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!