Our first new piece!

We are still working on coming in and getting right to work. They like to mosey around and chitchat... Our morning procedures are to check in for lunch and come in and find a seat that will help them to be successful-not with their friends. Then, they get themselves "Ready to Learn," and begin working on their Math 4Today. At the bell, (actually 9:05-we don't have a bell) we switch over to i-Time. I will begin working with a small group during this time, tomorrow, while everyone else is working INDEPENDENTLY to better themselves at a skill that needs practiced or to research something they wonder about or want to learn. In our morning meeting, we talked about yesterday being Eid-a holiday that a few of our students were out celebrating-and shared our favorite holidays. Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween, were the most popular. After the pledge and a few rounds of "Would you rather?" we did a number talk on reading and writing numbers with identifying place and value of numbers. Then, we completed an Exemplar-a real world application of understanding place and value-that was either average, a little less challenging or a little more challenging. I let them pick which problem they felt were best for them and they honestly picked the problem that I would have picked for them! Then, in Math Workshop, they completed some problem-solving activities involving 10x more, played a place and value card game or played ST Math. Today's workshop was very productive with little reminders from me, so we earned our first piece! We had gym and then lunch and recess and then read more from Fish In a Tree where we visualized-sketched our "mind movies"-and kept track of how Ally is changing now that we are almost at the end of the book. After reading independently, visiting the library and/or conferencing with me about their independent reading, we worked on answering critical thinking questions about our StoryWorks story we've been working on, played chess, like Ally, or tried to figure out the coded message that Mr. Daniels gave his class to try to figure out in Fish In a Tree. I also worked with a couple of groups in Guided Reading with close reading, bringing background information to our reading and self-correcting/monitoring as we read aloud. In Writer's Workshop, we talked about our Small Moments story ideas and decided if they are true "seeds" or if they are "watermelon" ideas. Our day concluded with Science and drawing their perception of a Scientist (19/24 drew male!), the tools Scientists use and what they do.