Fantastic Friday!

Sorry that there wasn't a blog post yesterday.  Basically, we were on our field trip until 2:15. 

The field trip was EXCELLENT!  Students were involved in hands-on learning experiences working with an assembly line and creating a model of a roller coaster.  However, the learning went FAR beyond what I just described.  They learned historical facts and new vocabulary.  They also collaborated to design a solution to a problem, test it, assess what didn't work and fix the issues. It was a great day!

Follow me on twitter (@runnerdana) to see pictures from the trip!!

When we returned to school we made holiday cards for the troops who are stationed overseas protecting out freedom.

On to today...

The children began their day in PE.

When they returned to class they voted on Star Students for the month of November.  The character trait was caring.

Then they took a math quiz.  The children did very well!  The quizzes have been scored and should be in the math section of the binder.

Our reading and writing block began with a mini-lesson about the use transition words to improve the clarity and smoothness of our writing.  Then I modeled drafting the second paragraph of the inquiry project which discussed our tool in the past.

While I met with small groups, students used morphemes (word parts) to write words they know and identify the definition of each, taking into account the meaning of each part of the word.  After that, they continued working on their inquiry project.  Most are writing the rough draft for their intro paragraph.

Sharks:  We revisited regular and irregular past tense verbs as we shared Wednesday night's homework (well, those who did it shared).  Then we used cards with morphemes written on them to create words and write their definitions.  We did two in group and the students will do 3 more independently, after group.  Next, we reviewed using text features and repeated words to identify the main idea of text.  Finally, we read page 5 and retold what we read.

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

Dolphins:  We worked on the morpheme match up activity together.  Then we reviewed the words on the first two pages.  After that, we revisited using text features and repeated words and ideas to identify the main idea.  Finally, we read pages 4 and 5 and discussed what it was about.

Cheetahs:  We reviewed Morpheme Match Up and the students were given the chance to revise it before handing it in.  Then we shared their title explanations for chapter 13.  Again, we discussed the changes in Ben and Hana.

Pandas:  We reviewed Morpheme Match Up and the students were given the chance to revise it before handing it in. Then we shared their titles for chapter 13 and I guessed what happened in the chapter based on their work.  After that we discussed why Kyle spilled the beans and predicted what would happen next.

We ended the day by viewing a Power Point about the wonders of Africa.  As we did so, the students identified each as either natural or human-made and evaluated the information in the presentation to determine what made it a wonder.