~Happy December~

It has been a crazy, busy week.  All my groups are working so hard and getting a lot accomplished everyday.  We are ending our focus on Just Keep Swimming.  This month we have focused on having the right attitude to get a task done.  An attitude that if things are tough, we don’t quit, but find another way.  Also, not worrying about yesterday, but the focus of every day is a new day and we have the power to make it a great day.  It all starts with the right attitude…

With one month ending and the beginning of a new month we will have a new theme we are Spotting in the room…Monster’s University.  We are mixing things up a little bit due to a short month with winter break.  We are spotting the best class that displays - Teamwork and Friendship in the room.  All of my classes will be competing with each other to become the class of the month.  We will track our points on Class Dojo with each class being a group.  I can’t wait to see how the children respond to this challenge!  

Check back next week to see our Character’s of the Month for Just Keep Swimming.

LANGUAGE ARTS

1st Grade:  Connecting Letters and Language:  We began this week by finishing our reading analyzers the children were introduced to last week.  After completing the sheet together,  I asked the children why this sheet might be helpful.  They had great responses - from comprehending the book better, to help us better understand what we read, and our last idea was to think more about what we read.  We then had an introduction into word ladders.  We went over the instructions and did two together as practice.

On Tuesday, we walked through a few more word ladders together.  After they were showing me they understood the steps - they were on their own to work through some worksheets.  If the whole group got stuck on one we would work it out together.  We will continue working with our word ladders next week.

2nd Grade:  Point of View and Connections:  On Monday, we began by reviewing the two chapters we read last week.  Then they completed a worksheet.  They drew a picture of Edward dressed as Susanna and drew and named their own constellation.  When they finished this project it was time to add to our chart tracking the setting.  They were given some time on their own to add to their character chart - the characters Lawrence, Nellie and Lolly and add a character trait with each of them.  We had just enough time to read chapter 11 together.

On Tuesday, we started the day by reading chapter 12.  Then we looked at a chart that I made to help us track Edward’s Journey and note the way Edward has changed along the way. We added the events from chapter 12 to or chart.  This will help us organize the book into a timeline and keep our memories fresh when we have breaks in between some of our reading.

3rd Grade:  Reviewing our Folktales and Grammar:  On Monday, we took some time out of class to look back and review our growing list of folktales: Myth, Legend, Tall Tale and Fable.  As we defined them, we added some tricks and notes to each category to help us remember them throughout this unit.  Then we looked back at the parts of speech we have identified this year:  Noun, Action Verb, Article, Preposition, Adverbs and Adjectives.  We also looked at a sentence and broke it into a complete subject and predicate as a reminder to our subject noun we identified last week.  It is a lot of information they are learning and they are doing a great job as we add on each week.

On Tuesday, it was time to review the grammar lesson from last week.  We started with a worksheet.  On the sheet the student needed to identify the part of speech of the underlined word.  We went through our answers together and chose a few sentences to write out and identify all the parts.  Then we had some fun time watching some more Schoolhouse Rock Videos on Adverbs and Adjectives.

4th Grade:  Change Makers:  
On Monday, we looked at our schedule and changed a few dates for their project with me not meeting with them last week.  I wanted to make sure they had some class time to complete each step, but they were also reminded they will not complete this project without some work at home.  I offered them time to utilize their recess and some of them already took advantage of this offer.

Sorry it is a little blurry!! I didn't catch it til now :(

On Tuesday, I explained to the class how to fill out the works cited page.  This isn’t due yet, but is something they can update with each new source they use and it can be completed as they are finding their information - making for less work later.  I also took time this week to speak with each student and create in their Google Drive a Biography folder. This folder has been shared with me and I can see all of their  work in progress. For my students completing their project online, it is now already turned into me and on due dates I will be to view it from my computer.  I took a few minutes at the end of class to explain to them a little more how Google Drive works.  They now are aware they may work on their project from any computer that has Internet access, not just their Chrome books.

