Marvelous Monday

Remember that our Pennies for Patients collection is going on until March 27!!

Also, tomorrow is our final day of PARCC testing!!  We will have a lter lunch.  SO, please, send in a healthy snack.

This morning, the students read quietly, exchanged books in the media center, or practiced keyboarding.  After the announcements we changed classroom jobs and began math rotations.

During the small group, teacher led, instruction, students used >, <, or =, to compare fractions with alike numerators or denominators.

During math with a partner the children engaged in math discourse as they played Fraction Tic-Tac-Toe to practice comparing fractions.

Finally, during the technology portion, the children visited the site, Melvin's Match, to practice identifying equivalent fractions.

There is no homework tonight or tomorrow night, due to PARCC testing.  HOMEWORK will resume Wednesday!!

After math we took a Go Noodle brain break and then began our literacy block.

Before going over today's independent work, I did a quick review of properly punctuating dialogue in writing, and words we can use instead of the word "said".  I also added some resources to our daily flip chart for the students to use.

Today's independent tasks begin with an independent guided reading group activity.  Then students used my Educreations lessons and their own screen cast to draft the first four sections of their realistic fiction picture book.  After that, they watched a Brain Pop Jr. lesson about subject/verb agreement and completed a follow up worksheet.  Finally, they finished the culture worksheet and their African American fake "Facebook" page.

Tigers:  First the students whisper read chapter 1.  Then we reviewed some vocabulary for chapter 2 (allowance, combination, arithmetic, and aisle).  Next the students whisper read chapter 2 to find out how long it took Andrew to save up his money and how much the recipe cost.  Finally, we discussed the beginning, middle, and end of chapter 2.  Then students returned to their seats to reread chapter 2, and, in their RRJ, draw a picture of the beginning, middle, and end of the chapter and write a sentence to go with each of the three pictures.

Following lunch and outdoor recess, the children continued working independently while i met with more guided reading groups.

Panthers:  Independently the students read chapter 8, and, in their RRJ, they drew a picture of the beginning, middle, and end of the chapter, and wrote a sentence to go with each picture.  In group we reread sections of chapter 8 to discuss words and actions that give us information about characters and their traits.  Then we shared the children's beginning, middle, and ends.  Finally, I wrote a sentence for the beginning, middle, and end, that the children copied, below a line of learning, into their RRJ.

Leopards:  Independently the children read chapter XXIII and wrote a summary in their RRJ.  In group we reread sections of the text to determine characters' reactions upon seeing one another.  We identified the words and actions that led us to our thinking.  Finally, we discussed what we think might happen if there was a next chapter in this book.

Lions:  Independently the students read chapter 24 and wrote a summary in their RRJ.  In group we reread select portions of the chapter to infer what had happened to Jan Lasek's passport and why the German's had "saved" him.  Then we shared several of the children's summaries.

After our literacy block, we read about insulators using a non-fiction text, and watched a video clip found on the Discovery Education web site.  The students will use this knowledge to help them build a Keep-a-Cube...an insulated container to prevent an ice cube from melting.  This will be done in class, using the elementary design process.  I introduced that to the children, as well.

The students ended their day in music with Ms. Guerra.