Tuesday

We began tackling word problems in math. I am trying to help the students to recognize key words (such as altogether, in all, etc.) and to think about what the unknown is....is the total is unknown then use multiplication....if a part is unknown, use division. While the students worked independently on a practice worksheet, I pulled a group to work on equations. There is a worksheet for homework and students should be memorizing their basic facts by practicing their flashcards nightly.

During our whole group reading lesson the students continued working in their small groups to create a jellyfish graphic organizer based on the deep sea fishing article. Then we shared the graphic organizers with the entire class. Tomorrow we will investigate which information was new, and therefore should be part of the jellyfish, and which was redundant. Then the children went to the computer lab and visited the book fair.

Following lunch and recess the students worked on their rough drafts, the holiday comprehension activity and the sequencing activity while I met with reading groups.

Bears: Practiced writing high frequency words. Also identified passages in text that answered comprehension questions. Answered two questions together in class. They need to answer the other two for homework tonight.

Tigers: Practiced high frequency words. Discussed the idea of America as a melting pot in preparation for our new book, Alex Lee a Chinese American. Tonight they need to preview the book and list unknown words.

Lions: Began listing questions they have about the new story. Tonight they need to define and use the following words in a sentence, in their RRJ; persuade, desperate, reputation.

We ended the day by investigating how sound travels using tuning forks and fishing line.