Room 29 is gearing up for the Super Bowl by doing some fun, educational work with the team rosters of the Seahawks and the Patriots. After breaking up into cooperative groups, students were given a list of questions to answer relating to the team rosters. The questions required them to put their math skills to the test as they added and subtracted players weights and other statistical information. Of course, the children were also required to work together and create strategies to make the more complicated problems more manageable. After completing all the questions, each group made a Super Bowl poster displaying their work.
Despite barely being in school because of early dismissals, delayed openings, and snow days, we still managed to get a lot accomplished. In math, we wrapped up Module 3 by learning some strategies to use to multiply by 10s. Next week we will take our end of module assessment (please be on the lookout for the review sheet to come home--probably Tuesday barring any more crazy weather events) and begin a new module. Parents, guides to each module can be found on our classroom Edline site in the right hand sidebar. These can help you better understand the strategies we are using for each unit and how to help your child with his/her homework if necessary.
In Writer's Workshop students are learning to work closely with the anchor charts in our room to help them monitor their work in progress. I have taken photos of all the charts and printed them out for the kids to put in their notebooks to make them more accessible. This past week, students worked on a persuasive writing essay about Martin Luther King Jr.
We also read another story about Snowflake Bentley and did some writing about his impact on the world of science.
Students got their first taste of their science unit on pollution with Ms. Bengtson on Friday. They will continue to go to her room for science for the next 6 weeks. Ms. B does a lot of fun experiments in her room, so I know our students will have a great time with her.
Enjoy Super Bowl Weekend! All the kids know who I want to win!!!
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Remembering Martin Luther King
This week we continued to remember the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. On Tuesday, students watched his entire I Have a Dream speech and talked about the persuasive techniques he used to try to make the entire country aware of the injustices that were occurring in the south. They also worked in cooperative groups to read a story about his life and answer some very thoughtful comprehension questions based on the piece.
In language arts, we spent another week reading some fantastic mentor texts designed to continue to expose children to persuasive writing. Some of the books we read included Hey, Little Ant and The Great Kapok Tree. During independent reading, students wrote persuasive letters to me or to a friend about a favorite book from their just right book box.
In Writer's Workshop, students are adding details and examples to strengthen their arguments for their persuasive letters. In particular, they are working on creating strong leads and opening paragraphs that will hook their readers.
We are moving right along in math, learning about the 9's tables in Module 3. Since some of the lessons have been redundant, we have been able to skip some of them. As a result, we are about 3/4 of the way done with this Module and will likely take the end of module assessment by the end of next week! Since this module builds on previous knowledge and strategies students have gained in previous lessons, they've had an easier time applying that information to higher numbers as they multiply and divide.
On Friday, we read Snowflake Bentley, the story of the man who first photographed snowflakes a century ago. In addition to this story, we looked at some of the thousands of pictures of actual snowflakes he took and saw a brief movie about his life and work. We also make beautiful snowflakes of our own to decorate our classroom since it doesn't seem like we're going to get much real snow this year.
Next week our class will move on to Ms. Bengston for science and learn about pollution and the environment.
In language arts, we spent another week reading some fantastic mentor texts designed to continue to expose children to persuasive writing. Some of the books we read included Hey, Little Ant and The Great Kapok Tree. During independent reading, students wrote persuasive letters to me or to a friend about a favorite book from their just right book box.
In Writer's Workshop, students are adding details and examples to strengthen their arguments for their persuasive letters. In particular, they are working on creating strong leads and opening paragraphs that will hook their readers.
We are moving right along in math, learning about the 9's tables in Module 3. Since some of the lessons have been redundant, we have been able to skip some of them. As a result, we are about 3/4 of the way done with this Module and will likely take the end of module assessment by the end of next week! Since this module builds on previous knowledge and strategies students have gained in previous lessons, they've had an easier time applying that information to higher numbers as they multiply and divide.
On Friday, we read Snowflake Bentley, the story of the man who first photographed snowflakes a century ago. In addition to this story, we looked at some of the thousands of pictures of actual snowflakes he took and saw a brief movie about his life and work. We also make beautiful snowflakes of our own to decorate our classroom since it doesn't seem like we're going to get much real snow this year.
