Sunny Thursday

Today is flip-flop day!  So, we began our day with math rotations.

The teacher led group investigated measuring liquid volume using Liters.  The students were told to think of a big Aquafina bottle (or 2 regular sized water bottles) as a benchmark for the amount of liquid in a Liter.

During the guided practice some groups continued playing Rolling for Dice but one group worked on a logic problem involving the numbers on the face of a clock.

Finally, during the technology rotation, the students visited the Internet Clockwise to practice telling time to the nearest minute.

For HOMEWORK there is a volume worksheet and we will have a quiz tomorrow covering word problems and telling time using an analog clock.

During the reading and writing block the students continued working on this week's activities.  Many students have found themselves redoing tasks due to a lack of effort.  WE have had a couple of heart-to-heart talks this week about expectations and the importance of persistence and effort.

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.

Sharks:  We reread pages 10-16 and discussed the problem and solution.  For HOMEWORK the children need to reread pages 10-16, working on fluency and expression.

Following lunch and outdoor recess the students continued their independent work while I met with more reading groups...and we had our monthly fire drill.  :-)

Dolphins:  We reviewed the problem, rising action and climax from their story maps.  Then we reread part of Jack and the Beanstalk to identify the falling action and solution.  Finally, we discussed the theme of the tale.  The students need to reread the book, working on fluency, for HOMEWORK tonight.

Cheetahs:  Today, in group,  we changed the focus for the text, The Banza.  We discussed the question, posed by one of our classmates, "Why did the tiger chief send away his tigers instead of going away himself?"  For HOMEWORK tonight the students need to review the story and mark places where Cabree exhibits braver with a B.  They will use this in class tomorrow.

Pandas:  Today, in group, we changed the focus for the text, The Banza. We discussed the question, posed by one of our classmates, "Why did the tiger chief send away his tigers instead of going away himself?" For HOMEWORK tonight the students need to review the story and mark places where Cabree exhibits braver with a B. They will use this in class tomorrow.

At the end of the day we discussed the TASS skills that are the focus of this marking period; persistence and elaboration.  I provided a couple of examples of each.

I will NOT be in school tomorrow.  I am taking a personal day.  The children will take a math quiz but won't get it back until next week.  Additionally, they will work on the suffix -ly and identifying effort, motivation and persistence in text.  Finally, during social studies they will review economic choices and practice making some!