Thriving Thursday

This morning, prior to the announcements, the children were given time to complete a WTW practice activity.  Then, after the announcements, we began our science lesson.

Today, we had a lot of fun making human food chains.  Each student received a card identifying them as a producer (plant), a herbivore, or a carnivore/omnivore.  They had a description of what they were and what they produced and/or ate.  Then they had to wander around to find others who fit in their chain, either by eating them or being eaten by them.  We did this activity twice.  It was so cool to see the children really grasp the concept of a food chain.

After science, we switched for math and took a Go Noodle brain break.

During the small group, teacher-led, instruction we practiced solving comparative word problems using PARCC sample questions.

During math with a partner, the students engaged in math discourse as they represented and solved comparison word problems.

Finally, during the technology rotation, the students watched two Youtube lessons, through Safe Share, explaining and demonstrating, how to solve comparative word problems.  After each video, they had a question to answer in their math journal.

After math the children enjoyed lunch and recess.  Then we began our literacy block.  Today we took a quick look at some illustrations to help us begin to plan and practice pictures for our historical fiction story.

While I met with guided reading groups the students had time to finish their historical fiction story and any main idea activities from last week.  Then they completed the inference exercise from yesterday.  After that, they began practicing their illustrations for our class book.

Pink:  First we reviewed the -oi and -ea vowel patterns and did a quick word chain exercise to practice the short vowel sounds.  After that we reviewed some of their unknown words from last night's homework.  Then we identified strategies to help us determine the main idea in text.  Finally, we read pages 8-9 and determined the main idea of that section.  HW: Reread book to work on fluency.

Blue:  We reread pages 20 and 21 and then reviewed strategies for determining the main idea of a section of text.  Then, together, we wrote a paragraph stating the main idea and supporting details, in our journals.  HW:  Reread book to work on fluency.

Orange: Independently the children reread pages 4 and 5 and identified the main idea in their reading journal.

Green:  Independently the children reread pages 4 and 5.  Then they identified the main idea and two supporting details, in their journal.