The countdown begins...

There is definitely excitement in the air as we begin our march into the holiday season! I can't tell whether the children are more excited about Grandparent's Day (on Wednesday), only 2 1/2 days of school this week or the holidays in general.

In reading we read an article about Thanksgiving. Then we identified and highlighted the 5 most important facts in the piece. After that, the students, independently, will write a summary about the article (using the highlighted facts) and complete a 2-sided comprehension worksheet.

Reading Groups
Bears: We practiced a comprehension strategy called stop-think-paraphrase as we continued reading Leaving Home. We also identified the main idea in the two sections we read. For homework the students need to reread pages 18-21 and practice using the stop, think and paraphrase strategy.

In math we reviewed and practiced determining the area and perimeter of rectangles when only two of the sides have measurements. Then we identified the area of figures by drawing and counting squares. Homework is an area worksheet.

Following music, lunch and outdoor recess I modeled how to use a graphic organizer to write a rough draft. The emphasis of my lesson was to name and EXPLAIN your ideas in your writing. It is not enough to say that one of the positions in soccer is a mid-fielder...the writer must then explain what a mid-fielder is and what their job is during the game.

Then the students continued working independently while I met with reading groups.

Reading groups
Crabs: We practiced using the comprehension strategy of stop-think-paraphrase as we read 7 weeks, 9 weeks and 10 weeks old. For homework the students need to reread these three sections and get a parent signature in their planner.

Lions: We began to meet but were running VERY behind...so we set a plan for group tomorrow and did not really have reading group today! Confused?!?! Yup, us, too!!!

We ended the day with by continuing to read Junkyard Warriors by Patricia Polacco...I highly recommend checking this book out.