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.