Logging into Google Drive at Home:

1. Google.com - click on 9 point grid in top right corner

2. Click on Google Drive (the triangle)

3. Click "sign in with different account" or "add account"

4. Enter YOUR school email address (First letter of first name, last name, and last four digits of your student ID, @myduneland.org Example alosinski1234@myduneland.org)

5. Enter YOUR Password: lower case "d", no space and then your student ID# Example d1234567

Due next week:  On Monday students need to have their resources and show them to me.  One of their resources must be a book.  Then they need two secondary sources - this may be other books or online resources.  After, that they are working on completing their biography summary.  They have a few weeks to complete this packet because this is what they will write all of their information on to utilize for the rest of the project.  While completing these two steps they are allowed to add sources onto their works cited page.  

MATH

1st Grade:  It’s Heavy - A Bag of Pennies:  We started class with a review of the lesson we are working on because it has been awhile since I have seen my friends.  After a quick review on the terms heaviest and lightest, we were back on track to learning the concept about the same.  We needed to figure out how to make our scale balance although each side had a bag filled with 50 pieces - 1 bag 50 pennies and the other bag 50 small plastic cubes.  The class decided to take out 20 pennies, but the pennies were still heavier.  So we decided to take out 20 more - this time we achieved our goal!  The two bags were now about the same in weight - 50 cubes weighed about the same as 10 pennies.  They recorded the results on their worksheet.  To finish the worksheet the children worked with a partner to make two bags be about the same and record their results.  Each group shared their findings with the class.  

Each child was given a task to complete at home...the Penny Scavenger Hunt.  They were given a bag and paper explaining the assignment.  Due to early dismissal, it is not due back until next Wednesday, December 7th.  The goal is to find 5 or less of the same object that weigh a little less than a bag of 50 pennies.  To help them with this assignment - they each got to hold our bag of 50 pennies one last time before leaving.  We ask that you don’t use food or pennies as their items.  Thank you in advance for your help with this project!

We did not meet on Thursday because of early dismissal.

2nd Grade:  Length - Egg Passenger:   We began by discussing ways to measure the shape of an egg.  The problem is - how and what is the best way to measure the circumference?  I demonstrated to the class with a large plastic egg different ways we could try a tool to measure.  

However, before we ever measured we needed to make a guess.  Our first guess was quite a ways away from the actual measurement, but we saw this improve as we worked through are 4 tools.  We repeated our steps using a cubic centimeter, rulers, pipe cleaner, and tape measure.  We also discussed the difference in measuring the length and the width of an object.  By the time we measured with our last tool, our guess and measurement were the same!  Then it was time for the students to try it.  They were free to spread out around the room and work with a partner.  To make it a different measurement they went through the same steps but with a small egg.

On Tuesday, they came in and finished measuring their eggs with their partner  Then we came back together as a class and looked at our data.  It was interesting to see how accurate their real measurements were from group to group.  Then it was onto answering our question - which is the best tool for measuring the circumference.  We noticed that the final column with the tape measure is where most of our groups had the same number or off by one centimeter.  This was our best tool to measure the circumference,

3rd Grade:  Linear Measurement - In search of the Yeti:  Our Yeti is nearing completion, but in need of some hands.  As a review for our unit, I split the class into two groups and each was in charge of making one hand for our Yeti.  The goal was to see if the both doubled correctly and if both hands were about the same size.  We quickly reviewed the dimensions we needed and then they were off to finish our Yeti.

Due to Thanksgiving Break, the groups struggled with the concept of doubling.  As a class, we walked through the steps together.  Then the groups were off for take two of building his hands. We switched the groups up this time to a boys verse girls. We have hands one our Yeti and will review the results of our hands next week.  Below is a picture of the class with the Yeti they created...

 Our

YETI

4th Grade:  The Shape of Things - Triple Play with Shapes:  We are approaching the end of another lesson.  We had a review day today because with break last week it was a while since we met.  We played Sets the online version.  This was a great challenge and we added in a rule we didn’t utilize in the card game - all cards are different.  They had a lot of fun with this game and when it was time to find the last set it became difficult.  However, it was great to see them talk it out with the group and work together.  We have saved this game in our favorites and when we have free time I told them we could play it again.

