Brrrr...Freezing Friday!

This morning, due to the two hour delay of school, the students came in and headed right to lunch.

When they returned to the classroom, we reviewed and shared last night's math homework.  Then I explained the independent work for today's literacy block.

***We did not do the practice for the PARCC assessment.  That has been postponed to next Tuesday.***

Today the children will complete independent guided reading assignments.  Then they will finish unfinished work from the week.  This includes planning the main character, setting, problem and solution for their realistic fiction picture book.  Additionally, they will watch a Brain Pop Jr. lesson about continents and oceans.  Then they will complete a map of North America.  Finally, they create a fake "Facebook" page representing their assigned African American.

While the students work on these assignments, I will meet with guided reading groups.

Tigers:  We began with a mini spelling test of their word work words.  They will get new words on Monday.  I had planned to begin their new book today but, due to the delayed start, our group was interrupted by another specialist in the building.  So...Monday will bring new word work words and a new book.  :-)

In the middle of our literacy block we visited Mrs. Allaire, in the media center.  She read a realistic fiction picture book, Knuffle Bunny 3, to us and used it to explain how illustrations add details to the story.  Additionally, she taught us about paging in books.

When we returned to class, the children resumed their independent work and I met with more groups.

Panthers:  Independently the children reread chapter 3 and identified a character trait for Uncle Max, along with 2 examples from the book supporting it.  In group we discussed chapter 3 and took a mini word work quiz.

Leopards:  Independently the children reread chapter 18 and in their RRJ they explained how the children felt at the end of the chapter and why.  In group we discussed how the children felt in chapter XVIII and why.  There was some confusion so we revisited the chapter and broke it down, piece by piece, until we agreed that the children were frustrated and not happy.  Then the students took a mini word work quiz.

Lions:  Independently the students reread chapter 18 and, in their RRJ, explained why Peter is trying to find Uncle Victor.  In group we took a mini word work quiz and briefly discussed Peter's motivation to find Uncle Victor.

After our literacy block we shared homework writing journal entries.

Finally,  we ended the day with a class meeting.  During our group share, we identified our favorite type of car (a student picked this one!).  Then we exchanged thank yous and compliments.  Finally, the students discussed some of their challenges.  One challenge was students misbehaving behind my back and another was students interrupting during guided reading groups.  We brainstormed ideas to resolve these frustrations and will revisit them at a future class meeting.