Wonderful Wednesday - Picture Day

This morning the students completed the Wednesday portion of the vocabulary sheet for our word of the week, inform.  Then, they practiced generating parts of speech by playing an online version of Mad Libs.  After the announcements, we switched for math.

Math began with a brain teaser warm up, followed by a review of last night's homework.  Then, we began our rotations.

During the small group instruction, we used the relationship between multiplication and division to solve for unknowns in all positions of equations involving the division of a 4-digit number by a 2-digit number.  During math with a partner, the students played the Multi-Digit Number Battle card game, again.  During the technology rotation, the students completed a session of Xtra Math and then played Ken-Ken, an online Soduko type game.

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 with a writing lesson.  After sharing my completed model fictional story about moving west using the Oregon Trail, the students worked on revising their own.  Then, they read their piece to their partner and made more improvements.

After that, we ate snack and had an impromptu class meeting.  First, each of us shared how we are feeling about school and the workload.  Then, we brainstormed ideas of how we can celebrate the arrival of the fourth marking period to motivate ourselves to do our best! 

Next, the students worked independently while I met with guided reading groups.  They began by completing the Wednesday portion of the reading skills practice sheet.  Then they reread the two Gary Soto poems we read this week and listed generalizations we can make about Gary Soto's life based upon them.  After that, the children had time to complete the reading formative from earlier in the week, the complex sentences assignment from last week, and the idioms activity from last week.  Those who finished early worked on the magnet Flocabulary lesson.

Guided Reading Groups:
ALL Groups - We reviewed the Wednesday section of the reading skills practice sheet which focused on making inferences.  Then, we discussed the two poems by Gary Soto and made the generalization that he is a kind and compassionate person.  Finally, we identified portions of the text that supports our idea.

We ended the day with a science lesson allowing the students time to experiment with magnets and report their findings.