The Usual

Today was a mostly typical Wednesday. We completed our M4T, Ohio Dailies and i-time before meeting and discussing what we enjoy most about this time of year and our upcoming holiday party-which is going to look different this year, by the way (details will be coming). Musical Rehearsal was this morning at 10:15 so we only had a short time for math so we spent the time using pattern blocks to create equivalent fractions. After one of the few remaining "nice weather" outdoor recess days, we read about the strength the young Delaware Indian boys gain in The Beaded Moccasins and also looked into one of the lesser talked about characters, Mrs. Stewart, and completed a padlet answering some questions about her and her relationship with Mary. We read independently and then finished our work thinking critically about Dania, a character from our StoryWorks story, "Escape from War." In Writer's Workshop, we continued pre-writing for our opinion essay.

Back to reality

I was out sick yesterday :( but hopefully your kiddo filled you in on the day's happenings.

Today, now that we are back from our break, we are back to reality and got right to work! In Math Workshop, we began our understanding of fractions by first discussing what we already know and looking ahead to what we are going to be learning and setting a goal for this unit. We actually had a pretty big number of kiddos that did really well on the pre-test so some set goals for using models and/or number lines to justify their thinking. Then, we reviewed ways to represent fractions and started doing some problem solving with sharing pizzas among different numbers of students. *Students have homework due Thursday to find and model fractions of their family!* After lunch, we read more from The Beaded Moccasins, and identified similes the author uses to help us visualize the comparisons. Then, we read independently and quite a few visited the library (since our sub yesterday was supposed to be the library sub :)). My focus is going to be on guided reading this week so students need to work more independently, so they worked on thinking critically about the paired texts in StoryWorks while I met with a couple groups where we focused today, mostly, on reading closely and understanding the story so we can answer questions about the story. In Writer's Workshop, we picked topics and began our pre-writing for our opinion essays. Finally, our day concluded with Social Studies and learning more about the mound builders and how they are alike and different from the prehistoric indians and hunter-gatherers.

Short week

Sometimes, short weeks make for long days... It's hard to get them into committing to learning when they are excited about our Classgiving, Thanksgiving, road trips and only 2 days of school. It'll just take extra self-discipline and patience! 

Our morning began with a Thanksgiving Challenge. Did you know that only 18 women came on the journey to Plymouth on the Mayflower and only 5 made it?! This was a fact that I learned today through this challenge. Then, after our meeting, we continued the Thanksgiving theme by traveling around the room answering math problem solving questions. I also took this time to read one of my favorite non-fiction texts, All About Turkeys by Jim Arnosky. Today was Music, lunch and a brrr chilly recess! In The Beaded Moccasins, Mary continued her journey with the Delaware to the Cuyahoga River. She received a beautiful pair of beaded moccasins, leather leggings and a leather dress so now the only thing keeping her from looking like "them" is her blue eyes and brown/red hair... After reading, we answered a question about the mood of the chapter using padlet, read independently and visited the library. Next, we came together to do a Reader's Theater on "The First Thanksgiving." Many kiddos did not know this story, which surprised me! They struggled to pronounce Squanto and Plymouth...hopefully, now they understand and can tell you all about it! Sticking with opinion/persuasive writing, we decided to write from the perspective of the turkey...instead of eating turkey for Thanksgiving, we are trying to convince you to eat something different! Finally, our day concluded with working on our Science weathering experiments. 

TGIF!

I love Fridays! It seems like everything is a bit more relaxed and everyone is a bit more pleasant. I don't know, maybe it's just me that is more relaxed and pleasant which makes it seem like everyone else is too! :)

We completed our M4T assessment but still, only 9 students received a 9 or 10/10... some need more incentive to try harder because they aren't that challenging of problems and we do practice problems during the week. Oh, well, I'll keep working at it. Then, we completed a Lunar Landing MakerSpace challenge! We read, Moonshot and built a "module" that could withstand a landing on the moon and keep the astronauts (marshmallows) safe. We didn't have a ton of time left for Math Workshop but since we've had two weeks of problem-solving and basic operation (+, -, x, /) practice, I handed back their Unit 2 Assessments for them to "fix" or take a 2nd chance at. After special, lunch and recess, we read more from The Beaded Moccasins. Mary has now crossed into Ohio and decided to head to the Cuyahoga River to live. Then, for Reader's Workshop, we read independently, finished our math assessments, completed any work that we didn't have time to finish this week, blogged or visited the library. In Writer's Workshop, we continued to come up with ideas for opinion essays by creating a "box and bullet" for people, places, things and other ideas that we feel strongly about. We ended our day working on our science weathering experiments.

