Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thanksgiving Is Near
As Thanksgiving approaches I am thankful for the wonderful students that I am able to teach this year. I am also thankful for the excitement we are all feeling about the novels we are reading (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George). In grammar, students are tackling indirect objects and are understanding well.
The students have also been recently introduced to the Six Traits of Writing, and our writing project for this week has focused on conversation in writing as we write character dialogues that might happen around a Thanksgiving table. The students were asked to select four fictional characters and completed a graphic organizer during the pre-writing stage. During this stage the students were also asked to sketch a comic so that readers (and the writer) might better visualize the table conversation. During the drafting stage, the students practiced quotation rules by translating their comic into paragraph form. Students revised their drafts by using their revision tools sheet. The revision tool that was added this week was "Avoiding Repetition". Students especially avoided using the word 'said' too often in their writing. Finally, students will edit and publish both in comic and paragraph format. I am excited to view their products!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Heart Day!
During the week of February 8, 2010 we were once again quite busy. Throughout the week we worked our way through the writing process as we composed “Un”Valentines. Using Microsoft PowerPoint we published our creations and created crayon melt envelopes to store our accordion valentines. There is a link of directions for the “Un”Valentines under “Student Resources” on the right if you would like to make more or were absent and need to catch up.
During reading this week we continued reading and finished our novels. I could tell by the questions of, “Are we starting new novels on Monday?” that most of you are ready to begin your next selection.
During our study of conventions this week, we studied comparatives and superlatives as we looked closely at spelling rules for their usage. The basketball game that we used as a sponge activity is available for you to play under student resources. It is labeled “Basketball Comparatives and Superlatives”. We also continued learning about linking verbs and predicate nouns by contrasting them with transitive verbs and direct objects.
We ended the week with our Preferred Activity Time activity by creating crayon melt envelopes for our “Un”Valentines. If you would like to make more envelopes at home, the link is listed under student resources on the right. Be sure to complete this activity with your parents' help/supervision because it involves using a hot iron.
During reading this week we continued reading and finished our novels. I could tell by the questions of, “Are we starting new novels on Monday?” that most of you are ready to begin your next selection.
During our study of conventions this week, we studied comparatives and superlatives as we looked closely at spelling rules for their usage. The basketball game that we used as a sponge activity is available for you to play under student resources. It is labeled “Basketball Comparatives and Superlatives”. We also continued learning about linking verbs and predicate nouns by contrasting them with transitive verbs and direct objects.
We ended the week with our Preferred Activity Time activity by creating crayon melt envelopes for our “Un”Valentines. If you would like to make more envelopes at home, the link is listed under student resources on the right. Be sure to complete this activity with your parents' help/supervision because it involves using a hot iron.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Visitors
During Language Arts this week, we dove deeper into our understanding of Main Idea and Details. We discussed summaries and a three step process for choosing the best answers when you run across a summary question.
On Tuesday, we had some teachers from a surrounding school visit our classroom to observe our differentiation model. Some of the activities they were able to observe were our novel groups, think-tac-toe, and centers. They were impressed with the many things that happen in our classroom, and thought that you were wonderful students- so do I!
As you know, Parent Teacher Conferences were this week so we rounded out this short week with our annual Rocket Reading Day. We spent some time together reading, completed some silent reading activities, and finished up by making a snack- Snowflake Tortillas. If you would like to make these at home, the recipe is listed on the right under "Student Resources".
On Tuesday, we had some teachers from a surrounding school visit our classroom to observe our differentiation model. Some of the activities they were able to observe were our novel groups, think-tac-toe, and centers. They were impressed with the many things that happen in our classroom, and thought that you were wonderful students- so do I!
As you know, Parent Teacher Conferences were this week so we rounded out this short week with our annual Rocket Reading Day. We spent some time together reading, completed some silent reading activities, and finished up by making a snack- Snowflake Tortillas. If you would like to make these at home, the recipe is listed on the right under "Student Resources".
Saturday, January 30, 2010
A Busy Week
This week was another busy one as we prepare for the upcoming Kansas State Assessments. Students are reading in literature circles. We have nine novel groups, and each group is reading a different novel and completing response and center activities that are unique to the themes and skills found within their novel. Some of the most popular centers this week were the "Word Popping" station which focused on word building and the "Grammar Snowball" station which focused on direct and indirect objects.
In writing this week, students wrote expository paragraphs that reviewed our reading lessons on main idea and supporting details. Students moved through the writing process by choosing one topic and writing three paragraphs that expanded upon the topic. Students began publishing their paragraphs using PowerPoint to create a flip book puzzle. I created a screen cast which the students have used to create their flip books. It can be found under the resources section to the right.
To round out the week on Friday, we read with our kindergarten buddies, took our weekly assessment, and then played a Text Structure Jeopardy Game. The students enjoyed Jeopardy because they were the authors of the questions. Last week for focused writing, students wrote paragraphs organized by each text structure. The Jeopardy game required the students to identify the type of text structure their peers had written. It was a great way to wrap up the week!
In writing this week, students wrote expository paragraphs that reviewed our reading lessons on main idea and supporting details. Students moved through the writing process by choosing one topic and writing three paragraphs that expanded upon the topic. Students began publishing their paragraphs using PowerPoint to create a flip book puzzle. I created a screen cast which the students have used to create their flip books. It can be found under the resources section to the right.
To round out the week on Friday, we read with our kindergarten buddies, took our weekly assessment, and then played a Text Structure Jeopardy Game. The students enjoyed Jeopardy because they were the authors of the questions. Last week for focused writing, students wrote paragraphs organized by each text structure. The Jeopardy game required the students to identify the type of text structure their peers had written. It was a great way to wrap up the week!
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