.

We have our science test on Wednesday.

Tests and Singing Competition

The students had art so today was a short day in class. The students had a spelling test and vocabulary test. I've graded the spelling tests the the students did well.

Ali, Lyana, Tareq, Masoud, and Ameed got a perfect score on the spelling test. Good job!

We also sang in the singing competition and the students did a great job.

Tareq, Masoud, Nareem, and Adam told their stories to the class today. They did a very good job.

Science and Disease

We had science and talked about disease and how your body protects you from getting sick.

Today I read with M.S., Tareq, Lilia, Narmeen, and Ali

Shayma, Lilia, Ali, Kareem, Fitian, Rifaat, Taleb, and Maya told their stories to the class today and they did a great job.

Tomorrow Narmeen, Beesan, Adam, Masoud, and Tareq will tell their stories to the class.

We also worked on context clues in class. Context clues are when the students have to find out what a new word means by looking at the other words in the sentence. This was the first time and they did a great job with it.

Tomorrow there will be a vocabulary and spelling test in class. Study.

Conditionals and Storytelling

We practiced future conditionals today and most of the students have homework tonight. When we write future conditionals we do this....

If + pronoun + verb (present), pronoun + verb (future).

Today I read with Shayma, Rifaat, Fitian, Maya, Ward, and Kareem.

Shahed, Ameed, Ward, Lyana, Mohammed, Omar, and Amelia told their stories to the class today. They all did a great job.

Storytelling for tomorrow: Shayma, Lilia, Ali, Kareem, Fitian, Rifaat, and Taleb

Goblins have reading homework tonight.

We had writing today.

Today I read with Beesan, Masoud, Lyana, and Shahed.

We worked on writing today and the students wrote essays about "If I had a billion shekels." The essays look really good and I'll read them soon.

We also work on the future conditional. We will do more with this tomorrow.

The Goblins have reading homework.

Some of the students will tell their stories to the class tomorrow.

Students have vocabulary and spelling to study for Thursday.

Storytelling.

This week we aren't doing a drama, instead the students will be telling stories to the class. The need to practice their stories before they tell them to the class.

Remember to use the past tense when you are telling your story.

Your story must be more that 30 seconds and less than 2 minutes.

I will be in the teacher's room or our classroom before and after school and on the break on
Tuesday to help your with your story.

We also worked on unreal conditionals today.

If + pronoun + verb (past tense), pronoun + would + verb (present tense)

Today I read with Omar A., Amelia, Adam, and Ameed.

The Goblins have reading homework tonight.

We have a spelling test on Thursday. Here are the words.

friend, favorite, because, when, beating, closer, goodnight, isn't, leaving, digging, empty,
telephone, studied, tables, waiting.

We also have a vocabulary test on Thursday.

bother, brain, message, reflex, sweet, silver, cheer, joy, bridge, organism, disease, sweat, cough

Extra vocabulary: The Goblins have to study these and other students can too.

spinal cord, meek, bold, tale, pound, tears

New video for the song

Here is a new video that will hopefully work better.

Writing and Dramas

Today I read with Rifaat, Shayma, Ward, Maya, Kareem, and Omar F.

We finished writing today and the student did a great job. By the end of the semester I want all the student to be able to write 3 paragraphs. Right now a lot of students are and some are writing four. They are doing a great job.

The students are also performing their dramas this week and they are doing very well.

The students need to study their spelling.

The Goblins have reading homework.

Phrase of the Week (12/4)

Don't forget to use the phrase of the week.....

Got up on the wrong side of the bed!

Carol of the Bells and Quotations

Today I read with Adam, Amelia, Omar A., and Ameed.

We worked on using quotations and how to use them in our writing. Student have a short homework where they need to write quotation marks in sentences and then write two of their own sentences with quotation marks.

We also started a new song, Carol of the Bells. It is our hardest song yet but we have the singing competition in a few weeks. Here is the video.





Tonight the Goblins have reading homework. Use the dictionaries and don't forget to bring them back to school tomorrow.

Group 1 will perform the drama tomorrow.

Tests tomorrow.

I read with Lilia, M.S., Tareq, Ali, and Narmeen.

We worked on apostrophes in class and the students have apostrophe homework. If they don't know what to do they can read the worksheet from class.

We have a spelling test tomorrow.

We also have a vocabulary test tomorrow.