Thumbs up

We began our day with a thumbs up to each other. Then, in our meeting, we talked a little bit more about our Classgiving and decided to create a SignUp Genius to help organize our celebration. We had musical rehearsal also this morning so we didn't have much time to work with our problem-solving in Math Workshop but we did get a little practice in. In The Beaded Moccasins, there was a warning given to Mary and Mrs. Stewart to keep up and do their part. It's now been a couple of months and they are still traveling west, over the Appalachian Mountains. Mary has now discovered that she is to replace their "sachem"'s granddaughter that died. We read independently and wrote about our reading and then in Reader's Workshop, finished up our comprehension assessment of the StoryWorks story we've been working on. We began working on opinion writing creating "box and bullets" with our claims and reasons to convince our readers. We also wrote thesis statements. Finally, we prepared for our science weathering experiments by gathering materials-rocks.

STAR testing galore!

Three times this year-beginning, midway and end, we will be taking the STAR assessment. As I shared at the beginning of the year, this is just another piece of the puzzle of your child's understanding and strengths/weaknesses. Today, we took the 2nd round of these tests and after taking the Math portion this morning, I was happy because the majority (22/24) raised their score from the first round-which is all I asked, that they show they are growing in their learning! After looking at the Reading portion, about 1/2 of the class lowered their score from the first round. Hmmmm... Maybe we need to hit specific reading skills harder? I need to look closer at the listed strengths and weaknesses and see what we need to work on. It didn't help that some finished the 30+ question assessment in less than 15 minutes... Anyway, we still worked on building our math fluency with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as well as problem-solving in Math Workshop this morning and this afternoon, in The Beaded Moccasins, found out that Mary has been kidnapped by Native Americans! We also read books in small groups and discovered the theme and gave specific textual evidence to support this theme. Then, in Writer's Workshop, we looked at the opinion writing rubric and compared 3rd grade to 4th grade and using this rubric, looked at their pre-assess opinion piece from yesterday and decide where they fell on this rubric-most are at the 3rd grade level (some lower), which is fine because you can't get better if you don't know where you are starting!

Task Completion!

Today began our week of task completion. Each student received a chart to record their tasks for the day. Once they completed the task, they initialed and then had me initial. They should have brought these home for your initials so that you can see what they have accomplished. Tomorrow, we'll be setting a goal and continuing to hold ourselves accountable for our tasks. 

After our M4T and Ohio Dailies, we shared how we can/will make the world better. Some shared recycling, upcycling/creating new out of old, being kind, standing up to bullying, etc. Then, we began talking about traditions and cultures and came to our idea of our Classgiving that I emailed about. In Math Workshop, we continued our work with problem solving but I took away some of the math struggles by giving a few practice sheets of addition and subtraction and then the problem solving task that involved addition and subtraction. We wrote in our planners, played GaGa in our new pit out on the playground and had lunch and recess. We began a new book in Read Aloud, The Beaded Moccasins: The Story of Mary Campbell. This is an historical fiction book about a young settler, Mary, that is kidnapped by Native Americans and will parallel with our study of the early people of Ohio in Social Studies. Then, after independent reading and writing about a lesson they learned from their independent reading book (which these were really good, actually!) we read, Chopsticks and discussed the theme. In Writer's Workshop, we wrote an opinion essay as a pre-assessment and concluded our day reading about the pre-historic people of Ohio. 

Grrr....

These kids are so intelligent and can do so many great things! I don't know why they just don't! It frustrates me...

Our day began very well with putting forth big effort on our M4T assessment. Hopefully, we'll have at least half of the class with 8 or 9/9 so we can finally get our surprise! Then, for our morning meeting and keeping with our problem-solving theme of the week, we completed a Pax Breakout EDU challenge! This was so cool and I'm sure something you kiddo will share with you. It was AWESOME! Our Math Workshop was more challenges and problem-solving with a CSI type of assignment. However, we didn't put much effort in before we left for Music, lunch and recess, so we worked on it after lunch. They put forth much more effort and some were even able to complete the task. Then, we read, completed some theme work with Reader's Workshop and finished our Mysteries of Harris Burdick story to end our day.

