Marvelous Monday

This morning we began with a class meeting.  First, we completed a "group share" where most of us finished the phrase, "I am thankful for...".  Then we shared compliments.  After that, we discussed the challenge of being honest.  We defined the idea of honesty and discussed why it is important to be honest.  Finally, students shared times they were honest and how it felt to tell the truth.

Next we moved on to our reading/writing block.  We began the reading portion by viewing part of the play, "Snow White".  The we compared plays to books and defined vocabulary specific to a play.

After that, I showed the children a Power Point presentation explaining our next research project.  Just like our community action research project from the first marking period, I will guide the students through the entire process. 

The students will choose a technology tool to research and then write an informative piece about that tool as it was in the past, as it exists now and how human wants and needs drove the technological changes the tool went through.  Then the students will work with a small group to write and perform a skit incorporating the tools researched by their group members.

As I said, this will take the entire marking period.  I will guide the students through the process and model the steps along the way.

While I met with small groups, the students completed their facing the unknown rough drafts.  Then they met in small groups and conferenced using a chart provided by me to guide them through the process.  After that, they will revise their piece and publish it on the lap tops.  They also had individual reading group assignments.

Cheetahs:  We reviewed strategies to help us determine the main idea of text.  Then we read page 9 and identified the topic sentences.  For homework, the students need to read pages 9-11 and attempt to identify the main idea of the section, on the sticky note provided.

In math we watched an audio-visual presentation about patterns on the hundreds chart used for memorizing basic multiplication facts for 2, 5 and 9.  You can view it here.   Then the children identified the facts, independently, on their own hundreds chart.  Mrs. Head pulled a small group to review identifying the knowns and unknowns in word problems.  I pulled a small group to practice identifying the factors of a given number.  There is a worksheet for homework practicing the 8's basic facts.


Following lunch and outdoor recess, the students continued working on their writing and reading assignments.

Sharks:  We reviewed the beginning, middle and end that most students drew on Friday for the chapter titled, "A Letter".  There was a lot of confusion.  So we reread parts of the chapter together and independently, searching for answers to questions I posed to the group.  WE also orally rehearsed a summary for the chapter.  This evening the students need to reread the chapter and write a summary in their RRJ.

Yellow Jackets:  We discussed identifying the main idea in a section of text by noticing repeated words and phrases, topic sentences and the heading.  Using those ideas, the children should see how it all fits together or the common thread that the rest of the text, in that section, supports.  For homework, the children need to reread pages 14-19 and write a main idea statement on the sticky note provided in class. 

Snakes: we began to discuss retelling sections of text when half the group was pulled to go to another teacher.  Tonight, please have them reread up to page 11 working on fluency.

We ended the day by discussing the idea of population distribution and factors that affect it, both today and in years past.