Wonderful Wednesday

Today was a great day!  We entertained visitors!  Several MCPS employees stopped in to see how we personalize our instruction and your children were fabulous hosts!  It was such fun to show off our learning skills and strategies.

We began with math rotations.  Students working with me practiced reading time on an analog clock to the nearest minute and sharing their strategies for doing so efficiently.  One group continued their work on calculating elapsed time, too. 

During guided practice the students rolled dice to identify a time, draw it on an analog clock and write it using appropriate vocabulary such as minutes after, until, before, etc.

Finally, during the technology session some students watched a Learn Zillion lesson about telling time to the exact minute and ALL students went to eh Internet site Stop the Clock to practice telling time to the minute.

For HOMEWORK the students got to choose between the Internet sites Product Game (basic multiplication facts) and Clockwise (telling time).

We began our reading and writing block with a little talk---the students have struggled with taking their time to complete their tasks accurately. So, we discussed the difference between hearing and listening.  Listening is ACTIVE and requires thinking.  When the children are given videos or lessons to watch they need to listen.  Additionally, they might have to pause, stop and rewind, or rewatch an entire activity.  This is okay and to be expected!

After our talk, I reviewed today's independent reading group assignments and the weekly ones, too.
This weeks tasks include viewing an Educreations lesson about writing the third paragraph for the issue Inquiry project. This paragraph is informing about the arguments against their issue. The second assignment is to watch a Discovery Education video about different types of resources and economic choices. The children to have a capture sheet to complete, too. Finally, all students will read the Latin American tale called The Silly Armadillo. They will compete a story map (ungraded) to reflect upon the text. Then they will identify how they use context clues and provide support, from the tale, to explain the theme. These two items will be graded.


While the students worked independently, I met with small groups of students to work on their issue writing projects.

This afternoon I have a meeting in Rockville.  Mrs. Sennewald will be in to meet with reading groups and to our science lesson.

Sharks:  The students read the rest of their book and listed unknown words.  With Mrs. Sennewald they will review unknown words and reread the end of the book.

Dolphins:  The watched a video snippet using the movie Aladdin to teach plot.  Then they reviewed the sticky notes they paced for homework last night.  In group they will review their word bag cards and share the two rising action events they marked for homework last night.  They will add these to their plot diagram.  For HOMEWORK they need to reread their book--working on fluency.

Cheetahs:  The students watched a video snippet using Aladdin to teach about plot.  They completed a 3-2-1 summarizer stating 3 things they learned, 2 connections they made and 1 question they still had.  IN group they shared this and began completed the plot diagram.  They need to read for 30 minutes for HOMEWORK tonight.

Pandas:  The students watched a video snippet using Aladdin to teach about plot. They completed a 3-2-1 summarizer stating 3 things they learned, 2 connections they made and 1 question they still had. IN group they shared this and began completed the plot diagram. They need to read for 30 minutes for HOMEWORK tonight.

The day ended with the children learning how pigments are made from natural resources and discussing what they might do to dye a piece of cloth using natural resources available around our school.