Wonderful Wednesday

We began our day with our weekly class meeting.  Today's meeting focused on goal setting.  So, the group share had students naming a specific skill they feel is a strength.  After that, we shared compliments.  Finally, we focused on academic goal setting. 

We watched a short video about setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) goals.  Then I explained that each child will soon be setting a goal for reading/writing and a goal for math, that THEY want to work on.

More to come on this...

Next we began our math rotations.  Today's teacher lesson used circles as the unit fraction.  We  defined the numerator and denominator and used the denominator to decide which circle we would use to color in a given fraction.  For example, if the fraction is 3/4, the students chose the circle with partitioned into 4 equal parts and colored in three of those parts.

During guided practice the children played a game called, Roll, Slide and Cover.  They rolled two dice and created a fraction.  Then they found that fraction on the game board and covered it with a colored square.  The first to get four in a row was the winner.  This practiced naming and identifying fractions of a whole, using circles.

Finally, the students enjoyed the Matching Fractions web site during their technology rotation.

For HOMEWORK the students are to work on a fractions app in Edmodo.  We went over how to find the app in class.  They should work on it for 5-10 minutes.  It begins with a brief placement assessment to determine what each child knows.  Then the child will be given short mini lessons and games.  I receive data telling what the child is working on.

While I met with small groups today the students worked on independent reading group assignments, their inquiry project and gathering information for the upcoming travel brochure.

Sharks:  The students received a new book called, Germs Make Me Sick!  We reviewed a few vocabulary words from the book and then began reading it.  After each page the students reread the page and wrote a main idea statement.  For HOMEWORK the students need to reread pages 5-9.

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

Dolphins:  We practiced their word bag cards.  Then we added the -er ending to words to turn an action word into a word that names someone who is doing something.  We also noticed that this changed a one syllable word into two.  Then they identified and wrote about the problem and solution of the book in their RRJ.  I connected this to cause and effect, as well.  For HOMEWORK the children need to reread their book.  They will get a new text tomorrow.

Cheetahs:  The students received a new book called, "You Make Me Sick".  They read chapter 1 and identified two examples of cause and effect in their RRJ.  In group we reviewed being specific when identifying examples of cause and effect.  We also used the headings to identify what sections of text were about AND used those to help us find cause and effect in the text.  Finally, we used the glossary to define words in bold print.  For HOMEWORK the students need to read chapter 2 and highlight or circle unknown words.

Pandas:The students received a new book called, "You Make Me Sick". They read chapter 1 and identified two examples of cause and effect in their RRJ. In group we reviewed being specific when identifying examples of cause and effect. We also used the headings to identify what sections of text were about AND used those to help us find cause and effect in the text.  For HOMEWORK the students need to read chapter 2 and highlight or circle unknown words.

The day ended with the students working in small groups to research their disease/parasite and begin working on their presentation.  We will continue this tomorrow!