Thriving Thursday

The students started their day in art.

When we returned to class we visited Eric Kimmell's web site and listened to him read one of his traditional tales.  After discussing connections we made and the moral, we moved on to writing.

In writing, I outlined and modeled the expectations for the student's opinion paragraph.  The paragraph will be at least 6 sentences.  The topic sentence will state their opinion using strong words.  Then they will name and explain two facts, from their research, that support their opinion.  Each fact will require one sentence that names it and another sentence which explains it.  Finally, they will end with a concluding sentence which restates their opinion (and does NOT introduce any new facts).

While I meet with groups, the children will complete individual reading group assignments and write the rough  draft for their opinion paragraph.  When they finish they could use the iPads to visit Eric Kimmell's web site.

Sharks:  We met and shared their third assignment from the culminating tic-tac-toe board.  I collected these and will provide feedback and a score.  Then we discussed where to go next...I gave the students a choice between autobiographies /biographies or researching a natural resource.  They chose biographies.  So, we will begin reading about someone tomorrow.

In math we used last night's homework to review identifying the elapsed time.  Then the students worked independently on a follow up worksheet while Mrs. Head and I pulled small groups.  Both groups worked on calculating elapsed time suing a number line.  Mrs. Head's group also practiced summing the products.  For homework there is an elapsed time worksheet.  We will have a quiz tomorrow.  The quiz will be similar to last week's with the addition of 2 elapsed time word problems.

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

Cheetahs:  The students read chapter 8 and thought about the main idea and theme of the book.  In their RRJ they identified and explained their favorite part of the story.  In group we reread chapter 8 and discussed Yang's secret (that he hates the violin) and the connection he made to the blind boy (a blind boy can't see beautiful colors and therefore doesn't appreciate them; Yang can't hear musical tones and therefore doesn't appreciate them).

Yellow Jackets:  The students read a story called The Green Man (from William and Mary program) and completed a literature web for the story.  IN group we discussed who is the green man.  It was a SUPER discussion, with students referring to the text as they voiced their opinions and disagreed or agreed with one another.  WE never came to agreement on this.

Snakes:  The children reread pages 8-16 and wrote a question that could be answered by reading the text.  In group we practiced reading and writing high frequency words (ready, nature, give, many and replace).  We reviewed the -y at the end of a word and -ce, -ci rule.  Then we identified text features in their book and described how they help readers.  Finally, we shared the questions they wrote.  WE will redo this assignment sine their questions could not be answered by reading the book.  Tonight the students need to reread the entire book to work on fluency.

We ended the day by reviewing natural, human and capital resources.  We concentrated on defining a capital resource as something that is human made and used to produce a good or service.  After redefining this term (elaborating on the texts meaning), the students asked great questions about whether various things were capital resources or not.

Tomorrow is Pajama Day!