Past Continuous

Today I read with Ward, Fitian, Kareem, Maya, Rifaat and Shayma.

Today we worked on the past continuous tense in our grammar books.

Remember.....

We use was with I, he, she, it
We use were with you, they, we

The students need to study the vocabulary and spelling. We have a test this Thursday.

We have a lot to do this week.

Today I read with Amelia, Ameed, and Omar A.

We've started a new drama in class, "Three Billy Goats Gruff." We will practice this week and then the students will perform it next week. I want them to practice and memorize their lines and this time we will work on acting.

We also started learning the past continuous. Sometimes we say....

I was watching TV yesterday.

You were sleeping in class.

Remember when to use were and was.

were: you, they, we
was: I, he, she, it

The students have homework tonight.

We have a spelling test on Thursday. These are the words:

beautiful, bought, sunny, uncle, aunt, window, wishes, kicked, knees, nicest, happiest, studying, died, grew, hundred.

We also have a vocabulary test on Thursday. These are the words:

bossy, pump, onomatopoeia, agree, disagree, strange, servant, heart, thief, invisible, won't splash, hiccup, stomach.

There are also extra words that some of the students have to know:

senses, blood vessels, rearrange, nutrients, cacophony, see-through.

The Circulatory System

Today I read with Ward, Fitian, Shayma, Kareem, Rifaat, and Maya.

We talked about the circulatory system and learned about our blood, heart, and blood vessels.

Things to remember....

Blood vessels are small tubes in your body for your blood.

Your heart pumps blood in your body.

You blood carries oxygen to the rest of your body.


New words from today.

strange, heart, pump

The students in part 2 of the drama performed today. They all did a good job and Mohammed S. did a great job memorizing his lines. Awesome.

Homework
past perfect homework
spelling words
vocabulary

Writing, writing, and more writing.

Today I read with Lyana, Beesan, Shahed, Taleb, and Masoud.

We worked on writing today. More of the students are starting to write three paragraphs now and they are doing very well. Today we wrote the class taking a field trip to anywhere in the world. They had a lot of good ideas.

Half of the students did not finish the writing so they need to finish it at home. Parents, please do not do the work for the students. I need to see the work they do by themselves so I know how their writing is and what they need help with.

Homework:
finish writing
spelling words
vocabulary words
practice dramas

Onomatopoeia

Today was good day and we got a lot done.

We started some new things today.

We have a new song called Onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is words like knock, buzz, boom, and bark. The word is the sound. Practice the song at home.

I read with Adam, Ameed, and Omar A. today.

We started learning about the past perfect today and the students did well with it.

Remember we use had, not have or has.

I had been running when I saw my friend.

They had slept before they went to school.

We also worked on our dramas today. Here is the schedule:

Monday: Part 1
Tuesday: Part 2
Wednesday: Part 3
Thursday: Part 4

Students have new spelling words and vocabulary to study.

Back to School

We had a great day in class. Some of the students have started reading a chapter book called "Bridge to Tarabithia" in class and today I read with Ameed, Amelia, Adam, and Omar A.

We learned about metaphors in class and the students did a great job with it. We will do more metaphors tomorrow and they will have homework.

We also started our drama for this week "The Emperor's New Clothes." Students in Parts 1 and 2 will perform on Wednesday and Parts 3 and 4 will perform on Friday. Memorize your lines.

The students have 15 new spelling words for the week. The test is Thursday and they need to practice the words.

Last week Masoud, Adam, Shahed, Mohammed, Narmeen, and Ameed did a great job on the spelling test.

There is also a vocabulary test on Thursday.

Things to do at home:
study spelling words
study vocabulary
memorize lines for the drama

It was a great day in class today.

I read with Lyana, Taleb, Masoud, Shahed, and Beesan. The rest of the students read quietly by themselves.

We did a lot of writing and the students did very well. Today the topic was "I am the best boy/girl in the school because...."

Half of the students wrote a paragraph and they did very well. The Goblins had to write three paragraphs today and they did a fantastic job. I am very proud. It was difficult at first but the understood and did a really good job.

We also started our drama "Rumpelstiltskin" today. Lyana, Shayma, Adam, and Omar A. performed part 1 of the drama.

You can watch it.




Students have work to do at home.

Study the vocabulary.

Study the spelling words.

Study their lines in the drama.

We did a lot today and have a lot this week.

