Our week continues...It's Thursday!

I hope all of you survived the 10+ inches of snow that we were promised and didn't get...

Just a note about testing...due to the snow day MSA testing has been pushed back a day. That means we will NOT have testing tomorrow. Instead we will take the math portion of the MSA on Monday and TUESDAY of next week.

This morning we were introduced to a new genre of literature, literary nonfiction. This is nonfiction (true facts) written in the form of a story. After discussing this type of writing we viewed two video clips to build our background knowledge about the subject of the book, Kate Shelley, a teenager who saved over 200 people by getting word out that a bridge had collapsed during a terrible storm. This stopped the Midnight Express from continuing onto its intended path over the collapsed bridge.

After identifying what we learned from the video clips, we read and discussed the story.

Next, reviewed the writing dialogue resources (worksheets) they received last Friday. First, we identified the punctuation and capitalization rules for writing dialogue in text. Then we reviewed the list of words that we could use instead of the word, "said".

Finally, the students worked on completing their rough drafts for their realistic fiction picture books and added dialogue to their writing. If they finished early, they were to find examples of dialogue in realistic fiction books and copy them, correctly, into a chart in their RRJ.

As they students worked, I met with individuals who needed help with their rough drafts.

In math we used pictures to compare fractions with the same numerator but different denominators.  The students are truly beginning to understand that the larger the denominator, the smaller the pieces will be.  While students completed 5 problems in their math journals, Mrs. Head and I met with small groups.  My group practiced partitioning grids into equal groups and naming fractions for the shaded and unshaded parts.  Mrs. Heads group worked on identifying equivalent fractions.

Following lunch and recess the students went to art.  When they returned to art, we viewed a Power Point about how culture is shared.  Then the students discussed what they learned with a partner and created a web, showing how culture is shared, in their social studies journal.

FOR HOMEWORK:  Students are to find out about their family's culture, through discussion with an adult, and write about it (jot down ideas) in their social studies journal.  We will share these ideas tomorrow, in class.