Fabulous Friday

This morning, the students completed the Friday section of the vocabulary sheet for our word of the week, confirm.  Then, they chose which academic skill to practice, since it is Free Choice Friday.  After the video announcements, we switched for math.

Math began with an addition based puzzle for our math warm up.  Then, we reviewed last night's homework.  After that, we began our rotations.

During the small group rotation, we practiced using partial quotients to solve 4-digit by 1-digit division problems.  Then we checked our quotients using multiplication.  During math with a partner, the students played, "Remainders Race," a board game practicing mental math division of 2-digit by 1-digit numbers involving remainders.  During the technology portion, the students completed a session of Xtra Math and then practiced partial quotients using this website.

Between the second and third rotations, the children enjoyed lunch and outdoor recess.

After math, we reviewed all of the vocabulary words of the week since the beginning of the year and then reviewed the answers to this week's puzzles. 

Then, we began our literacy block.  We started with a writing mini-lesson.  With their writing partner, the students reread the concluding paragraphs of the model essays.  Then they discussed what they noticed about each.  Finally, as a class we recognized that the conclusions restated the opinion and their reasons but did not explain them.

Next, we reviewed the concept of cause and effect.  We defined the cause as the "because" or the reason, and the effect as the result.  We spent time identifying causes and effects for common, everyday examples.

Then, while I continued with the monthly one-on-one reading assessments, the students worked independently.  First, they COMPLETED their persuasive essay draft, focusing on the concluding paragraph.  After that, they worked through a Flocabulary lesson on cause and effect.  This included a video, flashcards, a reading passage, and finally, a quiz.  Finally, they had one last day to explain how organisms in their eco-system rely on one another.

We ended the day with a class meeting.  First, we each shared what was on our minds.  Then, we exchanged thank yous and compliments.  After that, we discussed some challenges.  One challenge was needing extra help with the curriculum.  I recommended putting a sticky note on my desk or coming for help during morning work.  Then, we revisited sharing the bean bags.  This seems to be a hot topic!  We decided that this week we would work on using kind words to remind people  of the expectations.  We ended the meeting by watching a video about being mindful.