~ HIGH-FIVE FRIDAY ~

Welcome!  This week some of my classes listed off different words we could use to replace Brave.  We came up with other terms of courage, strength and daring. This led us onto what we can learn from our quote - being brave enough to see our fate.  This brought up an interesting conversation of can we change our fate...It was interesting hearing the children discuss this question.  I also had a student remind us that we learn to respect our parents from this movie.  They were full of ideas to share…

Language Arts

Our winning class for the month of January was 3rd Grade Language Arts.  They are the class in the spotlight for this month for displaying kindness in the classroom.

 

Results are in - Yost finished in 2nd place behind Bailly Elementary school for collecting pop tabs for Hannah’s Hope.  Finishing out the top 3 was Jackson Elementary.  A BIG THANK YOU for all you help in this effort.

IMPORTANT DATES:
February 13th:  window opens for full Kindergarten CogAT
February 14th:  Valentine's Day Party
&  Crunchy Production Kicksoff - 2nd Grade
February 17th:  Mid-Winter Recess - No School - reserved snow day
February 20th:  President's Day - No School




Kindergarten CogAT Testing: 

In Indiana, we identify students who qualify for high ability in reading/language arts and/or math.  We have finished up part one of screening all kindergarten students for high ability with CogAT.    CogAT is a test which has zero reading.  It's a test that will identify your out-of-the-box thinkers . . . those who are able to make connections.  Students who scored a 77+ on the screener, will now take the full test in the upcoming weeks.  Remember, this is only one of two pathways into high ability.  Students who score in the 95th percentile or higher on the full CogAT test, will be identified towards the end of kindergarten.  They will be seen for about six weeks.  For part two of the identification process, we will use the end of the year NWEA scores.  NWEA will identify those students who are performing above grade level . . .are high readers; 95th percentile is used again.  These students will be identified at the very end of kindergarten, so they will begin services in high ability, in first grade.  Students do not need to score high on both tests and often times do not.  If you have questions, please feel free to email me.

LANGUAGE ARTS

1ST GRADE:  LEAVING LETTERS OUT - LIPOGRAMS:  We started the week out by sharing our created lipograms from the story E-Mergency.  Each student shared one of the lipograms they created.  Then as a class we discussed if each student’s lipogram kept the meaning of the original sentence.  Next, the class worked on a worksheet introducing the concept of our next lesson - the students will learn next week our new focus.

 

This worksheet was a struggle, as it was a new concept, so we completed it together.  They have lots of questions that will get answered next week.  To end our lesson with lipograms, we learned about a pangram.  A pangram is a sentence that utilizes all 26 letters of the alphabet.  A quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.  This sentence was the sample we used to learn about a pangram.  I challenged the students to come up with their own pangram to share with class for Tuesday.

We started class sharing their pangrams.  One student successfully created a pangram with all 26 letters - the trick they used was using names!  This was a fun assignment and they were so excited to share their sentences - each student chose from the prize box for completing this challenge.  Next, it was onto our new message to decipher.  They spread out around the room while they worked on decoding the message.  This time they were working on a reverse decipher.  We came back together to share our findings on the secret message.  One student noticed a capital letter at the end of the first line, so we decided to start with this letter.    

We worked through the first line together - we took the letters and arranged them in the reverse order.  This created one long nonsense word.  Then we looked and broke apart words in our line...Numberscanstand quickly became Numbers can stand.  I challenged them to try the second row alone...forsoundsinwords!  Give up?  The children quickly spotted words and for - it took a minute to talk out the middle section - sounds and in.  Our new message Numbers can stand for sounds in words!  We will begin our new lesson by discussing the meaning of this message next week.

