Wonderful Wednesday

We started the day with our weekly class meeting.  First, each child shared what motivates them to work hard in school.  After that we exchanged some thank yous and compliments.  Finally, we discussed the challenge of choosing friends wisely and being proud of who you are.

After that, we visited Go Noodle and worked towards our marathon run which we started last week.  Go Noodle is a site that has many choices of movement activities.  It is geared towards schools to use as a way to keep blood moving and get kids moving.  Studies show that small exercise breaks keeps students alert and has a positive impact on learning and achievement.

Students working with me used their knowledge of are to solve a word problem.

During guided practice the students created different rectangles, all with an area of 30 cm sq.  As they worked with their partner to do so, they discussed which strategies to try and identified some that didn't work.

During the technology rotation the children visited Learn Zillion to watch a lesson using arrays to identify the missing side of a rectangle with a given area.

There is a word problem, involving area, worksheet for homework.  We WILL have a quiz on Friday!

We began our reading/writing block by reviewing verbs (action words) and determining the difference between regular verbs (add -ed to end when creating past tense) and irregular verbs.

While I worked with small groups ALL students revisited the Africa article on the Internet and read two sections.  In their RRJ they listed information provided by illustrations in the article and then they used context clues to determine the meaning of the word continent.  After that, the children wrote the past tense version of 6 verbs.  Finally, they worked on drafting the intro paragraph for their inquiry project and highlighted verbs in their writing.

Sharks:  Each student received a copy of the November/December issue of National Geographic.  They previewed it.  Then we watched a short video of photographs of endangered species.  Then we discussed what the animals had in common.  Finally we read page 4.  For HOMEWORK the students need to reread page 4 and identify two regular and 2 irregular past tense verbs on the sticky note in their magazine.

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

Dolphins:  First we shared the information they got from the illustrations in the article Africa.  Then I passed out new books, All About Continents.  The students previewed the book and identified text features.  Then we used the glossary to define the term continent.  Finally, we used the photos on pages 2 and 3 to read the words we need to know for the book.  For HOMEWORK the students need to practice reading the words on pages 2 and 3, three times!!

Cheetahs:  We discussed the main event in chapter 12 (Ben got into the attic) and the role reversal between Hana and Ben.  For HOMEWORK the students need to read chapter 13 and explain (briefly) the chapter title on a sticky note.

Panda:  We shared and discussed the titles they wrote for chapter 12.  One student even made a connection between a main idea of the chapter and the title!  :)  After that we identified a possible theme of the book and how Kyle had created a catch-22 or a no win situation.

We ended the day by visiting the Baltimore Museum of Industry's web site to find out what we will be doing on our field trip tomorrow.  We also visited dictionary.com to define the term industry.

PLEASE remember to pack BAG lunches tomorrow with a drink and NO peanut butter!