On Tuesday, it was time again to wrap-up our lesson.  We looked at our Think Deeply question and took some time to write down any thoughts and questions they had.  As a class, we wrote our math message board with what we have learned in this lesson to help us answer the question.  Then the children worked on their responses to the question.  

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 19th: Holiday Parties

December 21st - January 3rd - Winter Recess

January 4th - Class Resumes

January 13th - End of Second Grading Period

~WISHFUL WEDNESDAY~

I would like to wish all of my Yost Families a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you have a wonderful break.  Enjoy this time with your family and I can’t wait to see everyone back on Monday!

Weekly Quote.

This week I only met with my Language Arts groups.  Due to the short week, we did not have a weekly quote.  We will be back to our normal schedule next week and here is our weekly sneak peek.  This will be our last week focusing on displaying the right attitude to get a job done in the room.










Here are our last two friends I have to share with you from our Character of the Month Club.  These are two more of our friends that displayed the qualities of a good leader in our room during the month of October.

LANGUAGE ARTS

1st Grade:  Connecting Letters and Language:  We started class this week reviewing our worksheet we ended with last week.  When we went over it in class, using a different color marker to show the change of one letter in a word. This was a way to help them visualize the change easier. It also made it easier as we worked down the sheet to figure out our next word.  Next, we took a few minutes to summarize what we learned with the hamburger model of writing to persuade our audience.


 We put the words of a song to Mary Had a Little Lamb as a reminder to the writing process we were introduced to.  To end the day, it was time to decipher our next secret message.  This time we practiced the Over Under Substitution Cipher.  After a minute or so of looking at the message - we came to the conclusion we had 6 words in our new message.  Then I showed them how to decipher the first word - after that they were off to decoding and were thrilled to discover our new message - Hip, Hip Hooray for the Alphabet!  As a class, we talked about what we thought that meant and they shared their excitement for letters and how the 26 letters we know as our alphabet create all the words we know how to speak.  Then we related this message back to our worksheet - they were asked to make a connection to what happens when we change just one letter.  This let the children see just how important of a tool the alphabet is to all of us!

On Tuesday, we read a story together The Disappearing Alphabet. This began right were we left off from yesterday - explaining the importance of the alphabet. The book walked us through each of the 26 letters and slowly we would see what would happen without the existence of that letter. We would lose so many words that we use everyday. After reading the story together we summarized that without any letters we could not make any words, which would meant we could not read, or write, or speak. To end the day the children began to fill out a reading analyzer. This is a worksheet the children will see throughout the year to have a better understanding of the materials we read. Since, this is our first time using it we are walking through the directions and completing it together. We will continue working with our analyzer next week.

2nd Grade:  Point of View and Connections:  We started the day by revisiting our predictions from before we read the book.  The children were asked to look them over and either add to them or change them based on what we know now. Then as a class we wrote out two of our predictions and added them to our wall.  We began to look closer at who is Edward Tulane and what do you think he is like.  We wrote what we thought from before the book and then what we know about him now.  Each child added a post-it note to the wall to follow their prediction as it changes.

We began class on Tuesday revisiting - who is Edward Tulane? Some children struggled with defining him further with our new information from the book.  We took what the class knew from before the book of him being a bunny and then made a web of ideas of what we know now - he is fragile, he is a china rabbit, he is breakable, and white porcelain - these were some of the descriptions they were able to say to answer completely and define who is  Edward Tulane now.  Then I explained that these are the details we are looking for them to add to their predictions and thoughts as we travel further through the book.  