2ND GRADE:  CONNECTING WITH OTHERS THROUGH A SOCRATIC SEMINAR:   We began by discussing our final chapters from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  Then we compiled a list of words to help  describe our story. This is the first step in a project we will be creating from our story.  To end the day, I explained to the students a sheet they will fill out while participating in our Socratic Seminar.  In class the, students will be broken up into two groups.  One group will discuss a set of questions while the other group observes and evaluates their discussion.  Then the groups will switch and group two will discuss a second set of questions.  When observing the students will fill out a sheet writing down positive comments they heard in the discussion, any ideas they wish they could have added onto the topic, and finally any interesting ideas they wanted to write down.

On Tuesday, the children started class by filling out a quick review sheet from our story.  First, I asked them to list all of the names Edward had in our story.  Next I asked them to mark the owner that gave them the name.  Lastly, they were to list the different outfits Edward wore throughout the story.  They were allowed to have this paper with them for their group discussion.  Then we drew magnets to determine our two groups.  Our first group completed their discussion.  However, our second group have a few more questions to finish next week.  This is a great tool the students are learning as a way to share and listen to ideas from their fellow students.

3RD GRADE:  FAIRY TALES - GRAMMAR:

On Monday, we reviewed writing a good paragraph.  I felt this would be helpful to review after looking over the paragraph assignment from our Fairy Tales.  We took our hamburger organizers to help us prepare our sentences.  This helped us organize our thoughts and ideas to then compose them into paragraph format.  I also told them to have fun with this assignment...to think of yourself as the author.  Be creative as they take on the role of the author in recreating the story with a new setting.  To end the day, I had them read their first paragraph out-loud and then switch to the new one...This allowed them to recognize the difference in their writing.

On Tuesday, it was all about grammar.  We first reviewed the definition of an action verb.  To work on identifying these words they each wrote a list of 5 action verbs on the board.  Then we took a word from each list and watched how it changes when we use different verb tenses...past, present and future.  This introduced the term irregular verbs.  We had a discussion on irregular verbs - they were familiar with this idea, just not as much the proper name to identify it.  We ended class, by working on some sheets to review the new ideas introduced today. We will continue with our grammar lesson next week.

4TH GRADE:  CHANGE MAKERS - PREZI:  

On Monday we had a lesson in class to learn all about Prezi. They learned how to log in and we watched a tutorial on the website.  Then I showed them a few separate things to help them navigate through the website. I encouraged them to practice working with the website - so I could answer any questions that might come up.  

 

       On Tuesday, we went through our final timeline of our projects.  We are going to be putting our finishing touches on our project from now until February 21st.  When coming to class on the 21st, the assignment should be completed.  They will utilize the 21st as a practice day to prepare for their presentations. To determine the order of their presentations we will also hold a drawing on the 21st.  On February 27th and 28th the students will present their final projects.

Right now all students are either working on Prezi or putting finishing touches on their monologues.  Some students are struggling with adding the details into their monologues. They are only listing their list of 10 events.  I have explained to them that this should guide their monologue, but this is where they will now add the details to the events they have researched.  I encouraged them to make sure they look back and included their information from the biography summaries. If the information is missing from there summaries, they may need to do a little more research to add  onto their monologues.

    For those friends still needing assistance on adding details, we will use Monday as a research day.  It is also very important that they discuss the importance of change their person inspired on society.  This is a lot of material they are researching and organizing and I am very proud of the effort they are putting towards their projects…

This week I have shared pictures of the students with their completed timelines.  I can see the pride they are taking in their projects - as they ran towards their timeline and held them up with BIG smiles.  Looking forward to seeing the final projects!

Due Date of Final Assignment:

February 21st

Presentations:

February 27th & 28th

MATH

1ST GRADE: CHAPTER CHECK-UP: It was time for our Think Deeply question.  The students were asked to draw 3 shapes being told only two comparisons - Transitivity.  This was an idea we are revisiting because they were introduced to this when weighing 3 objects.  They are able to understand and define it, but we are working on identifying it as transitivity.  

After completing our Think Deeply question, we looked at our Think Beyond cards.  Our first question - can you measure area with a circular unit.  They all answered no.  We discussed that there was no way to cover an area without overlapping or going off the space.

