Monday...trying to get back on track!

Thank you, and your children, for being so patient with me last week.  I am hoping my sickness is gone and that we can return to our normal routine!

This morning, we began the day with a class meeting.  First, we had a group share with each person sharing what it means to be a good friend.  Then we exchanged compliments.  After that, we discussed the continuing challenge of following directions.  As a group, we decided to go back to the clip system as a reminder when children are not following directions.

After our class meeting, we reviewed the idea of relevant information in text and determined that authors use text features to include and highlight it in their writing.  We used a non-fiction book written by MCPS to help students recognize how text features provide and explain relevant information.  WE also charted those features, such as, bold print, glossary, Internet link, captions, which included the relevant information.

Next, we reviewed the Power Point about sentence fluency.  We identified conjunctions that could be used to combine two simple sentences into one longer sentence.

While I meet with small groups the students will revise their writing pieces adding adjectives and adverbs and making sure they included both simple and compound sentences.  They will also complete individual reading group assignments.

Yellow Jackets:  We met, finally, and had our inquiry discussion.  We discussed the question, "Why doesn't the cat ever share the plan with his master?"  Students were expected share their ideas, listen to those of their group mates and then respond using ideas from the text.  The children struggled with this process.  They all had an "answer" to share but shied away from the "discussion" aspect.

In math we used the virtual manipulative web site to identify and name fractions of a whole using circles.  There is a math worksheet for homework. 

Following lunch and outdoor recess, Mrs. Howard conducted a lesson about friendship.

After that, Ms. Klein, a substitute covering for me, worked with the students to identify questions the children want to answer about the African Desert.  Then the children worked in small groups to locate answers using the online elementary edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica and creating a presentation using the iPad app Pages.