Tuesday

We started off the morning with a talk about the importance of sustained reading for enjoyment. I explained to the students that I am reading a book about teaching reading by Jan Richardson and that I am learning that students their age are expected to read and should be able to read for 25-30 UNINTERRUPTED minutes. We talked about how to find a book that they will enjoy, amongst other expectations.

After that we jumped into our whole group reading lesson for the day. Today's lesson focused on identifying important information in a text. In short, the important information depends on your purpose for reading. So, you can read the same text, at different times, and identify different pieces of important information...IF you have a different purpose for reading.

We began reading George Washington's Breakfast with the purpose of finding out what he ate for breakfast. As we read we charted important versus interesting information. The fact that he was the first president and married Martha was put in the interesting column since it did not match our purpose of finding out what he ate for breakfast.

For independent work the students completed a WOW worksheet for the new word of the week, abode. They also did a prefix activity.

Reading Groups:
Cheetahs: We began by doing word work using sound boxes to spell words. Then we reviewed what William could do on the lake and what he couldn't do. After that, we finished reading the book, stopping at various points to retell what we had read. Tonight the students need to reread the book.

Bears: We read and discussed chapter 7. Then the students reread the chapter independently and listed "talking" words on sticky notes.

In math we used information on data tables to answer word problems. While the students worked independently on a follow up worksheet and then practiced their basic facts on the iPads, I met with two small groups. One group practiced extending numeric patterns. The other group practiced rounding three digit numbers to the nearest hundred. There is a pictograph worksheet for homework.

Following PE, the students enjoyed lunch and recess. When they returned tot he classroom, another students helped me model peer conferencing using my writing piece, about the Urbana Carnival, from last week. Then the students got to conference on their writing pieces with other students in the class before resuming their independent work.

Reading Groups:
Crabs: We finished reading chapter 2 and then the students began rereading the chapter and identifying the beginning, middle and end on sticky notes. They will finish this for homework tonight and share it in class tomorrow.

Lions: The students finished reading The Shoeshine Man independently. Then they thought about how Sarah Ida must have felt at the end of the chapter and identified places that support that feeling, using sticky notes, in the book.

We ended the day by idetifying finger prints patterns that will help us solve a fictitious crime.