Marvelous Monday

This morning, the students commented on our morning message, sharing what they did over the weekend.  Then, they completed the Monday section, of the vocabulary sheet, for our new word of the week, usually.  After the announcements, we switched for math.

Math began with an open ended warm up, involving division, multiplication, and logic.  Then, we reviewed Thursday night's homework.  After that, we began our rotations.

During the small group instruction, we used our knowledge about equivalent fractions to determine points on an inch ruler partitioned into eighths.  During math with a partner, the students watched two short video clips about measurement, using a ruler.  Then they solves an equation involving fractions and drew a line that measured the answer to the equation.  Finally, during the technology portion, the students completed a session of Xtra Math and then played an online measurement game using rulers partitioned in eighths.

In between the second and third rotations, the students enjoyed lunch and outdoor recess.

Math homework is posted in GC.

After math, we began our literacy block.  We began with a writing lesson.  Since today was the first day of a new, 4 week unit about writing personal narratives, we began by using Class Dojo to pick new partners.  After that, we read and discussed two short personal narratives, written by Eloise Green field.  Then, the children thought about their first "remembered life" memories and shared them with their new writing partners.  After sharing a few with the class, the students wrote for 5 minutes about an early memory from their life.  Then, a few volunteers read their writing out loud.

Next, the students went to PE with Mr. Smith.

When they returned to class, they ate snack and began drafting a personal narrative about an early memory.  After 10 minutes, we stopped and a couple of students shared their pieces.  Then, we reviewed today's independent work for our literacy block.

First, the students spent another 10-20 minutes working on their early memory personal narrative draft.  After that, they worked on a topic list for our personal narrative writing unit.  Finally, they began a Flocabulary lesson about summarizing text by watching the lesson video and completing 2 activities.

As they worked, I met with guided reading groups.

I met with all 3 reading groups.  Each group reviewed the concept of summarizing text to include the main idea and important details.  We discussed that an important detail is one that has a direct connection to the main idea.  After that, the children read a nonfiction piece about word in the English Language.  Next, we discussed unknown words, and surprising and confusing parts of the text.  After that, we determined the main idea and the students reread the text with the purpose to underline 3 key details.  Finally, we reviewed the details they underlined and discussed the structure of the text.

We ended the day with a guest reader.  One of our first grade friends came in to read a book to us.  So fun!