~ Fantastic Friday ~
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| Weekly Quote |
What a great week!
All of my groups had a busy week as we are actually diving into the
lessons for both language arts and math.
I have been very impressed with how well all of my classes are coming in
and ready to work! This was our final
week on spotting friendship in the room as we build our character. Next month will be a new focus and we will
have our first Character of the Month posted in next week’s blog!
LANGUAGE ARTS
1st Grade:
This week we finished our lesson on Concept of Connections. On Monday we started out by talking about
things that don’t fit together and are not connected. As a class, we came up with a long list and
the kids ideas just kept coming to make our list grow! We then looked at pictures of symbols that
are universal to all languages and talked about what each image symbolized to
us. The children learned that people
have used signs and symbols for thousands of years as a way of
communication. We ended the day with a
hunt for connections in the classroom.
They had a lot of fun with this project and I was impressed with the
different connections each child found!
You can continue this lesson with them at home by asking them to find
connections around the house -it is amazing to see what connections they see!
On Tuesday the children assembled their coat of arms
project. They have their shields
assembled and notes ready for their presentation. They even enjoyed some extra time to add a
few decorations onto their shields. Next
week we will review the rubric and rehearse before they present to the
class. I cannot wait to see their
presentations!
2nd Grade:
This week the students started reading the poem Eldorado. As we read through the poem together we were
learning how to use a reading analyzer.
This is a paper the students will use throughout the year to organize
their thoughts with our reading material and it will help them to have a better
understanding for what they are reading.
We also practiced using a Venn diagram to help us compare and contrast
the knight from Eldorado with a picture of a knight. The students did well with this project and
were familiar with the Venn diagram.
Next week we will conclude our lesson on Eldorado and I will
have the children practice using the reading analyzer one more time to make
sure they understand this sheet. It is
something they will see a lot and I want to make sure they have a firm understanding
of how to use it as a guide.
3rd Grade:
Look to the Stars – The Genre of Myth:
We are studying myths this week and working towards a class definition
of a myth. We started the week out with
one of my favorite quotes “Aim for the stars; if you fall short, you will land
on the moon.” by an unknown author – the students were asked to write an
interpretation to the quote in their journals.
We then worked on imagery. I read
a brief description and then asked them to share what they saw. This was a brief introduction into our unit on
myths. On Monday, we worked together on
reading a myth and then retelling a story.
Tuesday we read another myth and practiced our retell with a partner
using the rubric.
Next week we will further our study into myths, as we read a
myth and present the retell as a presentation.
The more we retell the stories the better we will be able to come up
with a definition of a myth!
4th Grade:
The students started the week out with a lesson on writing using the
hamburger method. They then used the
interviews they completed at home to practice writing a multiple paragraphs to
present to the class. They worked on this assignment in class on both days. This was a great start for me to see where the students are at with their writing. Writing on the interviews was good practice for the students because they will eventually complete a writing assignment on a biography.
On Tuesday, they were invited to share their stories they wrote with the class. Helping the children become confident in presenting in front of the class in another skill the children will work on throughout the year. I hope to see their confidence grow as we work on this technique.
On Tuesday, they were invited to share their stories they wrote with the class. Helping the children become confident in presenting in front of the class in another skill the children will work on throughout the year. I hope to see their confidence grow as we work on this technique.
MATH
1st Grade:
This week our class received a special package all the way from South
America! We met two new friends Imi and
Zani. They have asked for our help this
year and we are up for the challenge! Imi
and Zani are setting up a Measuring Fair and we will be helping them throughout
the year. In our package we received a
few guidelines they ask us to follow as we help them. We learned about being a good speaker and
listener. We then modeled and practiced
some of these new skills. They also sent
us a scrapbook that we looked through and identified the speaker and listener
roles. At the end of the day, we looked
at some pictures of a macaw and a toucan to compare them with our new
friends. The children were able to
identify Zani as a toucan from the pictures he sent us, but we needed some help
in finding out that our new friend Imi is a macaw. We also looked at a map to
see how far away our new friends were from us.
On Thursday, we began to help our friends with their first
question on shipping a box of supplies to us.
We looked at a book in the classroom and the students described it to
me. As the lesson went on I introduced
the word “attribute” to them. We then looked
at our list and identified the math attributes verse not math attributes. After we understood our new word, we looked
at a box and found ways to teach our friends how to measure a box. Our friends took it further and came up with
a list of tools they could use in the rainforest in case they didn’t the
supplies we had. They decided they could
use a vine to for a ruler, branches and a rock for a scale, and leaves for
paper. It was great hearing them take
our learning further! We will continue
with this lesson next week, but are off to a great start!
2nd Grade:
This week our class received a special package all the way from
Botswana, Africa! We met a pair of meerkats that call themselves the “Detective
Duo.” Dru and Teller have asked for our
classrooms help and we are up for the challenge! They sent us a welcome package and are teaching us how to be a
good listener and speaker. We also
looked at a scrapbook they sent us to see models of the expectations we will
practice in the class. We had an
opportunity this week to practice the speaker and listener roles so we know
what will be expected throughout the year.
On Thursday, we practiced our speaker and listener roles as
we investigated a question for Dru and Teller.
We were measuring a tunnel for our friends to help them decide if the
meerkats could travel through it. Dru
and Teller had different measurements for the tunnel and our class had to help
them decide who was measuring correctly.
We will finish up our lesson next week so we can send them a letter with
our findings!
3rd Grade:
On Wednesday, the class reviewed a few procedures we will be using with
our new math material. We learned about
being a good speaker and listener. We
talked about the rights and obligations the students will practice in the
room. Then we talked about what a
mathematician does and ways we will work as one. Lastly, we talked discussed defending our
answers in our writing, which is something new this year we will be
incorporating. We will practice this
together so the students can learn to master this skill independently!
On Thursday, we began with our first lesson – Measuring Me. As a quick reminder to the lesson, we started with a review unit on using a ruler - focusing on the centimeters. From there the students, started out with a practice exercise on “Measuring in Our Classroom.” We will continue with this lesson next week, but are off to a great start! Thank you for helping our classroom in collecting the containers we need – we have a nice collection started. A few students still need to turn in the Hunt for Capacity worksheet – please send in as it is completed. Thanks!
4th Grade:
On Wednesday, the group reviewed a few procedures we will use with our
new math program. We discussed proper
speaking and listening roles. The
students learned about their rights and obligations they will practice in the
classroom. We then defined what makes a
mathematician. Lastly, we discussed the
ability to defend our answers in our writing.
This is something new to the students this year that we will work on
together in the beginning so they can learn to master this skill independently!
On Thursday, we had a mini-lesson on shapes. To start the class we had a brief discussion
on shapes and their geometric name. The
students were able to look at mini-models as we discussed each shape. Impressively they were able to identify
almost all of them! This was an
introduction into “The Hunt for Shapes in My World.” The students searched for shapes in our
classroom for about 10 minutes. Then the
fun began and they were allowed to explore the school in search for shapes to
complete the assignment.
Important Dates:
October 4th: Early
Dismissal Day
October 10th & 11th: 4th Grade Camp Goodfellow
October 20th: End of
first Grading Period
October 21st: Fall Recess
– No School
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