TGIFriday, February 28

Construction continued on Ember today, complete with a little hammering too! In Math we finished Trash Can Basketball from yesterday and corrected our double number lines. After indoor recess, we found out a little more about Callie, Madame Mariel's apprentice. I am really drawn to Oscar. Do your kiddos connect with him at all? Our work with theme and poetry in Reader's Workshop today, consisted of finding a poem to pair with the poem they found yesterday. They then had to explain how it paired with the other. We finished our day with working on our fictional narratives. Most are working to publish their narrative by typing it in Google Apps.

Thursday, February 27

Our day began with working on Math 4 Today and then continuing our construction of Ember. In Math, we played Trash Can Basketball. Ask your kiddo what that had to do with decimals and fractions. In the midst of our learning, we headed down to class pictures where we waited and waited to get our class picture but they were so behind that we had to go back down at 1:30 to get our individual pictures. In Read Aloud, Oscar took Callie to the forest to show her the glass palace of imported plants and herbs only to find that it had been destroyed! They went to tell someone and found out that something fishy is going on with all of the magicians... After we returned from round 2 of pictures, we worked more with poetry and theme. Students picked a theme this time and found poems that matched that theme. They then provided textual evidence from the poem to prove that this was the theme. In Writer's Workshop, we continued to write our fictional narratives.

Week of 2/24/14... Monday-Wednesday

Things are crazy at home--my husband has been in China for 2 weeks now...one more to go! Sorry the blogs have been sporadic lately.

Monday:
We began our planning for our City of Ember. I sent an email asking for volunteers to help with circuit construction as well as some supplies (especially 9volt batteries) that are still needed. Please send me an email if you are able to help out. In math, we took a little check point quiz on decimals and students did fairly well. We will keep up with instruction this week but hopefully, will take our assessment next week. We also solved a Decimal Duty Dilemma. In The Real Boy, Oscar is taking another role in the magic shop and kind of substituting as Caleb's apprentice. Our focus for Reader's Workshop this week is with theme and poetry. Students are reading poetry and figuring out THE MEssage the author has intended. They are doing really well with this part. Now, I'm trying to get them to give textual evidence to support their thinking. In Writer's Workshop, we began brainstorming for our fictional narratives with dialogue.

Tuesday:
Construction is under way for Ember! Students are doing a great job with checking the book to make their building authentic too. In Math, I cleared up some misconceptions that were discovered on the check point quiz and we did some practice matching up decimals with their fraction, word and base-10 block equivalent forms. We also worked with placing decimals on number lines. After indoor recess, Oscar decided that Callie can help him with people skills and he can help her with what he knows about plants and herbs. It's always good to give and receive help! In Reader's Workshop, we continued our work with theme and in Writer's Workshop, we continued the writing process with our fictional narratives.

Wednesday:
I was out this morning for an appointment but students continued construction with Ember for Science and worked with creating decimal number lines in Math. This afternoon, in The Real Boy, Oscar was able to put some of what Callie taught him about people to use with customers in the shop. We read an amazing poem by Langston Hughes called "Mother to Son" and then sketched the theme for Reader's Workshop. Next, they worked with partners to find the theme of other poetry. In Writer's Workshop, some students finished their short fictional narratives while others kept chugging along with writing and adding narrative.

Thursday, February 20

We weren't as great as yesterday but we were determined to have a "Ridiculously Amazing" day. (This was our motto.) :) Mrs. Vidic fell outside on her way into school so we didn't have Guidance this morning and decided to have an impromptu research session in the Media Center instead. (She is ok-no worries.) In Math, we continued our decimal work and Math Olympics with an ordering decimals event. The final event tomorrow, will be a quiz. They are doing fairly well with this, as long as they keep remembering the money correlation. After indoor recess, we read The Real Boy. Caleb is back and proud of Oscar and how he handled the shop BUT Wolf is dead and we do not know how or why or if magic was involved. OOO... In Reader's Workshop, we finished our work with the article we were working on in StoryWorks and tomorrow, we will take a comprehension quiz over the story. On Monday, our groups are switching up a little bit. We used conversation hearts to practice quotation marks and adding dialogue to our stories today.

Wednesday, February 19

Today was wonderful! We even earned a Potato-Head piece! Great job kids! Our day began with research for Science. In Math, we continued with our Math Olympics by finishing with the Paper Airplane event and completing the Hop event too. With these timed events, we added decimals to determine a team total. Then, we ordered the decimals to rank the teams. Tomorrow, we will finish with two more events--ordering decimals and a quiz. After OUTDOOR recess :), we read more about Oscar in The Real Boy. He was left in charge of the shop and I have a feeling that Caleb, the magician, will not be too happy about how he "sold" and handled things while he was away. Also, something terrible has happened to Wolf! I met with groups in Reader's Workshop and they worked on different skills using stories from their StoryWorks. Students read silently and independently while I worked with groups. In Writer's Workshop, we corrected stories with dialogue.

Tuesday, February 18

What a heat wave! However, we were stuck inside for recess again... Technology Tuesday started our day-we researched for Science. In Math, we designed flags and got together with partners for our "Math Olympics!" Our first event, Paper Airplane toss, began as well. Our "Math Olympics" will focus on decimals. We will say, write, order and add decimals over the next couple of days. We still haven't gotten very far in The Real Boy, our read aloud, but I'm liking Oscar more and more each page. He seems like the underdog and I always love the underdog! In Reader's Workshop, we tried to build stamina with our independent reading, worked with some subject/verb agreement from StoryWorks and responded to what we read through sequencing or visited the library. We used awesome expressions to create a conversation with friend to practice using dialogue in Writer's Workshop.