     On Thursday it was time for our second Chapter Check-up.  This time reviewing all we have learned with area.  Again, I will use these results to make sure all children are ready to move on to our next chapter.  

 Based on their scores, if we need a review day on any material we will take one before moving onto our last chapter.  This is a great tool for us to use to monitor their success in the room..

2ND GRADE:  CHAPTER CHECK-UP:  

On Wednesday, the class took their first chapter check-up on chapter one.  This is a tool that I will use to monitor how well the students learned our math concept before moving onto chapter 2.  After scoring their chapter reviews, I will identify and review any areas that may be needed.

 

On Thursday, the students earned a fun day for giving me great effort on their chapter review.  First, the students listened to each students directions on building a car seat - we decided if we would be able to re-create each design or not. If we would be able to re-create the design that student was able to pick a prize from the prize box. 4 students were excited when their designs won!

To end the day, it was finally time for round 4 of our car seats!  We will be moving onto our new chapter next week.  I am glad the students enjoyed a day of fun!

                   

            ~ CONGRATS ~

   This team was SUPER EXCITED because they passed all 4 rounds of our egg test!

3RD GRADE: AREA - THAT ABOUT COVERS IT!:  It was time for our investigation phase of our lesson.  We started class by drawing magnets to break into two groups.  Then each group chose a person they traced on 1 inch grid paper.  

     Next, they had to look at their irregular shape and estimate the area.  The last step of this project is counting the area of their person.

Each group filled out a sheet deciding how they will count up their squares.  Then they recorded all of their whole spaces.  Now onto the challenge, counting the partial spaces.






It was great seeing the groups use different strategies while counting their squares. Using the labels of left and right or 1 and 2. Then they color coordinated as they shaded whole or partial. Great Strategies! We will continue with our investigation phase next week.





4TH GRADE:  SPATIAL VISUALIZATION - DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?: On Wednesday it was time to investigate our new math concept - Transformation.  We walked through the instructions of Flip-Sliding Around.  Then they began to play the game.  We went through it slowly - using today just to learn the game.  I was stressing the importance of using the math terms translate, reflect or rotate vs flip, slide or turn.  




This made the game more of a struggle today as they learned to use the correct terminology and not the definition.  This also brought up the importance of using the correct positional terms with our shapes turn verses clockwise.

To challenge them for our game tomorrow - the last few turns they would speak the directions while their opponent would move it.  This made them work on visualizing each move after they got use to the directions.
On Thursday,we played our game all the way through. Our winner was allowed to choose a prize out of the prize box. We will end our investigation phase next week.

~ THRILLING THURSDAY ~

Hello Everyone! It has been a crazy week with schedules.  This week we began to test our Kindergarten friends on CogAT and this will affect some of my groups.  The CogAT screening will continue on through part of March, as second grade will be next.  I am trying to set the schedule so it doesn’t interrupt our groups too much.  This week we have moved onto the movie Brave.  When hearing our movie some friends immediately thought of strength.  We began to talk a little bit on what we can learn from this movie with our first quote - being proud of your own identity and having the strength to be you.  

Here is our finished kindness project..  Some students showed interest in wanting to keep adding onto our wall...So while it is on display in the hallway, I will have hearts that they can fill out as they come up with more ways to spread kindness.  They did a great job in helping me create it.

We forgot a picture of our winning class for the month of January so stay tuned next week to see our class of the month...

IMPORTANT DATES:
February 3rd: NFL Day - Wear Team Gear
February 14th: Valentine Parties
February 17th: Mid-Winter Break - No School
February 20th: President's Day - No School

LANGUAGE ARTS

1st Grade:  Leaving Letters Out - Lipograms:  On Monday, we started the day by reading our story E-Mergency.  While reading the story we looked at the two different stories being told - the narrator is telling the story and so are the letters.  This was an important twist that the children pointed out before the ending.  Our injured letter “E” wasn’t healing because the narrator kept using him in his story!  

The letters realized it and convinced him to STOP using “E” so “E” could heal - which thankfully he did just in time for THE END!

