Thriving Thursday

It's so nice to be back in the classroom, teaching, with the world's greatest students!

This morning we jumped right into math rotations.  During the small group teacher led rotation, we reviewed the partial sums and compensation strategies to find the sum.  Our focus was using a strategy to solve an addition problem and then checking the sum using a different strategy.  After that we began to add 3 addends.  This time the focus was on lining up the columns correctly and looking for numbers that are complements (add up to 10).

During math with a partner, the children worked together to create addition problems with 2, 3-digit addends and solve them using the compensation strategy.  We are working on math discourse, using vocabulary to discuss how we solve the problems.

Finally, during the technology rotation we played Concentration Addition.  The purpose of this activity was to reinforce the memorization of the basic addition facts.

HOMEWORK is on Google Classroom, for math, tonight.  The students will solve a problem and explain which strategy they used and WHY they chose that particular one.

We will have a QUIZ tomorrow covering rounding and addition.

After math we took a very quick Go Noodle break.  Then we began our literacy block.

We began by reviewing the independent work assignments.  They are the same as yesterday.  Once the students got to work, I met with guided reading groups.

Lions:  We began by discussing what we thought about Mr. Henshaw.  Most of us thought he was annoying or a pin in the behind!   :-)  One student pointed out he may be asking questions to get to know his readers better (very smart!).  So, then we discussed this idea.  After that, we identified the events that motivated Leigh to respond to Mr. Henshaw's questions (the TV breaking and his mom's nagging).  FOr HOMEWORK tonight the children need to read pages 23-33 and, on the sticky note, identify the meaning of the word medium, as it is used on page 29.

After enjoying lunch and recess, the students continued working on their independent literacy tasks while I met with more reading groups.

Tigers:  Independently the students worked on their reading assignment from yesterday.  In group we practiced  blending known parts of words together to decode unknown words.  Then the students whisper read Taking Medicine.  For HOMEWORK the children need to reread their book, working on fluency.

Panthers:  Independently, the students worked n their assignment from yesterday.  In group we identified the main character and discussed how the actions of one character led to the next event.  We connected this to the illustrations adding further understandings to the text.  For example, Tiffany screamed, "I  want braids, too."  Which led to Shauna's mother putting braids in her hair.  Once this was done, we know Tiffany is happy because of the illustration (she is smiling in the mirror).  The author never says, directly, that she is happy.  For HOMEWORK the students need to reread their book, working on fluency.

Leopards:  The students read chapter 3 and analyzed the picture on page 29.  In their RRJ they identified and explained additional understandings they got from the picture.  In group we identified the main event in chapter 3 and discussed Ariel's reaction to it.  Then we analyzed why the author made it a stormy day.  For HOMEWORK the students should reread chapter 3 and write a title for it.

After literacy, we headed outside to test how various surfaces (sidewalk, grass, black top, mulch, etc.) affect the motion of a ball.  After recording our results next to our predictions from yesterday, we had a discussion about ways to improve our experiment to obtain more accurate, valid results.  We determined that tools to measure distance and/or time were needed.

The students are ending their day in art.