Today I read with Amelia, Omar A., Adam, and Ameed M. After reading we started working on similes.

This week the class is going to perform a drama called Rumpelstiltskin. The students are working in small groups and each group will perform a part of the play. Today the students practiced their lines but I want them to practice at home and memorize them.

These students will perform on these days.

Monday: Shayma, Lyana, Adam, Omar A.

Tuesday: Beesan, Tariq, Lilia, Kareem, Omar F.

Wednesday: Everyone else.

We also started a new song today "Pinky and the Brain." Here is the video...




Students have a lot of work to do this week.

Spelling: The students need to practice the spelling words. We will have our spelling test on Wednesday.

Vocabulary: Students need to practice and know the vocabulary words. The Trolls and Dragons only have to know the first half of the words (stop after tube). The Goblins have to know all of the words. If you want to practice all of the words you can.

Drama: I want the students to practice their lines at home. They should memorize the drama.

The Muscular System!

Today in class we talked about the muscular system. We had a short reading and then we watched a video about our bones and muscles.

Remember....

Muscles are connected to your bones and they help move your body.

You can control most of your muscles. You control your muscles when you walk, run, smile,
and sing.

Some muscles you don't control, like your heart, your stomach, and breathing.

Tendons connect your muscles to your bones.

New vocabulary from today: exercise, stretch, muscle, control and cartoon.

We also worked on contractions in class today.

Vocabulary for the test.

We have a test on Thursday.

It will be over the present continuous tense. Remember....

I have been to Jordan.
I have ridden a horse.

There will be questions about nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.

These are the vocabulary words.

supposed, illusion, support, protect, joint, healthy, equal, unequal, hollow, knee, shoulder, bone, skeleton, halves, thirds, fourths, muscle, connect, sailor

Another week and a lot to do.

We spent some time working on debates today. This is something we have been having a hard time with in class and we'll be working on it all year. Right now we are spending time trying to make good arguments.

We also continued to work on the present continuous in class and in our grammar books.

Today I read with Amelia, Omar A., Adam, and Ameed.

Skeletons

Every Tuesday we are going to talk about our bodies in English class, and today we started with the skeletal system.

Things to Remember

Our skeleton supports our body. If we don't have a skeleton we will look like jelly.
Our skeleton also helps us move and it protects parts of our body like the heart.

A joint is where two bones in your body touch and move. Like your knee and
shoulder.

The inside of your bones look like a sponge.

Inside your bones is the bone marrow. The bone marrow makes blood for your body.



This is the Bill Nye video we watched in class about bones.





The students have homework tonight. If they are having a hard time with the words. They can use the reading from today to help them.

Writing, Writing, and more Writing.

We are going to do a lot of writing this year.

We should be writing two times a week (Monday and Wednesday)

I think it's very important to teach the children how to organize their writing. Any of the students can write me a page about anything, but the students don't really know who to organize their thoughts and write it in a way so other people can understand them.

Today the students wrote abut their favorite place in the world. First, we write on a worksheet that where the students write their topic sentence and the reasons that support their topic sentence. Then we turn those reasons into full sentences and organize them form most to least important. Last, the students start to write the actual paragraph and turn it into me.

We are going to start a new unit about The Human Body. Tomorrow is our first day and we will be talking about bones and the skeletal system.

The vocabulary.

These are words we used last week and will use this week. Study them.

I will give you a list of the words tomorrow and what they mean.

rainbow
supposed
illusion
support
protect
joint
healthy
equal
unequal
knee
shoulder
skeleton
halves
thirds
fourths
bones

We have a big week.

We have a lot to do this week and I'm very excited.

Today the students worked with their debate teams for the first time. Most weeks the students will work with their teams and debate a topic against another team. It gives the students a good chance to speak in class, organize their ideas, and learn how to make arguments. This week teams will be debating "Are video games good or bad?" "Is watching a lot of television good or bad?" and "Should we have the Tawjihi tests?"

We also continued to practice using the preset perfect tense (using have + participles).

For example: I have been to America.
I have broken my leg.

We will continue practicing this throughout the week and the year.

Students have homework tonight.

Here is the video for our new song, The Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog.

Thursday, October 13

We had our vocabualry test today and the students did well with that.

We spent most of today talking about math and shapes. We worked with fractions, equal and unequal parts, halves, thirds, and fourths. The students did a great job with a it.

There is math homework for Sunday.

