MSA - Day 2: The Final Reading Session

This morning the children completed the final part of the reading MSA. 

This did take the majority of the morning.  The students really put in a lot of effort!  I was very proud of  them!!

The math portion of the MSA is currently scheduled for this Friday and next Monday morning.

After completing the MSA, we compared fractions with the same numerator but different denominators.  We used pictures of pizza divided into eighths, fourths and halves to recognize that a larger denominator means that the pizza is shared with more people and thus the pieces are actually smaller.  Then we watched a video clip to reinforce this idea.  After that, the students worked in small groups to compare 2/3 and 2/8.  Overall, the students grasped this concept with ease...however, not to be a downer, I know from the past, students will forget what they have learned and easily revert to thinking the larger number in the denominator equates to a larger fraction.  So, we will review this a lot!!

Following lunch and outdoor recess the students went to music.

When they returned to class, we read two realistic fiction stories, both written by Patricia Polacco, called My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother and Chicken Sunday.  After identifying both the main character and the problem in each, we focused on how the author used the actions and words of the main character to solve the problem.  Hopefully, this will help the children as they finish writing their rough drafts, solving the problem they have already written about.

Again, the homework is to relax...although we didn't write it in the planner this evening, I bet the children will not forget to do it!  :-)