Next week our class will move on to Ms. Bengston for science and learn about pollution and the environment.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Rocking into 2015
I apologize for not posting in a couple of weeks. My computer died over the holiday break and was out for repairs for over a week. I managed to update the Edline site with homework, but typing weekly reviews on the iPad is slightly beyond my skill set. I'm an old fashioned keyboard kind of girl, I guess.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a happy new year. I sent home our Anthology of Poetry right before break, and I know you must have enjoyed your children's truly amazing writing. They thoroughly enjoyed our poetry unit and were sad to see it come to a close. However, they are excited about our new unit in Writer's Workshop, which focuses on persuasive/opinion writing. We have a lot of strong ideas and opinions in Room 29!
The last two weeks we have been working very hard on learning about persuasive writing techniques and on how to craft persuasive letters and speeches. Students have learned how to form a thesis, how to write to a specific audience, how to create topic sentences for paragraphs with supporting details, and how to conclude their writing in ways that will stay with their readers.
We also have read a lot of wonderful persuasive books, most of which are listed in the bookshelf in the right hand sidebar. The books have served as mentor texts to demonstrate to the children how writers use various techniques like scare tactics, promises, repetition, exaggeration, and tugging at emotions to sway their readers.
Students are currently working on their own persuasive letters using notes they have taken during our lessons. They are working on becoming more independent writers, too, though I do conference with them often to check their work in progress.
To tie in to our persuasive unit, we also learned about Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrated this week. Students used Chrome books to do independent research. They will use their notes to craft a persuasive letter about Dr. King later next week.
In math, we are half way done with Module 3. We took the mid-module assessment mid-week, and everyone did well. It was our best test yet overall! Students really seem to be grasping these more complex concept in multiplication and division (associative, commutative, and distributive properties).
This week we also will wrap up our second cycle in science. Next week, students will move on to learn about pollution and the environment with Ms. Bengston.
Finally, I cannot thank you enough for all the wonderful Christmas gifts. I have thank you cards ready for all the kids at my house, but have been horribly remiss about bringing them in. I would throw my 10 year old, who refuses to get out of bed in the morning, under the bus, but...
NOTES
The temperatures have been bitterly cold, so we have not gone outside. However, as things warm up next week and any day temps are in the 30's, we do go outside for recess. Please make sure your children are appropriate dressed with outerwear for recess. Thanks so much!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a happy new year. I sent home our Anthology of Poetry right before break, and I know you must have enjoyed your children's truly amazing writing. They thoroughly enjoyed our poetry unit and were sad to see it come to a close. However, they are excited about our new unit in Writer's Workshop, which focuses on persuasive/opinion writing. We have a lot of strong ideas and opinions in Room 29!
The last two weeks we have been working very hard on learning about persuasive writing techniques and on how to craft persuasive letters and speeches. Students have learned how to form a thesis, how to write to a specific audience, how to create topic sentences for paragraphs with supporting details, and how to conclude their writing in ways that will stay with their readers.
We also have read a lot of wonderful persuasive books, most of which are listed in the bookshelf in the right hand sidebar. The books have served as mentor texts to demonstrate to the children how writers use various techniques like scare tactics, promises, repetition, exaggeration, and tugging at emotions to sway their readers.
Students are currently working on their own persuasive letters using notes they have taken during our lessons. They are working on becoming more independent writers, too, though I do conference with them often to check their work in progress.
To tie in to our persuasive unit, we also learned about Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrated this week. Students used Chrome books to do independent research. They will use their notes to craft a persuasive letter about Dr. King later next week.
In math, we are half way done with Module 3. We took the mid-module assessment mid-week, and everyone did well. It was our best test yet overall! Students really seem to be grasping these more complex concept in multiplication and division (associative, commutative, and distributive properties).
This week we also will wrap up our second cycle in science. Next week, students will move on to learn about pollution and the environment with Ms. Bengston.
Finally, I cannot thank you enough for all the wonderful Christmas gifts. I have thank you cards ready for all the kids at my house, but have been horribly remiss about bringing them in. I would throw my 10 year old, who refuses to get out of bed in the morning, under the bus, but...
NOTES
The temperatures have been bitterly cold, so we have not gone outside. However, as things warm up next week and any day temps are in the 30's, we do go outside for recess. Please make sure your children are appropriate dressed with outerwear for recess. Thanks so much!
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