Terrific Tuesday

This morning, the students completed the Tuesday section for our vocabulary word of the week, confirm.  Then they practiced their keyboarding skills using Typing Club.  After the announcements, we switched for math.

We began math with  a place value based, multiplication warm up.  The we reviewed last night's homework.  Next, we began our rotations.

During the small group instruction we used grid paper to make arrays to solve 2-digit by 1-digit division problems.  During math with a partner, the students played a board game called, "Race to the Finish," which provided practice with division of multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000.  Finally, during the technology portion, the children completed a session of Xtra Math and then practice their division skills using links in the Division Live Binder.

Between the second and third rotation, the students enjoyed recess and then lunch.  We switched with 5th grade, just for today, to help them get to a field trip on time.

Math homework is posted in GC.

After math, we began our literacy block. 

We started with a writing lesson.  Today we focused on the opening paragraph of our persuasive essay.  We  reviewed some of the model essays from the past week and noticed how they grabbed their readers attention.  Then we practiced, with our partners, beginning our writing (orally) using a question, a strong emotion, or just a word.

Next, I returned the persuasive essay plans that the children created and turned in yesterday.  Those who met the criteria of having a strong opinion and 3 good reasons, began drafting their opinion writing piece, focusing on a strong beginning and clearly stating their opinion.  Those who were struggling met with me to revise their opinion statement and/or their 3 reasons.

While we ate snack some students volunteered to share their strong beginnings and clear opinion statements.

I did not meet with guided reading groups today.  Instead I met with individuals to continue the monthly reading assessments that I began last week.

As I tested students, the rest of the class worked independently on the following tasks.  First, they read an online article about the sun.  They chose one section and identified the heading, determined the main idea, and selected 2 supporting details.  Next, the worked on module 5 of the science curriculum.  They sued 4 links (1 matching game, 2 articles, and 1 video) to learn how organisms support one another in an ecosystem.  Then they chose 2 organisms from our eco-columns and explained, in writing, how they support one another.  After that, the children continued working on the first draft of their persuasive essay.

The children ended their day in art with Mrs. Daniell.