Terrific Tuesday

This morning, after the announcements, we began learning about geographic tools of the United States.  Based on the curriculum, it seems a geographic tool is a man -made feature that relates to a natural feature....for example, the Chesapeake Bay bridge (man-made) allows us to cross the Chesapeake Bay (natural feature) and thus access the Atlantic beaches.

After reviewing natural and man-made features, and introducing the concept of a geographic tool, the students began working collaboratively, in small groups, to research an assigned geographic tool in the United States.  They took notes on a capture sheet and then planned a presentation to "teach" the rest of the class about the tool they researched.

After social studies we switched for math.

In my math class today, we focused on comparing numbers using <, >, or =.

During the small group, teacher led instruction, we focused on taking numbers written expanded form and writing them in standard form.  Then we compared the two numbers using <, >, or =.

During math with a partner, the students played a Talk and Toss game to practice reading and writing multi-digit numbers.

Finally, during the technology rotation, the students watched a Learn Zillion lesson about comparing multi-digit numbers and took notes in their math journals.  If they finished early, they played Place Value Pirates.

After our math block, the students enjoyed lunch and outdoor recess.  Then they had PE with Mr. Smith.

When they returned to class, we began our literacy block.  We reviewed the 5 generalizations of change and discussed using what the text says, and our background knowledge, to make inferences which help us to better understand what we read.  Then we read the story The Gold Coin and identified changes in the main character Juan.

While I met with individual students to continue my informal reading assessments, the students worked on the following tasks independently.

First the children reread The Gold Coin, and explained why they thought Juan helped repair Dona Josef's roof.  They also found three pieces of evidence from the text to support their thinking.  After that, they reviewed the feedback I provided on their character analysis chart and then worked on their introductory paragraph.  If they finished early, they completed the Learn Zillion lesson on modal auxiliaries and read quietly.

It was another great day with this crew!  :-)