Hump Day

Woo Hoo! What a great way to start the day...we had a quiz in math and the students ROCKED it! Please check your child's math section in their binder to see how YOUR student did! After the quiz, we practiced estimating multiplication word problems. There is a practice sheet for homework!

We began reading with a discussion about our second writing assignment of the marking period; the research based piece. While I saw great efforts put forth by the students, I was a bit disappointed by their finished products. I got the overall feeling that the children were weighed down or possibly overwhelmed by the research aspect and therefore the actual writing process was put on the back burner. After our discussion, I discovered that the students did feel they were in over their heads and lost interest in what they were doing. Truthfully, I felt it was a great discussion.

With this in mind, our next writing piece will be on a subject that the students feel they know a lot about...one that is child friendly (such as Webkinz). Hopefully, we will see much improvement in their actual writing craft.

Next, we began our study of Fables. I shared the characteristics of a fable; brief, limited plot, usually animals are the characters and they act like humans and there is always a moral or a lesson. Finally, we read two of Aesop's fables and discussed the morals.

Prior to going to PE, lunch and recess, Mrs. Harmon visited us to share information about the upcoming Science Fair. Look for information in your child's home folder this evening.

After recess the students worked independently on planning their new writing piece and other assignments from earlier in the week while I met with groups.


Bears: Practiced writing high frequency words. Began reading Town Mouse and Country Mouse. Tonight they need to reread pages 2-8.

Tigers: Read the fable The Lion and the Gnat and discussed the moral. Tonight they need to reread the fable (parent signature required!) and draw the three main events from the story.

Lions: Share Head in the Clouds. Tonight they need to answer the focus question using information from the story. Focus Question: Is Shakro more interested in proving he can trick the king or in helping the people in his village?

We ended the day by writing predictions as to the sounds we would hear and the vibrations we would observe when we dangle a ruler over the edge of a desk and "fling" it (for lack of a better term), at different lengths. Tomorrow we will actually do this experiment and write our results next to our predictions.