Thankful Thursday

We began our day with M4T, Ohio Dailies and sharing what we are thankful for this week. After i-time, in our morning meeting, we shared what comforts us when we don't feel good. Many shared blankies or stuffed animals, in addition to family, that makes them feel better when they aren't feeling well. I love that they can share this with us without feeling weird~I, too, shared that I have items that comfort me and that it's good to recognize these things so that they can help us get through tough stuff. Then, we played a few rounds of "Would you rather?" before getting started on Math. In Math Workshop, we began by finding a mystery number as a team of 4 using clues. Some were more challenging than others and we used a variety of strategies to complete these. Then, we worked on our Minecraft challenge. They worked really hard on this! We had art, lunch and recess and then finished, Nightmare at the Book Fair. They clapped! We also discussed the theme of the book and some characteristics of the author's craft. In Reader's Workshop, we read independently and finished our Guinness World Record comprehension work and in Writer's Workshop, continued working on our Mysteries of Harris Burdick stories that we began yesterday. 

Crazy-hectic...

Today was a tough day for me. It was one of those days where everything seems to go wrong and the hits just keep on coming (Adison has been going through something with her abdomen and has had blood work and an ultrasound but still nothing and today was bad for her and I couldn't get a sub and I got my 2nd of 3 knee injections last night so could barely walk, late to a meeting, computer and projector still not fixed, technology issues, etc., etc., etc.). Anyway, I was having a tough time keeping my emotions in the green zone and above the line but I am an open book and shared my feelings and the kiddos rallied around me and helped me to get green and showed me my purpose and allowed me to be human and know that everything will be ok. It was about this time that a sub showed up for me and the doctor called me back and I just took a breath and smiled. Sometimes, it just takes a little perspective.

We started our day working on our M4T and Ohio Dailies. They enjoyed the fun morning question for "What Would You Do Wednesday?" and explained what they would do if they were only 6 inches tall. In our meeting, we shared something-anything we want to learn. Sign language, how to build a robot, a different language, a "spider" or basketball trick, and many more things were shared. Then, we did some fun problem-solving by playing "Who am I?" where we had disney characters taped to our backs and had to ask yes/no questions to figure out who we were. First of all, these kids need to see some of the oldies!! (Bambi, Pinnochio, Lady and the Tramp...) Anyway, it was a hoot! In Math, after working out 30 minutes of technological issues, we completed some problem-solving about sugar content in our drinks. Students spent a little too much time chatting so I asked them to work for just a little bit longer at home tonight before submitting. After we got cleaned up and wrote in our planners, we headed to gym. Mr. Burkhart said that we had a great gym class and earned our first, new potato head piece! Hopefully, the afternoon went well. You'll have to ask them if they enjoyed the Guinness World Record Reading work about seahorses and mysterious books I had for them for the afternoon.

Gorgeous!

Today was absolutely gorgeous-in lots of ways! We earned our final potato head piece on Friday afternoon and did such a wonderful job at the assembly, that we voted on our celebration and decided since Extra Recess overwhelmingly won, we'd celebrate today!

We began our day with really taking our time and putting forth more effort into our M4T. Instead of just completing the problems and closing our books, we reviewed our answers and took time to solve the problems-not just complete them. Last Friday, only 7/25 kiddos scored 9 or 10/10... our goal was at least 1/2 the class. We'll try again this week. Then, in meeting, we shared our motivations for our morning question for Motivation Monday and shared about our weekend before playing Coseeki, saying the Pledge and writing our SMART goal. We began Math Workshop with a Kahoot! survey about problem-solving. (They absolutely LOVED Kahoot! so you might see them creating their own at home!) Next, we individually solved some math problems (the math content wasn't too tough) and discussed HOW we solved the problems. This led us to identifying the problem-solving strategies we already use. We even got bookmarks with the strategies on them to remind us. We'll be working all week with problem-solving in Math and other areas so hopefully, you'll hear about some cool problems they encountered. Midday consisted of Music, lunch and recess and then after we returned, we continued with the animal fiction chapter of Nightmare at the Book Fair and even began the next Fantasy chapter with Trip's "wise and mysterious sage" named, Hockaloogie! We then, read independently and in our Reader's Notebook, identified and described/wrote about the author's craft. It's one thing to read a book as a reader but you find all sorts of other information when reading a book as a writer! Finally, we enjoyed seeing our siblings in the 2nd grade culture performance and then played hard for our celebration of extra recess. Oh, and we ended our great afternoon with a little GoNoodle! :)

