Week in Review Times Two

Given that we have hardly been in school the past two weeks, I thought I'd roll the last two weeks in review into one.  Prior to our short February break (hasn't the entire month of February been a break??), we were hard at work on a variety of activities which the students picked up with after we returned this week.

In language arts, students paired up to read books about famous African Americans.  Each partnership was assigned one person to study.  After doing research both with books and on the Internet, the children created posters displaying what they'd learned.  Then they presented their posters to the class.  Everyone did an amazing job.  I was particularly impressed with the clever ways students decided to present their information.  For instance, the students studying Oprah Winfrey, put their information inside pictures they had drawn of microphones and TV screens.  Children learning about Jackie Robinson, put their interesting facts on the base paths of a baseball diamond.  Students studying Muhammad Ali included their information on a picture of a boxing ring.  After they had completed their posters and given their oral presentations, students completed a self assessment rubric and graded themselves on content and effort.

In the computer lab, students learned about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in honor of President's Day.  Meanwhile, in the library, they learned about reliable websites as they researched fun facts about US presidents and first ladies from the past and present day.

We also talked about Chinese New Year (2015 is the Year of the Ram/Sheep), which began on Thursday. We read about traditions, foods, and parades, printed out our names in Chinese characters, and made red and yellow lanterns to line the hallway outside our classroom.

In Writer's Workshop, we used self assessment rubrics to monitor our work in progress as we finish up our persuasive writing pieces.

Students are enjoying learning about pollution with Ms. Bentgson in science.

We are half way through Math Module 4, learning about area.  Students are learning how to determine area when two sides of a shape are know and how to determine a missing side when the entire square footage is given and only one side is known.  We should be finished with this unit and moving on to Module 5 very shortly.  Everyone has enjoyed using square tiles and pattern blocks to create rectangles that they can measure the area of.

We have some fun and exciting activities coming up in March.  Our One School, One Book school-wide challenge will begin in March.  Additionally, Ms. B and I will begin our own March Madness unit to count down to the favorite book in our classrooms.  More information on this later!  Last year the kids had a TON of fun with this activity--and boy did they do a lot of great reading!

Stay Warm!

Another Crazy, Short Week

I don't think the kids will ever know what to do with themselves if we actually manage to come to school on a Monday!  However, I always find that during the weeks we have the most disjointed schedule due to weather, we somehow manage to get the most done.  This week was no exception.

In ELA, we continued to read great books where the author's (or character's) purpose was to persuade.  This, of course, ties in with our writing unit on persuasive writing, a type of writing to which our students are pretty new. Nonetheless, they are taking to it really well (being very opinionated 8-9 year olds helps, I think!).  We've had scores of lessons both from Learnzillion.com, from books we have read, and PowerPoint presentations.  I've provided the kids with graphic organizers, templates, and tools they can use to organize their thinking over the course of this unit.

We just wrapped up our first big assignment, our letter about Martin Luther King.  This assignment has given the kids the opportunity to be self-reflective.  I provided them with a rubric to follow to check their work and make an honest appraisal of how well they'd done.  Then a fellow student filled out the rubric, providing constructive feedback (some of your kids are going to be teachers some day, I think), and finally, I filled in the rubric with my own comments.

We had a great time in math this week.  I am really trying to make our Engage New York Common Core lessons as hands-on and fun for the children as possible.  Students worked with rosters of the Super Bowl contenders, answering math related questions about them, and then made posters showing their data.  As soon as every group is finished, I will have pictures to post on Edline.  It's just taking us a bit to finish up given that we haven't been in school that much.  Not only did the kids do a great job in their computation, they had fun designing creative ways in which to show their work.

We wrapped up Module 3 in math this week as well.  Overall, everyone did a really good job.  Our next unit on area began this week, too.  The children had fun working with pattern block to discover the area of various shapes.

We took a one minute timed test on multiplication and division this week (our first was in November).  Please make sure your child is going on Moby Max Math at least a few times a week even if it is not specifically assigned for homework.  Students who go on Moby Max regularly have made dramatic increases in their scores.  It really does help!

We celebrated the 100th Day of School this week by seeing what we could do in 100 seconds.  Everyone had a great time clapping their hands, saying the ABC's, writing their names, hopping, blinking their eyes, and a whole bunch of other activities.  Then we used the information we gathered to do some math problems!

On February 13, we will exchange Valentine's in our classroom.  To make the distribution process easier, I ask that students sign their names to their cards but DO NOT put names of recipients on the envelopes. This makes handing them out much easier as children do not have to be wandering around the room trying to find which Valentine belongs where.  Also, I have spoken to Mr. Lazar, and he indicated that it is OK for children to attach a "very small" candy to Valentines that can be eaten at home.  So, lollipops, etc. would be the best choices.  We do have peanut allergies in our classroom, so please be very mindful of that.

This coming week we will begin partner projects to learn more about a famous African American from US history of the present day in honor of Black History Month.

Enjoy your week and STAY WARM!!