Wednesday and Thursday, February 12-13

Wednesday
We had Mrs. Bowers, an amazing substitute, so that I could assess children with reading. In Science, they began their research on electricity. They continued their work with decimals in Math and the afternoon was spent on literacy. Students read silently, worked with their reading groups on critical thinking with an article in their StoryWorks, completed some prefix practice and learned about dialogue and quotation marks using comic strips.

Thursday
We began our day with passing out valentines. It was chaotic! Then, we did a word search, word puzzle and math problems about Valentine's Day. After music, we made some "decimal designs." Using 100 grids, we made designs and then found the decimal and fraction equivalents. Then, using the same process, we found the decimal and fraction equivalents for our names. After OUTDOOR recess (woohoo!), we began a new book for read aloud. The Real Boy, is a fantasy book about magic and a magician's apprentice. I can't wait to see what happens! For Reading, we continued to work on our critical thinking with our reading groups, read silently and worked with vocabulary. Finally, our day ended with quotation mark practice and writing comic strips.

Tuesday, February 11

Today was NOT a good day. The morning started off great. We talked about Ember and creating our city and they were eager for learning. I loved the excitement in their eyes! Then, in Math, they were on fire! We began learning about decimals and they did wonderful~seemed to grasp the concept quickly and asked questions and everything. Unfortunately, things went down hill from there... I guess lunch was bad because Mrs. Root gave them assigned seats in the lunch room for the rest of the week. I also returned from recess to find 3 notes of apology on my desk. They were loud throughout the afternoon and continued to talk and socialize after numerous reminders. Students will be receiving pink Behavior Reflections for any offense that breaks our rule that "Every child shall be safe and able to learn." I think I'll be sending a lot of these home over the next couple days. Hopefully, that will curb the behaviors. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to email me. We took the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) after recess and most students showed growth from fall. When we returned to the room, we had about 20 minutes to finish our work with the TFK article about cheating in school. We tried to have some fun with quotation marks in Writer's Workshop. Ask them what macaroni has to do with dialogue!

We have a substitute tomorrow. I'll be finishing their assessments in Reading. I'm a little nervous about behavior...

Monday, February 10

We had a few things out of the ordinary today so our schedule was a little off. We began our day tidying up our chair sacks and organizing our things. Then, we worked on Ohio Studies Weekly. During our Math time, we took the SMI in the computer lab. Students did great! Almost everyone increased their score from the fall. We also got our math tests back. I encouraged them to correct their mistakes. After recess, we browsed the Barnes and Noble Book Fair. Then, we read silently, read a Non-fiction article about students cheating in school and received our new StoryWorks! Finally, we learned a little about dialogue and quotation marks.

TGIF, February 7

We began our day with our Math 4 Today Test. Then, we worked to get caught up with some things we had started this week. After Art, we took our Fraction Assessment. (Only 11 students chose to complete and turn in their Study Guides so hopefully, the assessments will be good...) After recess, indoor of course, we finished our Conference Presentations, StoryWorks comprehension activity and had a chance to silently read, visit the library or continue to get caught up. Finally, our day ended with completion of our brochures. Some students are bringing them home to work on them over the weekend. Please help them to get these finished.

Tuesday, February 4

Our day began with concentrating on the 4 problems for Math 4 Today. We did much better with making sure we understood and had correct answers for the problems today. Kudos for the better effort! Then, we went to the computer lab and played the electricity and circuit games and simulations. After getting sweaty in gym with "Titanic," we worked on applying our knowledge of fractions through a problem solving activity. We also went over our homework from last night and some even had a chance to begin (and maybe finish) homework for tonight over the next fraction standard-adding and subtracting fractions. Unfortunately, indoor recess was loud, too goofy and dangerous. Lucky was even dropped and students were not showing good judgement with having the privilege of holding him at recess. So, the recess teacher has taken away our next indoor recess. With so many indoor recesses lately, it is hard to be stuck inside, however, it is what it is and we have to follow the rule that "Every student shall be safe and able to learn." After recess, we worked on our conference presentations and worked on vocabulary and comprehension from our StoryWorks magazines. Finally, we finished our day with working on our brochures. 

**It is anticipated that there will be a snow day tomorrow. We will have our Math Assessment on Friday, regardless, so I am sending home the study guide that we would've worked on tomorrow in class. If we do have school, they are to bring it back and we will work on it/complete in class. If not, they should probably get a jump start on it and then we will finish it on Thursday.

Monday, February 3

We took a little extra time this morning focusing on our Math 4 Today. Students did much better and I hope are putting more effort into solving and searching for the correct answers rather than just guessing. For Science, we used a website to practice making different circuits. We'll take another day or two with this and then we will be ready to build our City of Ember! We could still use a couple shoe boxes if you have them to send in. In Math, we worked with fractional parts of a whole using pattern blocks and then focused on equivalent fractions and comparing fractions. **Homework tonight is to complete worksheets over these first two fraction standards. These are due back tomorrow!** The entire afternoon was spent in the computer lab developing our presentations for conferences. They did an amazing job! We will be working on these throughout the week to make them perfect for when they share them with you. They may be working at home too.