Busy, busy!

Wow! Today was a busy day and I'm sorry for not posting yesterday but I had a meeting after school and then a paper due for my Ohio State class and when I finally sat down, it was after 8:00 pm and I was EXHAUSTED! So...here's our week so far...
In Writer's Workshop, we began working on a shared writing. We read, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg which introduced us to some amazing illustrations and such a mysterious story behind them. Using these pictures as inspiration for a story, we got into groups and began writing. We continued this work today. One student said, "There are just so many ideas that I have!!" LOVE that! I tweeted about this yesterday and tagged @HarrisBurdick_ and he responded to our tweet!! Cool! Wait...I thought he was dead?! Even more mysteries and even more intrigue and interest in Writer's Workshop! We read Science Fiction and Humor in Nightmare at the Book Fair during Read Aloud. Ask your kiddo about "Boogers and Snot!" :) In Reader's Workshop, we got our October edition of Story Works and read about Minecraft. The room was silent. Today, we worked with the same Paired Texts about Minecraft and Lego's and focused on new vocabulary. See if your child knows what 'drab' means. After lunch and recess yesterday, we received our study guide/review sheet for our first assessment. We worked on the practice sheet and our assessment will be Thursday. The best way to study for math is to practice and re-work problems. I have opened some challenges on Mangahigh and ST Math too that could be helpful. Today, in place of Math, we watched a live interview with Lemony Snicket--well, actually, Daniel Handler, who spoke on behalf of Lemony Snicket. This man is hilarious!! We tweeted a question but ours didn't get picked. :( Then, we spent an hour in an extremely hot music room to watch the Fire Safety video with Norwich Township Fire Department. We received major kudos that because our students know so much about fire safety, we only have about 1 fire per month in Hilliard. Keep up the safety! Do you have an escape plan? Finally, we began learning about the three branches of government in Social Studies yesterday. We read, Woodrow, the White House Mouse and learned about the Executive Branch of our government. Then, we worked on a crossword puzzle about this branch. We also watched the School House Rocks video about the branches called "3-Ring Circus." I love School House Rocks!