Thrilling Thursday

This morning, after the announcements, we began our science lesson.  Today, the children worked collaboratively, in assigned, small groups, to research and become experts in unfamiliar environments.  Their job was to identify the characteristics of the ecosystem, the organisms that survive there, and why they do. As the children worked, I continued with my informal reading assessments.

After science, we began our math block.  Today we focused on writing multi-digit numbers in word form.

During small group we practiced reading and writing, in word form, numbers up to a million.  There will be a short formative assessment on this tomorrow.

During math with a partner the students completed their digit value activity from yesterday and then participated in a number sort, matching numbers in standard form to the word and expanded form.

During the technology rotation the children watched a Learn Zillion lesson about writing multi-digit numbers in word form, and took notes in their math journals.  Then, if they had time, they visited a web site called Really Big Numbers to practice reading and writing multi-digit numbers.

After math the children enjoyed lunch and outdoor recess.

When they returned to class, they were very hot and exhausted!!  We took a cool down break and set up Go Guardian accounts.  This will allow me to monitor what they do on their Chrome  Book at ALL times.  :-)

Next we began our literacy block.

We reviewed the 5 generalizations of change.  Then we reviewed the character analysis organizer that began on Tuesday.  After that I introduced and explained the criteria for an introductory paragraph for our character analysis.  We took a peak at  a county example and highlighted the criteria (hook, information about the book, an opinion statement).  Then I modeled using my organizer to draft an introductory paragraph.  All of these resources are included in our daily flip chart and available for the students to revisit.

While I continued my informal reading assessments, the students completed their character analysis organizer and then began drafting their introductory paragraph.  Then they finished their reading assignments from yesterday, identifying the setting in Pop's Bridge.  Those who finished early were able to read using a book from the media center, MyON, or Tumblebooks.