The children were introduced to the term point of view.  We wanted to take what they already knew about this idea and relate it to the idea of our connections.  I asked them to think if they have or had a special stuffed animal or toy like Abilene did in our story - and how they felt if they ever lost it.  This allowed each child a moment to share their connection to the story with something they each treasure.  To end the class and keeping our focus on point of view - we read chapters 9 and 10 together.  We shared our thoughts on the change we see in Edward. We will look at this further next week.

3rd Grade:  Fables - Grammar:  We started class off with a little bit of sharing, as we discussed some of our favorite memories with Thanksgiving and the upcoming Holidays.  After, a conversation that had us hungry for some of our favorite yummy treats it was time to work.  They were given some time to finish their reading analyzer from the Lion and the Mouse.  Then we looked back at each box to see what we gathered from the story. We looked back at our box on description and to add more details we revisited the idea of the movie we visualize when hearing or reading the story. This allowed more details to fill this box after clarifying. We also added to the main idea of the story. They came up with the first one, but we talked about sometimes there can be more than one lesson.



On Tuesday, it was all about grammar. To complete today's lesson we used the story The Lion and the Mouse. They went through the passage and highlighted all of the nouns and action words. Then they had to go back and look for all of the adjectives. Next, we added a new part to grammar and we talked about what a sentence needs to be complete - with the focus on a simple sentence. After breaking apart a sentence to a subject noun and verb - we asked if this could stand alone? The answer was yes. Now we shifted our focus and came up with a list to describe the verb and a list for the noun. We quickly identified these to lists as adverbs and adjectives. Then we added one from each to our simple sentence and watched it grow. To end the day we broke the sentence into the complete subject and predicate. This was a lot we added into our grammar day we will re-visit it some next week.

4th Grade: Change Makers:  My 4th graders are continuing to work on their Biography projects.  I only met with some of them on Monday because of NWEA testing.  I am going to start allowing them the option to utilize their lunch recess to come into the room for extra time to work on their projects.  This is just an option for those that would like to utilize more classroom time and resources.  However, if a student misses a deadline then they will be required to come in at recess to work on their project until they are caught up.

I did not get meet with my friends on Tuesday with them continuing their NWEA testing. This will allow the students an extra week to gather their resources for class. We will look at the due dates and adjust them accordingly for missing this week. Next week all students should have their resources selected and will continue to work on the biography summary. We will look over the packet and I will answer any questions the students have as they move onto the next step for this project.

IMPORTANT DATES:

November 23rd-25th:  Thanksgiving Break – No School

December 1st: Early Dismissal Day

December 19th: Holiday Parties

December 21st: Winter Recess

January 4th: School Resumes

~Fun Fall Friday~

Hello!  Our classes are still focusing on our monthly theme of Just Keep Swimming.  This week we discussed the quote “Today is a good day to try.”  This led several of my classes to discuss that every day is a new start or beginning.  We can begin each day with our best effort to make it a great day.  Every day becomes a great day as long as we gave it our best effort!  Due to the shortened week and not meeting all of my friends we will not have a weekly quote for our contest this week - we will keep focusing on a positive attitude in the classroom

Due to a short week next week for Thanksgiving Break, I will not meet with my math groups.  I remembered to wish all of my math friends a Happy Thanksgiving and want to wish their parents one too.  It feels crazy to say this cause the year is flying by, but when my math friends return we will be into December!  I will meet with all of my language art groups next week and I will post the blog with all of our events from the week.

Next week I will share with you are last set pictures from our leaders in the room.

LANGUAGE ARTS

1st Grade:  Silly Speak - Guess My Connection:  This week we are taking what we learned from our lesson on Pig Latin and adding a new element with our opinions.  We decided that our opinion is our point of view or feelings towards something.  This led us into a discussion on persuading our friends to  share our opinions.  The students told me that to persuade someone means to convince them to share your opinion.  I asked the students the question “Should all first graders learn to speak Pig Latin?”  It was interesting to see that some of our students who liked Pig Latin do not believe all students should learn it.  We used this topic to learn the Hamburger Model for writing a paragraph.  As a class, we filled out a model with our introduction, details and conclusion.