Students with reading homework, keep reading.

Wednesday, October 12

Students read from the reading books and today I read with Mohammad, Tareq, Lilia, and Narmeen.

Yesterday and today we worked on the present perfect tense. We use this a lot when we ask and answer questions, and talk about our lives.

I have been to Ramallah.

Have you done your homework? I have done my homework.

Today we talked about places we have been in the world.

We also did a short review of the conjunctions: and, or, but. The students did well but we will have to spend more time on when to use or.

We have a vocabulary test tomorrow,

Sunday, October 9th

I gave students the vocabulary for the test on Thursday. They need to practice this at home and in class when they finish work early.

We working on the present continuous today. We use the present continuous when we are talking about things we are doing right now.

For example: I am writing on the blog.

We use is, am, or are. Then a verb +"ing."

We also wrote a lot in class today. Today the students started and organized their paragraphs for "Should mobile phones be in school?" I really like what they've written and they will do more this week.

Our new song: Unwell

Sunday, October 2nd

Hello,

The students have started reading in their designated reading groups and everyday I will read with a small group of students. I do this so every week I can the students individually and help them with reading, new vocabulary, and understanding the stories. Today I read with Adam, Omar A., Amelia, and Ameed.

We watched a short video in class about beatbox and and students talked about it.

This is the video.



In class today we worked on adverbs and finding adverbs in sentences. Remember, adverbs describe verbs and adjectives describe nouns.

We also started an adverb drama this week. Every day a different group of students will act out the drama and focus on acting out the adverbs in the story.

Sunday, September 25

Hello,

We didn't get everything done today but it was a good class. We started class with a short spelling test with words the students have been spelling wrong int heir writing.

We finished reading about plants and today we read about how plants grow.

The Plant Cycle

We also talked about nouns. Remember, a noun is a person, place or thing.

We watched a short video in class and then talked about it as a group after.

There is a test on Thursday. The test will be about...

the parts of a plant

period ( . ), exclamation point ( ! ), and question mark ( ? )

the vocabulary from last week. Today I passed out a list of all the words to the students, but they are also on the blog.


Vocabulary on the test:

seeds - very small and makes a new plant.

flame - fire

woods - place with a lot of trees

carefully - you do something slow so nothing bad happens.

thunder - the sound lightening makes when it rains

defeat - to beat someone

destroy - to break something into small pieces.

peek - to look

wrap - to put something around, like a blanket around you.

spill - something like water falls out of a cup.

warm - not cold

sharp - very thin and can cut you, like a knife.

lightening - a light in the sky when it rains. It is very dangerous.

minus - -

plus - +

equals- =

Monday Spetember 19th - Plants!

Hello,

Today we had a very busy day in class. We started with a warm-up that reviewed some of the new vocabulary words: warm, spill, wrap, woods, flame, carefully, and thunder.


Right now we are learning about plants in class and how plants grow. We read from the Science books which are hard but the students did a good job and understood a lot. We learned the different parts of a plant: stem, leaves, roots, and flowers.

We also learned that plants need water, the sun, and carbon dioxide in the air to make food and oxygen.

After our reading we started our first science experiment. Each students has a plate with different kinds of seeds. We have sunflower, corn, bean, and gazinia seeds. For the next week we will watch as the seeds begin to grow.

At the end of class we talked when to use periods ( . ), question marks (?), and exclamation points (!). The students did really well and they have homework tonight.


New words from today:

system - a group of things that work together.

carbon dioxide - a gas that plants use to make food.

energy - You get energy from food and water and need it to do things.

seeds - a small thing that grows into a plant.

Yoshimi Battles the Giant PInk Robots

Here is the video for the song!!!

Homework for Tomorrow (9/19)

This week we will use these words in class and in our readings.

I want you to use each new word in a sentence.

EXAMPLE: apple

I ate an apple on break.

Vocabulary:

wrap - put around something. Like a blanket around someone.

flame - fire

peek - look

woods - place with a lot of trees

warm - not cold

spill - when water or juice falls on the ground

Write six sentences. Remember to capitalize the first word in each sentence and write a period at the end

You will get a reward if you use these words in class this week.

Welcome Back!

I'm really excited to be back in Nablus again. I have a lot planned for this year and I hope we'll have a good time again.

As of now, school will begin Tuesday September 6th. I hope to see you then.

Thanks,
Mr. Greg