Thursday, November 29

Another crazy day, another full moon? Anyway, we got a lot accomplished! In Math, we worked on subtraction with decimals which proved to be much more challenging than addition...students understood to line up the decimal but struggled with zeroes. We focused on trying to add up like most of us do in adult life and students showed more success with this strategy. Tomorrow, students will be showing they understand decimals by applying this knowledge in an application setting. Hopefully, they will show a more secure understanding and we'll be able to move into fractions next week. I am fairly confident that this will be the case so be prepared for fractions! Students working on the independent project will be sharing their class lunch proposals tomorrow also. Will a class lunch be in our future? I am not sure. It depends on the proposals I get tomorrow! We read more of our historical fiction book, Neil Armstrong is My Uncle... which is a really good book that the students are connecting with even though the setting is different from today. In Reader's Workshop, we worked on vocabulary, reading independently and proving our answers when answering questions after reading a passage. We continued working on our informational reports in Writer's Workshop and continued work on our weather comics.

Wednesday, November 28

Crazy day... is it a full moon?? Anyway, in Math, we continued with being in two separate groups-one working on an independent project and the other working with me to secure their understanding of decimals. I thought that they had it yesterday but when I graded their exit slips, I found that only 2 had and the rest still needed more. So, today we secured that understanding and moved on to adding decimals. They did much better with this. Tomorrow we will subtract and make change and then re-assess on Friday. We had second grade visitors from Mr. Alexander's room come in during Read Aloud to perform a reader's theater for us. We used this to teach us about fluency and the kiddos learned quite a bit from them. Since the reader's theater ran over, Reader's Workshop was a little different and we only read silently and worked on proving our word study generalization. In Writer's Workshop, we discussed adding a strong conclusion to our informational reports. So far, from what I'm seeing, students are really doing a nice job. Finally, in Science, we continued our work on our Weather Comics.

Tuesday, November 27

In Math today, the kiddos were put into 2 groups. Some worked on an independent project where they are researching and writing up a proposal for a class lunch to give to me this Friday. The other group worked on securing our understanding of place and value. First, we began with whole numbers because I found that those that had trouble with decimal place and value also have trouble with whole numbers so we made a tool to help us. We then made the same tool but for decimals. We showed the symmetry between the too and I think I finally saw some light bulbs light up at least for some or a little for each. Instead of Read Aloud, Carter shared some rocks he got when he went to Denver last week. For Reader's Workshop, students worked on sorting their word study words, buddy reading poetry for two voices and reading comprehension about orcas. We have been working on researching and informational report writing. Today, we focused on an inviting lead as our introduction to our informational report about our animals. I think we have revised to make some pretty good leads! Then, in Science, we continued our rough drafts of our weather comics.

Monday, November 26

Today was a great day back! The students were a little noisy and messy but overall great. In Math, we did a few different things. Some needed to take the decimal assessment from last week, others needed more work with decimals and the rest moved on to a game that dealt with adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals. It was a little chaotic for me, but the kiddos did well. Tomorrow, half of the class will be working to secure their skill with basic decimals while the other half will be working on an independent project that enforces their secure understanding of decimals. In Reader's Workshop, we practiced our fluency by reading to a friend in different voices (funny!) and worked on vocabulary. Some of the words we practiced using were nylon, suburb and laptop. We continued our work with our informational reports in Writer's Workshop and in Science, worked on our weather comics.

Tuesday, November 20

We had a small class size today as 4 were absent and 2 more left as the day progressed...I am a little jealous at all the places people are headed for this holiday break--Denver, Texas, Washington DC, New York, etc. We'll have some great conversation when everyone returns! In Math, we took adecimal assessment. I know I didn'tgive notice but felt like the students were at a point where they were showing that they understood decimals and needed to move on. I will look at them over the break and see if the assessment shows the same and we'll either move on to fractions or clear up any misconceptions of decimals first. In Reader's Workshop, we finished our TFK and elapsed time work from yesterday, read and some worked with me. Then, we continued working on our informational reports in Writer's Workshop and concluded our day with our buddies. We read All About Turkeys by Jim Arnosky and then did a math activity where we rolled the dice to create our own turkeys. Fun was had by all!

Monday, November 19

Today was a short day for me as I was only there for the morning. I'm sure your child can fill in the blanks for the afternoon though. In Math, we practiced and reviewed decimals. Some were working with me naming and writing decimals, others were practicing adding and subtracting decimals and everyone (by the end of class) was completing a mini project using decimals realistically. I "gave" them $1,000 and they have to spend it keeping track of what they buy and a running tally of how much they spend and have remaining. I noticed that some are spending money on things with only dollars or round numbers so tomorrow we are going to figure in some tax to make sure they are truly practicing with decimals! Sneaky kiddos! This afternoon, they read and worked on a Time for Kids about time in school, worked on elapsed time and had a book review lesson in the library. They also worked on their weather comic strip some.