The students were excited to help me read the story.  They found it silly to try and pronounce the new words with “O” instead of “E”.  For example bed became bod and rest was rost.

On Tuesday, the students and I composed 3 sentences from our story.  A beginning, middle and ending sentence.  Each student took a turn in helping me make one of these sentences.  Then it was onto the challenge we had to turn our sentences into lipograms - picking one of the most used letters in the alphabet E,T, O, A, or I.  We worked on the first one together and then they chose from our list of letters and completed the next two alone.  They were allowed to have a partner help them think of words for their lipograms - I saw some great teamwork!

2nd Grade:  Connect with Others through a Socratic Seminar:  We had an exciting week as the students were excited to finish our novel study.  However, before we completed our story we needed to re-visit our predictions.  We looked back at four of our predictions and revised them based on what we know now.  I also asked them to write a final prediction on what might happen in our last few chapters.

We started class on Tuesday sharing our predictions of what might happen in the end of the story.  Then as a class we finished our story together.  This took the remainder of our class time for Tuesday.  Some students were happy to find that their predictions were correct or on the right track.  However, they were surprised to find out just how much time has passed in our story.  We will finish discussing our book next week when the children learn about a Socratic Seminar.

3rd Grade: Fairy Tales:  We did not meet on Monday due to a field trip.  On Tuesday, we took some time out of class to review the elements of a Fairy Tale.  We did this by being introduced to the game of KaHoot.  This was the first time they have played this game in class.  It is a game where a question is projected with our doc camera for all to see.  

Then with the help of their Chromebooks as a buzzer each child selects the answer - the catch- the faster you answer the more points you can win!  They had so much fun with this activity, that they asked to play two rounds.  When finished they were allowed to use the remaining time to put some of the finishing touches on their drawings.

4th Grade:  Change Makers:  Most students were able to put their finishing touches on their timelines. I have two friends still adding finishing touches - so I will share the final timelines next week. Then they were using the remainder of time to work on their monologue.  I showed them one more sample to help them understand the length of the monologue. I also stressed the importance of defining the change their person provided as they are writing their monologue.

Due to CogAT testing, we did not meet on Tuesday - putting their Prezi demonstration on hold until Monday.  I did tell their teachers that as long as they had access to their Chromebooks they could work on their monologues during Flex time. This will allow an extension for the students to complete their monologue - they are due at the beginning of class on Monday, February 6th.  If they are finished with their monologue they can enjoy a week of no homework!

Due Next Week:

February 6th:  A Completed Monologue

MATH

1st Grade:  The Undercover Booths:  We only met on Thursday because of early dismissal.  We are wrapping up our lesson on area. As a challenge today, I allowed them to complete  the Triangle Target Designs center.  This was a way for us to examine area with a new unit of measurement.  Each student was asked to create 2 different target designs using 4 triangles in a design.
 A catch to the design was they must line up their triangles with a congruent line from the adjacent triangle.  This was a struggle for some, but then they got the hang of it while learning about the term congruent.  After they all completed their two designs - it was time for the challenge...which shape had the largest area?  Each student made their prediction to this question.  Then we started to count are triangular units of their guesses.  By the second one,  most friends figured out it was a trick question!  They were all the same area - 4 triangular units - even though some shapes were longer.  I think they really enjoyed the challenge center.

2nd Grade:  Length - Car Seats for Egg Passengers:  It was time for our Think Deeply question to help our friends Dru and Teller.  We needed to think about our car seats and their designs.  We took a minute to re-examine our 4 designs and brainstorm a list of ideas that would make these a better representation of our car seats.  Our list included labels ( of materials and measurements), color, picture and step by step instructions.  This was a great list and I love the added detail to add instructions so another person could replicate them.  This was not a requirement to the assignment- so I loved this thought process.

