Week 2 down!

Unfortunately, my little one has this back-to-school crud too and so I was home with her this morning. The students did well with their first substitute experience. Kudos for that! Yet another potato head piece! While I was out, they worked on and/or published their Important Paragraphs. In looking these over, we still have some work to do with making them paragraphs and not a collection of sentences. They read independently and worked on an informational text piece from the Guinness records during Reader's Workshop. All students had a chance to visit the media center on their own this week. Hopefully, they picked up some books to read that will help them begin their 30 book challenge. After lunch and recess, we worked on Math. We began with Math 4 Today. This is a workbook that gives them practice with all aspects and skills of math-not just the skill we are currently learning. They will complete a few practice problems each day with a mini-assessment on Fridays. Then, we played, "Beat the Teacher." This place value game was a lot of fun and they did great! (and practiced reading and writing numbers...) They completed an exit slip at the end of Math and I saw some frustrations arise for the first time. Hopefully, we'll figure out how to work through problems this year and not just give up--like I saw today. No worries, we'll get there. Finally, we ended our day with writing in our Reflection Journal. What reflections did your kiddo make about the week? What is their goal for next week?

Good times!

Today's Daily Language Review was a little challenging as they had to work with commas and quotation marks as well as remember what singular, plural, common and proper nouns were! After reviewing all of that, we continued our work on our Important Paragraphs. We should be publishing our first writing projects tomorrow--wow! We had our first fire drill after Music and earned another potato head piece! What is a "potato head?" (Ask your kiddo! Also, ask what our first celebration will be because we voted on that today.) In Wonder, Auggie took the tour of his new school and found a possible friend in Jack Will and a potential bully in Julian. What does your child think? Students read independently and focused on supporting their ideas about their books with textual evidence. We accomplished all of that before lunch! After a more pleasant but still hot recess, we had a number talk and jumped with both feet into math! Students are creating and reading numbers and reviewing each number's place up to millions. Tomorrow, we review the value of each number's place. After math, we went outside and had a teamwork race. Each student had a foam plate with a tape handle. With a partner, they had to carry an uncooked piece of spaghetti down and around the cone. We had a ton of fun while learning to work together to succeed. Student's then signed their Teamwork Contracts. Check it out in their binders. (I've posted pictures on our Twitter feed @ADE4thGrade as well as on our Facebook page Fourth Grade Superheroes.)

Great day!

Every day is a great day here in room 110! We started our day with Daily Language Review and then moved right into Writer's Workshop. We read, The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown. The important thing about writing is that we organize our thoughts. We write using a sandwich format and add lots of details. Sometimes, we try to persuade others. But, the important thing about writing is that we organize our thoughts. We will be writing Important Paragraphs about ourselves. We had a substitute in art and when we returned, we learned about our 30 book challenge. Ask your kiddo to see the information I gave them and to tell you more about it. Then, we read Wonder. Auggie met his new principal and some new students from his new school. *Ask your child what Auggie's principal's name is. teeheehee... Oh, and of course, we read independently! I thought recess yesterday was sweltering but I think the kids came in from recess with purple faces today! Woo! Our number talk was all about the number 10 and making tens. Next, we read The History of Counting and Sir Cumference and All the Kings Tens to help us grasp the magic of 10 in our number system. We worked with base-10 blocks and began some independent work but didn't have time to finish, so we will finish tomorrow. Some students were BEGGING for homework so I told them that if they wanted to, they could work on it tonight but they do not need to. Every other Wednesday, Mrs. Vidic will be in for Guidance and today was her first visit. We did some brain teasers and chatted about filling buckets and helping others by choosing kind words.

See you tonight at Curriculum Night!

On a roll!

We are totally on a roll with this schedule and academics! We began, again, with our Daily Language Review and then had a conversation about a "new" student. Ask your child about the monkey. :) Then, we read, The Dot by Peter Reynolds and talked about making our mark and our passions. Students then, made their own 'dots.' After gym, we came back and did some independent reading while some students finished their dots and then read more about Auggie from Wonder. While reading, I modeled how to close read. This is just paying to attention to the story and maybe taking mental (or written) notes while reading. Then, they split up into groups and practiced reading closely with some fun picture books. All in all a good job. Lunch was good and recess was sweltering! Luckily, I picked them up a few seconds early and we headed into the Media Center to meet with our new Media Specialist, Mrs. Richardson. She reviewed the library procedures and checking out books with us and then students were able to check out. Did your kiddo choose a just right book? They begged me to give them more reading time, so I did! Next, we completed an exemplar. This is a more realistic type math problem. I picked one that was simple so they could focus on getting the process and writing about their math thinking. Finally, we ended our day by writing our mission statement. What sticks out most with your child from writing this?