Friday, November 16--Woohoo!

This was a LONG week for me... In Math, we practiced what we have learned about decimals. Some are proficient and will be working on an independent project on Monday and Tuesday while others need a little more practice and/or clarification and will be working more to solidify that. In Reader's Workshop, students played word study games, got caught up on previous workboard work and read silently. Meanwhile, I pulled some kiddos to take a little assessment of their reading. We worked on our informational reports in Writer's Workshop and then we took a little break to taste a piece of candy that a parent brought me last night. This candy was her favorite as a child growing up in China. It was delish!! Thank you Mrs, Wagoner! I also introduced a culminating activity for our unit on weather which will be a weather comic strip. If you receive the newspaper, show them the comics on Sunday (or any day for that matter) and discuss what goes into making comics. It is hard to put the right amount of inference and humor and speech to make a comic. They will begin next week and will finish up the first week or so of December.

Thursday, November 15

Today was a long but productive day. Quote of the day during reading: Me-"You haven't gotten very far in that book, have you?" Student-"No. You teach too much! I don't have enough time to read!" Love it! In Math, we worked on subtracting decimals today. We practiced real world skills by using a Red Robin menu to purchase meals and then pay and get change. They had a great time with this! Our historical fiction book in Read Aloud is really good! It might be a tear jerker... In Reader's Workshop, we continued our work with inferences and read about eating bugs in a Time for Kids. For Writer's Workshop, we put researched findings into our own words in an informational report about blue whales. After conferencing with me, they are moving on to write an informational report from the research they gathered about an animal. In Science, we got back into our groups and finished creating our weather instruments to measure precipitation, wind speed and wind direction.

Wednesday, November 14

Today was a great day! We started out changing seats and with this seat change, things seem much quieter. I think they were too comfortable with their table mates... Some didn't enjoy the change while others did a little too much and in turn switched again. :) In Math, we added decimals. This took the entire time as we needed reminders to add ones with ones and tenths with tenths and to line up the decimal point. In Reader's Workshop, we worked on inferences, proving our word study generalizations and reading. We have been working a lot with the books that we are currently reading independently. Ask your child what they are reading? I think some of you would be surprised at how quickly some abandon their books. It takes a lot of concentration and attention to stick with a book until the end but it extremely worth it. To make this point, try turning off the television or their video game in the middle of their show. They won't like it very much and might understand that when abandoning books, it is the same. In Writer's Workshop, we continued with taking research and putting the information into their own words. I have received a few already and they are doing a pretty good job stating the facts but adding their voice so as to not make their reports boring. I am looking forward to reading their animal reports. At the end of the day, in Science, I gave them a basket of materials and the task of making weather instruments to measure precipitation, wind speed and wind direction. Oh my goodness! I loved seeing them brainstorm ways to do this. They worked in teams and are all on the right track. Some did what I had envisioned while others are creating different things which I'm curious about. We'll see!

Tuesday, November 13

Brrr it was a chilly start to the day! In Math, we did many things decimal related. We wrote tenths and hundredths using words, numbers and fractions. We identified decimals using pictures and base-10 blocks. We then partnered up and compared our numbers and then ordered ourselves from least to greatest. We even had a competition to see who could get in order quicker-a boy group with one girl or a girl group with one boy...and the winner was... The boy plus one girl group! For Read Aloud, we began a new historical fiction book. In Reader's Workshop, we worked on our research, read and sorted our word study words. Then, we compared and contrasted last week and this week's generalizations in a Venn Diagram. For Writer's Workshop, we looked at an example and began learning how to write an informational report. Students are practicing taking already gathered information and putting it into their own words. We finished our day with reading some Science books to prepare for our inquiry project with weather instruments tomorrow.

Oh and we won our first Manga High Fai-to!!

Monday, November 12

Good day! In Math, we reviewed some basics of decimals and practiced ordering, comparing and writing decimals. We are still sticking with hundredths for now but every now and then thousandths are thrown in which sometimes throws them off. No worries-we'll get there! We finished Nightmare at the Book Fair! I polled the class on if they liked the book and the answer was overwhelmingly yes. Quite a few children also said that they are interested in a new genre because of what they heard from this book. Yay! In Reader's Workshop, we worked on inference. I read some picture books that took a lot of inferring to comprehend and they would write down their inferences as we went. We said that an inference takes information from the book as well as personal knowledge and puts them together to draw a conclusion. A lot of kiddos wanted to give predictions as inferences but we talked about the differences between these ideas. In Writer's Workshop, we continued with our stories about our streets and what happens in our neighborhood. At the end of the day, we worked on research for our animal and practiced for conferences.