Productive

This morning was so productive! I feel, as do the kiddos, that we made some big gains in understanding multiplication, division, factors and multiples! It helps that we only had 18 students but still... :) In our morning meeting, we shared some of our favorite things that make our room special to help Hayden get more familiar with us. Some of the things shared were: warm fuzzies, Mr. Potato Head, games, special seating, morning question... It's not all about the academics~sometimes it's the little things! Then, we played "Just Like Me!" to help him find some others that he may have things in common with. After saying the Pledge of Allegiance and writing our SMART goal, we got to work on math. We did some whole group practice and then worked on our own. Has your kiddo: 1. already taken their test? 2. will be taking it tomorrow? 3. testing on Friday? They have review sheets in their binder to practice with! It was a lovely music, lunch and recess and then, in Read Aloud, we caught back up with Nightmare at the Book Fair! We had left off with Trip in space...?! He is trapped in a historical fiction chapter with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin! Today, he walked on the moon! So much better than dealing with Professor Psycho in Horror, getting pushed out of an airplane in Adventure or accused of killing his principal in Mystery! :) I introduced some new digital literacy resources and after reading independently, wrote reading letters to a friend. In Reader's Workshop, we re-read The Ghost of Specter Elementary, watched an interview with the author and looked at how one of the characters changed over the course of the story, added to our online Canvas digital literacy discussion and transitioned right into Writer's Workshop where Miss Hanlin came in and we worked on completing our personal narratives and conferencing about our writing. Miss Hanlin teaches the Focus class for our gifted program and we will be doing some team teaching on some afternoons. Our day ended with continuing to predict and design experiments to test our predictions in Science.

Not a good report

I came in this morning, to a mess of a room and a not great report from the sub. She is hoping that it was more that they were chatty and just excited for trick-or-treat. Today was ok but they all came in for 5 minutes of their recess because after the messy room and bad report, today was a "No Warning" day and they refused to "Show me 5" or show me the 5 ways of active listening. So, since they chose to talk during work time, they spent 5 minutes of their recess quiet. The afternoon was ok-not great though. We've changed our seating and will be switching things up again tomorrow. Our class rule is "Everyone shall be safe and able to learn." When we are talking, talking, talking, we aren't able to learn. So, there may be some more individual behavior reflections coming home. We all know what to do but are very passionate and impulsive and friendly people and while those aren't bad traits to have, there is a time and place for everything. Tomorrow, we'll have some "No Talking" and "Volume of our Voice" signs that will allow us some visual reminders for these appropriate times and places. Hopefully, I'll have a better report for you for tomorrow! :) Living as a community of different people and learners is a work in progress! Just as we consistently work in our family and household to make things great, we do this in our classroom community as well.

After our morning procedures and morning meeting where we shared our favorite candy and played "Laughing Bandana," we got started on our Math Workshop. Students are busy, busy practicing, reviewing and applying multiplication and division this week to prepare for our unit 2 assessment. Some have already taken it, some have started and others will be assessing over the next few days. Please help your kiddo remember to practice at home too! After math, lunch, (5 minutes of quiet time in the room) and recess, we had read aloud. Yesterday, the substitute read two picture books and today, I showed them how Digital Literacy can enhance our reading and understanding by viewing Emily Arrow, someone that puts literature to music. We also looked at reading ebooks that our district owns through Follett Shelf and some were able to take this opportunity to find some things to read. We transitioned into writing and while some are completely finished and published, others are still at the beginning stages of this personal narrative that we began weeks ago! We need to write more! We can't grow as writers unless we write! In Science, we grouped up and began working on predicting/hypothesizing and designing experiments to test our ideas about weathering.