Happy Hump Day!

The students began their day in the media center. 

When they returned to class we took a few minutes to review the various projects/small group assignments which we are currently working on.  These include the newsletter, the folktale and, after this afternoon, the service project. 

Next, we read three journal entries, written from a boy's perspective, and identified and discussed the changes we noted as the entries progressed.

Then the students met, briefly, in their newsletter groups to identify what they have completed, what they need to do next and questions they need me to answer.  after 5 minutes, we gathered on the carpet and shared their discussions and I took time to answer questions.

While I meet with small groups (and some individuals for informal reading assessments), the students will work on their newsletters with their groups and complete the planning sheets for the folktale they will create using Toontastic, with their Kinder Buddies.

Sharks:  We met and reviewed the examples they identified, from their story, of cause and effect, for homework last night.  Many struggled with this concept.  Therefore, we spent more time identifying examples (and discussing them) in group.  We will begin a new book tomorrow.

In math we continued our lesson from yesterday...calculating the perimeter of a rectangle using information from neighboring, bordering figures.   This lesson involved the Promethean board's active expression polling system.  See the pictures below.

 Above, the students are viewing the problem on the Promethean board and using their math journal to do their calculations.  Then they "shared" their final answer using the handheld device.

 This is a picture of the Promethean board.  The darkened rectangle is the figure for which they were calculating the perimeter.  You can't see it but there is a linear measurement at the very top of the screen, which they needed to complete the problem.  The yellow section lists student numbers that correlate to their handheld device.  When it is shaded (in yellow), the student has "sent" in their answer.

This picture shows a student solving the problem, by writing on the board, in order to see which of the various responses, "sent" in by the class, was the correct one.

This is a picture of the handheld device that the students use to "send" in their answers.
There is a calculating perimeter worksheet for homework.

Following lunch and outdoor recess the students continued working independently, while I met with more small groups and individual students.

Cheetahs:  We met and began reading pages 10-16 and sharing the questions and answers they noted for homework last night.  We got derailed, though, and used Wikipedia to learn about Indian reservations.  We will finish sharing last night's homework tomorrow, in group.

Yellow Jackets:  We reread and discussed pages 1-9.  Discussions included describing the three main characters, the author's foreshadowing and the main character's best friend being a yellow canary.

Snakes:  We reviewed our word lists and I gave a heavy text introduction that included word work and literal comprehension questions.  For homework the students need to read the story on pages 2-16.

We ended the day by discussing the academic success skill of persistence (not giving up).  After that, I modeled this skill be revisiting this morning's math lesson and showing the class how I problem solved, during lunch, to figure out how to write on a Power Point slide during a slide show presentation.  I had struggled with this earlier in the day.

Finally, I shared the production plan worksheet that I created for the students to use when we make create goods for the cancer patients at Johns Hopkins.