12-12-12

Well, this isn't the week I had envisioned-being out 3/5 days...I sincerely dislike being out so much and I truly hope you know that I wouldn't do it unless I had to. Yesterday, kiddos practiced adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators, read a historical fiction picture book about Christmas, worked on their persuasive letters, read and worked on their literature circle/book club books and continued reading about the native americans of 1700s. Today, we continued our practice with adding and subtracting fractions and I taught them how to make common denominators. I explained that this isnt a skill they need mastered but by exposing them to this, they are getting a step ahead for next year. We began reading Beaded Moccasins in Read Aloud which will help to reinforce their understanding of Native Americans. In Reader's Workshop, we played "Blurt," a new word game as well as met for groups and worked on a Time For Kids. We researched and wrote the introduction to our persuasive letters for Writer's Workshop. In Science, we finished, mostly, our weather comics.
Check with your kiddos about tomorrow and Friday. I will try to write or send an email Friday but I'm not sure there will be time. Thank you for your understanding.

Monday, December 10

In Math today, we looked at fractions with pattern blocks as well as equivalent fractions and then moved into adding and subtracting fractions. For some, we are moving a little too quickly but I want to get to a good stopping point before heading to break. It might help to practice fractions at home this week. I will probably send some math homework to help as well. We finally finished our book for Read Aloud. This was a really good book and a great introduction to historical fiction. In Reader's Workshop, we completed an Ohio Studies Weekly about the early people of Ohio, read and some played Logic and Reasoning while others met with me to work on reading strategies and skills. We began our persuasive writing today and learned about the author Charles Smith Jr. who will be visiting our school this spring.

Friday, December 7

I was only at school for the morning because I have sick kiddos at home so here is what we 1. did this morning and 2. should be doing this afternoon. In Math, we finished our fraction pizzas and made fraction strips to learn and identify equivalent fractions. We played a game with our fraction strips too and finished by showing what we know using a math journal page. We had indoor recess because of the rain. :( Hopefully, they won't be too stir crazy this afternoon... They should be reading Freedom Summer for Read Aloud. This is a historical fiction picture book. (I didn't want a substitute to finish our other book!) They will be reading about holiday traditions and practicing math skills during Reader's Workshop and finishing, finally, their informational reports. In Science, they will be working on and hopefully completing, their comic strips.

Thursday, December 6

Today in Math, we practiced making fractions by creating pizzas with toppings. Each slice is different and tomorrow they will be writing what fraction of their pizza contains which toppings. Some interesting topics included bacon and a pope? One student made pancakes instead of pizza-fun but I'm concerned that they spent more time being artsy than mathematical... We almost finished our read aloud but chose to wait until tomorrow to enjoy the ending. We will also be talking about how our main character changed over the course of the book. In Reader's Workshop, we worked with compound words and an OAA passage about Jane Goodall. We worked on our informational reports in Writer's Workshop. Finally, and first actually, we began and ended our day with Social Studies about Native Americans. (Mrs. Root didn't have a substitute so no music today.)

Late Start-Wednesday, December 5

It was a shortened day but full of learning and fun. In Math, we practiced fractions of sets with Smarties! They did a fantastic job on this. We will have an assessment over fractions the Tuesday before break. We will continue to practice identifying, modeling, naming and recognizing fractions as well as adding and subtracting fractions up until then. We read more of our historical fiction book today and are starting to see how our main character may begin to grow or change. In Reader's Workshop, I met with some to read and discuss while others read a Time For Kids or sorted their words from word study. We continued, again, with our research and informational reports in Writer's Workshop. We are only going to be working on these for one or two more days. If they are not finished, they will need to continue at home as the majority of the class is now working on their 2nd report. We completed the day with a touching story and lesson from Mrs. Vidic for Guidance.

Tuesday, December 4

We had a very productive day today! In Math, we kept the momentum going with fractions by playing I Have, Who Has with naming and identifying fractions. We then practiced writing and finding fractions of sets. We need a little more work on this and will continue this learning tomorrow. They were able to findfractions of sets like boys in our class but had more trouble finding the set when given the fraction-1/3 of 12. Read Aloud is getting really good and it might be beneficial to talk to your child about what is happening. It takes place during Vietnam and the main character's brother's best friend just died. This is making the main character look at her life and her feelings and it is getting a little deeper than I can get in the 25 minutes we have-no big deal-just thought there might be a teachable moment or time for deep discussion at home. In Reader's Workshop, we sorted our word study words, some worked on a TFK and others met with Mr. Schulze (a district literacy coach). In Writer's Workshop, we continued with our informational report writing. We progressed about 10,000 years in Social Studies and learned about the Mound Builders!

Monday, December 3

In Math, we began fractions today! Students have a great base of understanding so I'm excited to see them with this learning. I am stressing that fractions are part of a whole and that we have to pay attention to the whole. In Reader's Workshop and beginning with Read Aloud, we made the transition from informational text to literary text by discussing characterization. Students then read independently and noted some characteristics of the main character. We will be tracking how this character changes over the course of the book. I challenge them to read at least one longer fiction book. We went to the computer lab for Writer's Workshop where students continued to research and type their informational reports. In Social Studies we learned about the first people of Ohio and prehistoric people.