Terrific Tuesday

The children began their day in PE.  When they returned to the classroom, we watched the second scene of the Snow White play we began yesterday.  After that, each student received a copy of the play, "The Hidden One".  This is a play based on the Native American folktale titled The Rough Face Girl.  We discussed a few structural aspects, including characters being listed before the script begins, how dialogue is written with character's name set off by a colon, and that the words in parenthesis are giving directions to the actor and should not be spoken aloud.

After that I reminded the children about the next research based project we will be working on in class.  I showed the children the new Live Binder and explained how to explore it in order to choose their topic.

While I meet with small groups today, the children will finish publishing their facing the unknown writing piece.  They will also explore Live Binder and choose a topic.

Yellow Jackets:  We met and reviewed strategies for identifying the main idea.  Then we shared several of the main ideas, written by students, for homework last night.  We discussed what they did well and what needed to be changed.

In math we reviewed the many strategies we have learned to solve multiplication problems.  We listed these on the board and discussed each.  Then the children played a game practicing the 9's basic facts and talking about the strategies they used to solve the problems.

After enjoying lunch and outdoor recess the students continued working independently while I met with groups.

Cheetahs:  We reviewed the main ideas that the children wrote for homework last night.  We identified both the positive and negative aspects of each.

Sharks:  I reviewed, scored and provided feedback on their summaries for the chapter called, "A Letter".

Snakes:  I modeled retelling up to page 11 and asked a few questions, forcing the children to locate answers in the text.  Then we read the rest of the book using decoding strategies to break apart unknown words.  Finally I had them reread the last page to explain what was funny (the prize was sunglasses).  PLEASE have them reread the book at least once a day over break!

We ended the day by reviewing the concept of population distribution and some of the factors affecting it.  Then we began reading a non-fiction book about a family traveling from Chicago to New Jersey.