Working on our independence

This week, we are working on our independence (responsibility and self-discipline)... at this time in the year, we should be much more independent than we are. We discussed having confidence that we KNOW what to do and should just do it. They do not need my approval every step of the way. We also discussed that I am hoping that they begin to develop an intrinsic motivation. They complete tasks when we were checking on their completing using task sheets. They did awesome on M4T last week because I checked each individual's work each day...so, why can't they ALWAYS do this well? It's kind of like cleaning your room. You are going to clean it better if you know mom or dad is going to check it. Help me out by periodically "checking" on things like task completion, accuracy and homework. It is very rare that I "assign" homework or something specific but if I do, it is because I am noticing a need... only 15 people completed their blog last week!
In Math Workshop, I gave some kiddos colored paper and a list of the finished product needs and sent them to work independently to create "fraction strips." The rest of us, worked together to fold and cut paper to create "fractions strips." (We had a musical rehearsal that we didn't know about :) so we ended up finishing these after recess.) Afterwards, we read independently and conferenced with me and set December Book-it goals. In Reader's Workshop, we practiced understanding how to use a Dictionary (one kiddo last week tried to use a Table of Contents with using a Dictionary...) but also how to understand a definition and everything involved with defining words-no matter if we use an app or Dictionary; while I met with smaller reading groups. Then, we continued working on our opinion essays in Writer's Workshop and finished up the day checking in on our Weathering experiments.