Tuesday

This morning we reviewed the tools we have been using to increase our reading comprehension. These include summarizing the text and identifying the main idea and author's message.


After that, the students got into small groups to complete a word sort for our next book, Venomous Snakes. Each group was given an envelop with approximately 30 words from the book. The students then put the words into categories and created a heading, or rule, for each. The purpose of this task was to recall background knowledge and encourage discussion, which, in turn, bolsters comprehension.

After discussing the children's categories and how this activity prepared us to read the book, we moved onto our writing lesson. I told students that their last writing piece was scored relatively easily. Student's scores reflected having a beginning, middle and end written in a logical order. However, there were many errors in the point of view (first person vs. third person) and verb tense. Our next piece will focus on these characteristics.

This morning the children thought of a topic for their next piece and shared their ideas, first with a partner, and then the whole group.

In math we reviewed telling time to the minute and practiced skip counting using time. While the students worked on a practice worksheet, I met with a small group to identify the time to the minute using an analog clock. There is a worksheet for homework.

Due to the lower grade field day, we will not have PE until tomorrow. So, before enjoying lunch and recess the students worked on researching the Aztecs using the Ipads and the Aztec textbook.

After recess the students read part of the Venomous Snakes book and identified 5 facts they learned. Then they completed a story map for their next realistic fiction writing piece. After that, they worked on a vocabulary quiz.

Bears: We reviewed the sticky notes from Friday where the students identified the "disaster in the dining room". Then we identified the meaning of vocabulary words in the next chapter, chapter 9.

Lions: We reviewed the vocabulary for chapter 19 and then read the chapter, thereby finishing the book!

Crabs: We finished reading chpater 7 and therfore finished the book. Tomorrow we will discuss the book and read the afterward.

We will end the day by continuing with out Aztec research.