Rainy Thursday

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. It was Field Day. We all had a terrific day, thanks to Mr. Lee, but we were all exhausted and hot by 3:00!

In math, today, we took our final unit assessment. Then Mrs. Rose visited our classroom to continue our author study of Verna Ardema. After that, I met with reading groups while the students worked on reading group assignments.

Mouse: Completed a vocabulary web for the word cunning and then read chapter 11.

Big Black Dog: Met with me to discuss the interpretive words activity. WE discussed how the text and the pictures helped us understand the community in the story. We also spent time discussing how the students answers, which they had completed prior to coming to group, could be "tweaked" to include evidence from the test and an explanation of how it answers the question.

Wise Children: Worked on an interpretive words activity. Then met with me to begin discussing how the adults in the story were "not right" to the kids. We also "tweaked" their answers.

Following lunch and indoor recess the children read about the Aztec culture. The students were each given a playing card with a number (1-4) and a suit (heart, spade, etc.) on it. They began by getting into expert groups according to the number on their card. Group 1 worked together to become experts about Aztec government. Group 2 became experts about clothing. Group 3 read about travel and transportation. Finally, group 4 became experts about homes. Then the children got into new groups according to the suits on their cards and "taught" the other children about their area of expertise.

We ended the day with a presentation by Amy Alapati, the children's librarian at the Damascus library, regarding the summer reading program.

The poetry project is due one week from today on June 11!