Week 2...

Today was a great day! We got a little more academic and followed our typical daily schedule. We began with Daily Language Review where we corrected sentence and used our vocabulary. These kids have an amazing vocabulary! Ask them what I decided was a better synonym than calling myself 'old.' Then, we began Writing by discussing sentences. Students wrote sentences that were appropriate for each grade level--Kindergarten through 4th grade. We also discussed the patterns and generalizations we notice about them. Tomorrow...paragraphs! We had music today and then came back and began our first Read Aloud, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio. We only had a glimpse into the main character, Auggie, but are using it as a model for what, why and how reading is. What word did your kiddo contribute to our "Reading Is..." poster? Then, we read! This group loves to just read--AMAZING! After recess, it was time for Math. We started with a number talk. We did an easy string of problems until we can get used to the process but students did great sharing their thinking. Then, we talked about, "played" with and found good uses for all the math tools in the room. Finally, we ended our day with a team-building and problem-solving activity titled, "Saving Sam." Did your student save Sam?

First week--check!

We had a busy day today! Our morning work was to create dictionary entries using our names. What definitions did your kiddo use to describe themselves? Then, we headed alllll the way to the other end of the building for our first get together with our 1st grade buddies! Together, we used the app, 30 Hands, to create mini-presentations about our buddies and them for us. (Ms. Wallace and I are working to compile these into one location for your perusal--stay tuned!) After Art, we came back to the room and read, "It's a Book," by Lane Smith and then read and looked at our classroom books. Technology is fun but there's nothing that can take the place of a book! We also read, "If Everybody Did" and "Manners in the Lunchroom." After lunch and OUTDOOR :) recess, we transformed into superheroes to discuss our SUPER week! I'm sure they can share this fun and amazing experience with you!

Day 3

The newness has worn off...we were a little chatty and I moved some seats around but we are still oh so amazing! This morning, Mr. Higginbotham came in and read the students a story and introduced himself to the class. After our first gym class, we read My Teacher Is a Monster (No, I am Not!) and then made a list of their jobs and my jobs. We finished with filing in the blank for the following sentence: Our class should be _________ everyday. They had some great statements! They also worked on a Super Student poster about themselves. Unfortunately, it was indoor recess but afterwards, we went to the computer lab to set up our new passwords and to set up our kidblog accounts. Have your child show you everything they can access from home! We played a dice game...kinda...which then led us to our one class rule--Every student shall be safe and able to learn. Students brainstormed and shared how they can participate in this rule and then we took pictures to show these actions. Finally, we read Do Unto Otters to wrap things up.

Day 2!

Another amazing day! The kids are great thinkers which is wonderful! We started our day with a book (go figure!) called, "I'm Gonna Like Me" by Jaime Lee Curtis. Then we did some brainstorming and discussed things we might do that are not bad qualities per se, but that might "bug" others. Next, we used this list to make a poster of what makes a great classmate. What does a great classmate say and do? After music, we read another book, "The Sandwich Swap" which talked about differences. Our next discussion involved boo boos. We heard some totally gruesome stories and I "fixed" all the boo boos with bandaids! There was a lot of grumblings though that my "fix" didn't really fix their issues...which led to my point that FAIR isn't everybody getting the same thing; FAIR is everybody getting what they need in order to be SUCCESSFUL. Ha! They fell right into my trap. :) This took us up to lunch and recess and then it was time for some math. Students described themselves using numbers. What numbers describe your child? Some chose to draw and write while others were more technologically savvy and used the iPads to make a Pic Collage. (You'll get to see these next week at our Curriculum Night.) Finally, we did some not fun stuff to help me gather information about their likes and interests in Reading, Math, Science and Social Studies.

First day of school!

We had an amazing first day! We began with a book, Black Dog. Ask your kiddo what our "black dog" is/was. We had Art today with Mrs. Bowers and then we got a little organized. Students put their binders mostly together. This binder will come back and forth each day between home and school-please check it out. Afterwards, we took a tour of our classroom. Does your child know what the REFERENCE area is in our room? (This was a term most did not know but they used their REFERENCES to figure it out!) After lunch and recess, instead of telling about ourselves, we interviewed each other and introduced other members of the class. What did your child find out about their peers? Next, we read, The Day the Crayons Quit. Hopefully, they received the message of that great book. We played "I Have, Who Has" to familiarize ourselves with the school and people of the school. Finally, we wrote in our planners and remarked about our amazing day!!