On Tuesday, we took our model we made with our ideas and I showed the children how to turn it into a paragraph. When making our paragraph we quickly reviewed capital letters and ending punctuation.  When we were finished we read our paragraph we made together.  Next, we looked at a rubric for persuasive writing and compared it to our model we made.  The children were told this is something we will use at a later time in class - when it will be their turn to persuade me!

2nd Grade:  Connecting by Asking Questions:  This week we worked together to complete three organizers we will use to help us keep our thoughts in order while working through our novel.  Each student has a paper to organize the characters they meet and use some adjectives to describe them.  They have a paper that allows them to track the setting as it changes throughout the story and use a sentence to explain what happened at this time.  Lastly, they have a paper to organize Edward’s feelings as we see him change throughout the story.  We used these papers in class this week to lead us in a discussion of what took place in chapters 5 through 7.  

On Tuesday, they completed a paper to put a list of events in order from 1-10.  As we complete a set of chapters, the students will complete an activity that helps them understand their reading further.  This helps them develop the skill of reading for meaning and a deeper understanding of the events in a book.  To end the day, we read chapter 8 together as a class.  We then began to look back at our predictions and share some of them - leading the class in a discussion of what changed from our original thoughts.  We will work further with our predictions next week.

3rd Grade:  Fables as a Genre:  To start the week we finished up our journey with the Edmond Fitzgerald.  I asked the students to take the chart they made from last week and as the expert write me a letter convincing me of their findings.  After, they submitted their letters to me we took some time to review sentence structure and paragraph format.  Together we went back and broke down their letters and revised them.  We compared our first draft to our final draft to look at the differences we made.  We ended the day being introduced to Fables.  They read “The Ants and the Grasshopper” and decided that our next focus would be a fable.  

On Tuesday, we came in and discussed “The Ants and the Grasshopper.”  We wrote down some the of the elements that define a fable as we discussed the story.  This led us to define a fable as a story that has been handed down over a period of time with talking animals.  We also decided the purpose of the fable is to teach us a lesson or a moral.  We analyzed the lesson we learned from our first fable and the students were surprised to find out that in such a short story we learned so much information.  Then the came read “The Jay and the Peacock.”  We then began to look at a reading analyzer and practiced filling it out together with this story.  We focused on the main idea of the analyzer because this is where we will see the author’s purpose or lesson from the fable.  We will continue to work with our reading analyzer next week.

4th Grade: Change Makers:  This week we took some more time to go over the biography project with the students.  Looking at the chart they received in Google Drive and comparing it with their steps to the project.  Together, I showed them how the steps are broken down into multiple areas so that they are breaking it down into smaller assignments verse one large project.  This will also help them with time management.  As we worked through the steps, they were able to view the documents also shared with them that correlate with each step.  By next week, the students will have completed steps one and two.  As I mentioned from last week, from now to February the students will have class time work on this project.  When a certain deadline is approaching we may have a mini-lesson on what is required and how to complete it - an example this week we talked about determining a credible source for next week’s deadline on resources selected.  We will incorporate mini lessons throughout the project to guide them through the steps.

On Tuesday, we talked further on credible sources.  This was to help them while they are selecting their materials for their project.  They should have 2 to 3 resources to show me for class by next Tuesday - November 22.  Please make sure the students are working on their projects at home as well as in the classroom.  I had some students come to class and not have their person selected.  This is a project that they will need to incorporate class time and home time to complete.  I appreciate your help in this project.

MATH

1st Grade:  It’s Heavy - A Bag of Pennies:  We heard back from our friends Imi and Zani and they have asked for our help again.  They have asked us to come up with another measuring task.  To add a challenge from our previous task on weight we decided to look at weight in groups of three.  This introduced two new terms to the class : heaviest and lightest.  The students learned that when we are comparing 2 items we would still use the terms heavier and lighter, but when we look at groups of 3 or more we now can use the new vocabulary of heaviest and lightest.  Exploring weight today we looked at groups of 50 and had to decide since they all had the same amount if they would weight the same.  There was no tricking this group we made our predictions with our bags and then looked at our results.  They were able to explain to me that the pennies are made of metal which weighed more than our cubes of plastic.  I challenged them to this thought because our paper clips were made of metal too, but they explained the penny was a solid piece of metal.  They had some great thoughts today when comparing weights and materials of items!

