Thriving Thursday

Today is our flip-flop day.  So, after selecting our Star Students for December (caring), we jumped into our math rotations.

The teacher lesson focused on building iterations of unit fractions.  We focused on 2/3, 3/4, 5/4 and other related fractions.  We compared the fractions we built to 1 whole and came up with some conclusions.  For example, when the numerator and the denominator are the same, the fraction is equal to one. 

During guided practice, students played a fraction matching game.

Students revisited the Edmodo fractions app during the technology portion of math.

For HOMEWORK there is a fraction worksheet.  We WILL have a quiz tomorrow.  I did suggest that students might want to revisit the Edmodo fraction app, also, for homework....but that is optional.

After math the children went to music.  When they returned, I reviewed the travel brochure, section by section, that the children will be creating, using their research, for either Cairo, Timbuktu or Zimbabwe. 

While I met with small groups the students worked on independent reading groups assignments, published the first three paragraphs of their inquiry project and gathered research to complete their travel brochure.

Dolphins:  We added new words to their word bag.  Then I introduced the next book, Footprints. AS the children read the book, I listened in and provided prompts and praise.  Afterwards, we discussed using context clues to understand unknown words such as the word wise on page 14.  For HOMEWORK the students need to practice reading their word cards and reread the book.

Sharks:  The students watched a Learn Zillion lesson about using a stand out sentence to identify the main idea of a section of text.  In group we discussed the lesson and related it to our writing.  The students know that each paragraph begins with a topic sentence which tells the topic, or main idea, of the paragraph.  Next, we revisited page 9 and read our main idea statement.  Then we check the topic sentence on page 9 and noticed it had the same idea as statement we wrote!  Finally, we read page 10 and identified the main idea using the topic sentences.  For HOMEWORK the students need to reread pages 5-10.

Following lunch and outdoor recess the students continued their independent work while I met with more small groups.

Cheetahs:  The students watched a Learn Zillion lesson about using context clues to identify the meaning of unknown words in text.  In group we reviewed the lesson.  Then we went over the unknown words they identified for homework last night and used the glossary and context clues to figure out their meanings.  For HOMEWORK the studnets need to read chapter 3 and highlight or circle unknown words.

Pandas:The students watched a Learn Zillion lesson about using context clues to identify the meaning of unknown words in text. In group we reviewed the lesson. Then we went over the unknown words they identified for homework last night and used the glossary and context clues to figure out their meanings. For HOMEWORK the studnets need to read chapter 3 and highlight or circle unknown words.

We ended the day with the students working on their disease presentations.  They will get more time tomorrow and then they will present at the end of the day.