Well needed Friday, November 9

Today was a little extra crazy because Mrs. Williams had a reaction to her medication and didn't have a substitute so her students were split up and we received some extra kiddos. It was wonderful-just added to our already crazy day. We did a lot of catching up today. In Math, we played oodles of games including Manga High as we are in a Fai-to! or challenge from another school. We are tied right now so your child may ask to play on the computer this weekend. I promise it is educational! This afternoon, we completed our turkey t-shirt. This took about an hour to complete. We read, played spelling games, completed our conference material, researched our animal, and got caught up on workboard work for the rest of the afternoon. Again, there was a lot of independent working so a lot of redirection needed. I have been stressing that they are in charge of their learning and am finding that some don't do well with the leadership role there. I may need to guide some of them down the right path for a little longer...

Thursday, November 8

We struggled a little bit today. We are at the point in the year where they are showing that they can be more independent so I give them that opportunity. However, they seem to need more redirection and discipline when working independently. Independence is a big thing and there are aspects to it that need to be taught, retaught and refined so we'll continue to do that. It was just a semi-frustrating day. Now that I've vented a little, here is how our day went. In Math, we continued our learning of decimals and did a decimal ordering activity. Students seemed to have quite a bit of difficulty with this but once we slowed down and really listened and looked at the patterns, we seemed to get it. No worries-we are still beginning. Mr. Hennes has given all the classrooms a challenge of creating a Thanksgiving themed t-shirt. We worked on the plan after lunch and we are making ours into a turkey! Gobble! In Reader's Workshop, two groups played a Logic & Reasoning game, some students worked with Mr. Wendt and everyone else continued working on the Workboard activities. Some of our first grade buddies came down and performed a Reader's Theater of The Little Red Hen. Then, we finishe d our day working on our information and portfolios for conferences next week.

Election Day!

Today is election day and we made it pretty special. Hopefully, it resonated with your child enough that they will be able to come home, fill you in with the festivities and care about the results of the election. After special, we watched a School House Rocks video about the Electoral College. Then, we held a mock election... Which drink do you prefer--Chocolate Milk or White Milk?? Each student drew 2 states out of a hat and received a ballot. Then, when I called each state, they cast their ballot and told us which drink their electoral college votes went to. We did this 51 times! (Did you know that Washington DC has 3 electoral college votes?) At the end, we tallied the popular vote: 20 for chocolate milk and 6 for white milk! Chocolate milk won the popular vote! Then, we practiced our addition (and boy do we need more practice!!) and counted electoral votes and with a vote of 117 to 418, the winner is...   Chocolate Milk! Students were surprised that although Colorado is a larger state than Ohio, it only had 3 votes where we have 18. We also talked about our job as citizens to vote-no matter what. I said that I don't drink white or chocolate milk but I drink almond milk and still needed to vote. (I didn't go into write-ins, don't worry...) We did some Reading and Writing as well and completed some things for conferences next week too. At the end of the day, we headed to the library for our 3rd session on researching. Now, students may be bringing their research books home to help complete their research. This can be included in their Reading and Writing Logs as homework.

Monday, November 5

In Math, we began our new unit on decimals. We looked at the relationship between decimals and money as well as the place and value of decimals through thousandths. We are almost finished with Nightmare at the Book Fair so today we finished up with fantasy and began girl fiction. (This chapter even makes me nauseous!) Has your child made a book bingo yet? In Reader's Workshop, we worked more with inferencing and read about the presidential candidates in Time for Kids. Some finished writing our directions to somewhere today in Writer's Workshop while the rest of us did free writing in our Writer's Notebooks. We took a pretest in Word Study to develop our new lists and finished our day with Science. We recorded today's weather so that we can look for patterns and try to forecast the weather. We also looked at weather maps and some gave us a pretend forecast for the country-like they do on Good Morning America and the Today show.

TGIFriday, November 2

The children were crazy today! I think they were crazier today than yesterday! We took the assessment/quiz/test in Math today and overall, they did great. They either got it or they didn't. There weren't many in betweens. We will be moving on to decimals next week but please know that I will continue to work with those few that did not get it. We continued reading the Fantasy chapter in Nightmare at the Book Fair. Hopefully your student is working on getting their book bingo... In Reading, we worked with inferences and practiced our informational text skills by completing an OAA passage. We wrote directions to somewhere during Writer's Workshop. This is helping us with sequencing and being descriptive and complete in our writing. We rounded out the day with Science and learning how to track the weather. Next week a meteorologist job will be added and students will be recording the weather each day so that we can try to track weather patterns.

Thursday, November 1

Wow! I was expecting crazy kids after last night but everyone is doing great! We reviewed in Math today for our quiz tomorrow. Please help your child to practice tonight! We finished our animal fiction chapter in Nightmare at the Book Fair and began the chapter on Fantasy. This is a good, silly one too! In Reader's Workshop, we had some making up to do with kiddos and the library so a majority of our time was spent doing that and silently reading. We also looked at grammar and correcting sentences. In Writer's Workshop, students practiced with direction writing but this time how to get somewhere. We finished the day with Social Studies and learning about agriculture.