On Thursday, we came in and drew our results in our student journals.  They then had to write a sentence to explain their heaviest item.  We moved onto exploring our next concept of weight - about the same.  We looked at our three sets of 50 and had to figure out how we could balance our scale to be an equal weight.  The children wanted to add more of the items to try and balance the scale.  We added 50 more cubes to our bag to try and balance the pennies and cubes.  The pennies still weighed more.  They wanted to add more cubes, but we were out of this item.  Now they had to think of another way to balance our scale.  A student said to remove some pennies.  After we took 10 pennies out of the bag we had a scale that showed the concept about the same.  We will continue to work with this concept after break.

2nd Grade:  Length - Egg Passenger:  Our friends Dru and Teller have purchased a new car, but have asked us for help in purchasing new seat belts.  They asked us to remember they are tiny friends of ours, so we began to look at a new unit of measurement - the centimeter.  We began by correlating this unit back to the inch and half-inch and discussed the pattern in measurements we would see with these three units.  This allowed the children to see the centimeter is a smaller unit than the half-inch.  The students were handed a centimeter cube to help them visualize the size of our new unit.  Then we looked for a benchmark we could use for the centimeter on our hands - we decided our finger nail would be perfect!  Then the students were given a ruler and practiced measuring in their student workbooks with seatbelts.  We looked over our answers and I saw huge growth from the first time we practiced with our other units.

On Thursday, we started class by defining the term circumference.  Some students remembered using this term when learning to measure around a pumpkin.  This was a great start to our class discussion of defining circumference.  We then had a new problem we needed to solve - what is the right tool to use to measure the circumference?  We began to work with our eggs to examine several tools to measure.  We will continue with this experiment next week, until we find the right tool!

3rd Grade: Linear Measurement - In Search of the Yeti: This week in class the children will be constructing our own Yeti.  We chose one student to be our benchmark to use and the instructions for building our Yeti were to double our benchmark.  As a class we measured our student and each person talked us through how they needed to double their part to the Yeti.  Then they spread out around the room and began to use their measurements to draw their part to the yeti.  I walked around and worked with each group as they were beginning their sketches.  Each group came up with a plan and began to work on their part.  

On Thursday, they continued to work through completing the section to the Yeti.  When they were finished we slowly began to fit our pieces together.  Our Yeti is still in need of hands.  As a class, we measured out our benchmark to get the information we needed to construct his hands.  After break, they will break into two groups and the goal is to see if our hands match in dimensions from the two groups.  This will be another way for me to see if the children have grasped the our new concepts.

4th Grade:  The Shape of Things - Triple Play with Shapes:  Games...Games...and more Games...This week the children were introduced to a new game to help us work on sets of three.  We learned the directions to the game by playing the short version.  They quickly mastered the rules and so we added all the cards into the deck.  As we worked through the game, I could see they were up for a new challenge...so we added a twist -the more matches they connected in their sets the more points they could earn.  Soon this too was becoming easy, so we made one final rule -thinking in sets of three, they must find a match of three with three or more things in common.  In this game they were looking at shapes, patterns, numbers and colors.  This was a great game to let them visualize connections to help us when we return back to our game from last week.  

On Thursday, we took what we practiced in visualizing in sets of 3 and played Triple Play all the way through.  They had a better understanding of looking for similarities in sets of three this time around.  After break we will come back together as a class and summarize what we learned about the similarities of our shapes.

IMPORTANT DATES:

November 23rd-25th:  Thanksgiving Break – No School

December 1st: Early Dismissal Day

December 19th: Holiday Parties

December 21st: Winter Recess

January 4th: School Resumes