Marvelous Monday

It was so nice to have so many parents join us this morning!  It's always a treat to have visitors see the wonderful things happening in our classroom!  :-)

The students began their day with Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Dodson in the media center.  First, they did a quick book exchange.  Then they went to the computer lab.  There the students used my feedback to improve their research for the quarter 1 inquiry project.

When they returned to our classroom, we moved right into our math rotations.  My lesson focused on using concrete materials and number sentences to solve multiplication problems.  The technology rotation had students watching a Learn Zillion lesson connecting area and arrays.  After viewing the lesson, they practiced drawing array, in their math journal, to solve multiplication equations.  Finally, the third rotation, allowed students to complete their zoos.  Remember, the began this project last week.  The math connection was that each cage had to have a multiplication sentence that expressed the area of it.

There is a multiplication worksheet for HOMEWORK.

We began the reading and writing block by examining both a digital (the word guide in Kidspiration) and a print dictionary resource.  The students also viewed a section of an Oxford Dictionary video.  Key points included; many words have multiple meanings, they  are listed in order of the most commonly used, dictionaries also identify the parts of speech for each meaning, guide words identify the first and last word on a page, the print dictionary provides a pronunciation guide and splits the words into syllables.  Finally, I modeled how to locate a word in the dictionary.

After that we looked at an introductory paragraph from an opinion essay published in the book, Should There be Space Exploration?.  We identified, and discussed, how the author stated the opinion and engaged the readers.

While I met with reading groups the students worked on individual reading group assignments and used a print dictionary to analyze the various meanings of the word, "mint".

Sharks:  We began by reading and writing 5 new words; animal, fear, color, turn and bright.  Then we did a word chain beginning with the word fear.  After that, we began using our knowledge of affixes to identify a synonym (given a word box) for vocabulary words.  We will complete this tomorrow.  For HOMEWORK the students need to write their words 3 times each in their RRJ.

Following lunch and outdoor recess the students continued their independent work while I met with more groups.

Dolphins:  The students practiced reading and writing 5 words, in their RRJ (pieces, except, root, over and said).  In group we practiced these words again. Then the children completed a quiz testing their ability to use prefixes and suffixes to identify the meaning of vocabulary.  Finally they whisper read pages 3-12.  For HOMEWORK they need to reread pages 3-12.

Cheetahs:  The students received new books called The Changing Earth.  Prior to coming to group, they identified 5-7 text features, using a worksheet, in their book.  In group we shared their findings and discussed the information obtained from the text features.  Then I did a book talk on pages 3-7/.  For homework the students need to read pages 3-7 in their new book.

Pandas:  The students wrote about the central message in Different Dragons and identified specific examples to support their idea.  In group I collected these books.  Then we identified and discussed text features in the article, "Aquarius" in the National Geographic.  I also "talked " them through the article.  For homework the students need to read the entire article, on pages 16-23.

We ended the day by examining a cartoon of Rube Goldberg's that solved a problem in a convoluted way.  We then examined how this might have been designed using a scientific design process.  Then we discussed real life solutions to scientific problems, dams and canals.