Wednesday, November 6

Hump Day!! Today was an overall good day. We began the day with Social Studies and finishing up our learning on the Mound Builders in Ohio. We also looked at Fort Ancient, Ohio as well as the Shrum Mound which is near us, on Google Earth. (Thank you Mr. Sayers for letting us know about this very close resource!) The kiddos LOVE to look at our visual history markings using Google Earth. I think it helps them to feel connected with the history that we are learning about. In Math, we went over our exit slips from yesterday and talked about making T-charts to help organize our thinking. Then, looking at the T-charts, came up with patterns and used these patterns to find the rule for the pattern. Some even went a step further to create equations with variables! I gave them another exit slip to see if their understanding is any more secure... stay tuned! After an indoor recess :(, we read about Zeus and Poseidon as well as Medusa. We are in between read alouds right now so this was just a fun read that helped us to understand a little about the way Greek mythology has crept into our literary world. In Reader's Workshop, we worked more with this mythological language (Achilles' Heel, Midas Touch, Pandora's Box, etc.) so students can understand it when they come across it in their independent reading. We also read silently and independently as well as met with me for reading groups. We collected research using the iPads in Writer's Workshop after our "Diary of a 4th Grader" story was finished.