 Now we discussed the different elements each car seat used.  Different groups shared their ideas and thought process to their designs.  Then we came to the straw.  Many groups tossed it aside and didn’t use it - so I asked them for ways they may have been able to incorporate it into their designs.  One group tried to use it as a cushion to absorb the impact of the crash - we took this idea further.  I showed them a way they could have used it with the carton to make the egg snug into the compartment.  

Now it was onto them answering the questions.  First, they needed to answer ways they would change their design to make it better.  It was great to see some students add in elements from our discussion into their writing.  Others focused on their design - if they missed points on this from the evaluation.  Next, they had to design a car seat for Dru and Teller using only 40 cm of supplies and identify the amount of supplies to use.  They needed to include a drawing for our friends so they can replicate their new designs.

On Thursday, they were allowed some more time to finish their response to Dru and Teller.  We reviewed our list our diagrams should include because I noticed some friends were rushing this step yesterday.  After a quick reminder, they took their time with this step - so much time that we didn’t get to complete a round 4 to our seat belt tests.  We utilized our last few minutes sharing our new designs with our classmates. It was great hearing them discuss the strength of materials while explaining their thoughts.

Next week we will take our chapter check-up.  I have big plans for Thursday if the group does well on their check-up!

3rd Grade:  Area - This About Covers It!:  We are starting with a new chapter this week!  Our new math concept will focus on area.  We are going to learn about finding the area of irregular shapes.  To start the lesson we worked on defining area.  They were quick to identify it as an inside measurement of stuff.  Stuff?  We needed to figure out, with the use of our math terms - what this stuff they were referring to was...Thankfully we identified it as the inside measurement to a 2-D shape of it’s inside dimensions.  We walked through a practice sheet on finding area of a closed rectangular shape.  Now for the twist...how do you find the area of an irregular shape?  Our story of the exploration team continues on...with a review of the team learning about area of irregular shapes.  To begin each exploring this idea each child drew a picture of a fried egg.  Some wanted to draw a square egg - so we quickly fixed this to get our irregular shape.  First, they made a prediction of their shapes area.  Next, I asked them to figure out the exact area.

Everyone did so easily, however they left off many squares in the process.  We needed to learn how to count partial squares. We started to put them together like a puzzle...2 halves = 1 whole or ¼ plus a ¾ =1 whole.  Now they recounted their area - with great success this time.  Two friends had fried eggs about the same in size.  Earlier they were off in area from one another by about 200 square units.  This time they were only separated by about 10 square units.  They are on the right track!  To end our introduction to area we needed to define and have a better understanding of the idea of measuring with a square unit.  We ended class discussing this idea and working on a sheet to help them better understand it.

4th Grade:  Spatial Visualization - Do You See What I See?:  We started out with a quick review of our new topic Transformation.  The children remembered our key terms and our words to remember them:  transformation = movement, translation = slide, and reflection = mirrored/flipped.  I was pleased because they also remembered the importance of our positional terms: left, right, up and down.

 We had to have a quick reminder of the term line of reflection and identifying it as vertical or horizontal.  This was perfect because it introduced us to using our positional terms with our line of reflection.  We looked at our two reflections and wrote descriptions to how they were reflected.  Then it was onto independent practice.  I allowed the students to use mirrors to help them reflect the image.

  However, I challenged them to try the last one without the mirror.  They did a great job with describing their reflections.  We had just enough time to introduce our last transformation - rotation.  We came up with a class list of things that we believe rotate:  wheels, gears, ferris wheel, wind mill, carousel and the eye roll.  We will revisit this list at the end of rotation to see if they all fit our definition.  

On Thursday, we started class with the positional terms we use for rotation - clockwise and counterclockwise.  We also identified the ways to move our rotation in degrees.  To better understand this and the importance of identifying our positional terms each student stood up and followed a list of instructions.  There was not tricking them today - when a direction didn’t specify the direction of the term - they would ask for clarification.   For independent practice the completed two sheets in their student journal on rotation.  Everyone did a great job and we finished early...so we played Simon Says with Transformations!  Each student took a turn as Simon and they either rotated their friends or translated them!