Almost there

We had a busy day today but we are almost finished with the week and tomorrow is May! Wow! I cannot believe it is the end of the year already!

This morning we worked with iPads and laptops to take our LEGO creations and put them into the StoryVisualizer software. Then, in Reader's Workshop, we took a virtual field trip to the White House and listened to President Obama talk about reading and technology and getting connected in schools. In Math Workshop, we continued to secure our understanding of the metric system and conversions and managed to start a project where we are designing shoes--MY FAVORITE THINGS! :) Our day ended with electricity and completing circuits with MUCH better teamwork.

Walk-a-thon!

What a gorgeous day for the Walk-a-thon! We had raised money for our school, got in some good exercise and fresh air AND had a ton of fun! Thank you for all of your donations and support. You can donate still, in your child's name, at localevelevents.com/events/details/969, until May 6.
I also have lost my voice so that's been fun today...

In Writer's Workshop, we used iPads to take pictures of our LEGO creations and then began our "stories" using the StoryVisualizer software. In Reader's Workshop, we took a closer look at medieval times with a video by StoryWorks as well as learned some new vocabulary and read over the drama, The Sword in the Stone which we will read as a play tomorrow. We also read in our Time For Kids about taking care of our eyes as well as the rest of our body and learned about foods that give the appropriate nutrients to keep our eyes healthy. Do you know what carrots are good for your eyes? In Math Workshop, we continued our work with the metric system by playing a game where we did mental math, estimation, measuring and conversion. We also took a "quiz" as an exit/entrance slip to move on to our mini-measurement problem where we get to design SHOES!! Our day concluded with Guidance with Mrs. Vidic and talking about kindness.

I think my head is about to explode...

The children may have told you but I was out yesterday afternoon sick, but not before I fell off my chair and scared them half to death! I went to the doctor and have a sinus infection and I'm seriously surprised that my head hasn't exploded yet as it feels like it could happen at any moment. Luckily, I think I'm going to live! Anyway, here's what the last two days entailed:

Yesterday, we began a story using Lego StoryStarter prompts that will allow for dialogue. We created our designs yesterday and today. Then, in Reader's Workshop, we focused on identifying text structures, read and blogged. (Our blogs are getting caught up!) In Math Workshop, we put capacity measurements on a number line to help see how many cups in a pint? cups in a quart? quarts in a gallon? We also discussed how this number line reminds us of fractions and decimals and their equivalences. Aha! :) To end math for today, students discovered how many months, days, seasons, hours and even seconds old they are! (I was very sad to learn that I am 13,140 days old...) Finally, our days ended with completing our Immigration mini-project showing the following statement:  Explain how Ohio's population is increasingly reflective of the cultural diversity of the United States. 

TGIF!

Oh happy day! Today was great! Our day began with completing the revising and editing using the comment feature on Google Apps of our fictional narratives with dialogue. Lina figured out a few parts to the instructions in The City of Ember. She thinks there is something in the Pipeworks to help them and she's going to Doon to see what he thinks. In Reader's Workshop, we completed our Friday padlet, visited the book fair, read independently and blogged. During lunch today, 9 kiddos shared pizza lunch with me from Romeo's as a celebration from completing their Winter Break Challenge. (It took a long time to organize-sorry!) In Math Workshop today, we made a friend for Gallon Man to help us with conversions of customary measurements. Finally, our day concluded with our electricity inquiry and Immigration mini-projects.

Forgetting

Some kiddos are forgetting that "Every student shall be safe and able to learn," as well as at ADE, we take care of ourselves, others and our school. Spring and testing are notorious for this happening but as long as we continue to remind them, everything will go well.

Our day began like too many have, with PARCC testing, however, today was our last one! We have the Ohio Social Studies test on May 4, but that is it! After testing, we gave Mr. Buss our book that we made for him and he loved it. :) Then, we played Funglish-a really cool game where you have to get your team to guess a word using adjectives. Ask your kiddo--it took them a little while to get the hang of it but once we did, they rocked it! And, we had a ton of fun! In Math Workshop, we continued measuring and converting within the metric system. We still need more practice with conversions but we are getting there. Then, we worked on our Immigration in Ohio "project." Our day ended with Art.

Midway through the week already??

This morning we began with the Math End of Year PARCC test. The majority of the class showed a ton of effort~kudos to them! Part 2 of the Math will be tomorrow and that will end the PARCC!! We have the Social Studies test on Monday, May 4 and then we can say that we have completed testing! After the PARCC, we made flowers out of plastic bottles to decorate for the Garden Dedication ceremony. After lunch and recess, we had gym and then we enjoyed learning about the ADE Garden and the story of how it came to be. We then traveled outside and stood holding what we hope to be, a record breaking length of continuous ribbon. The ribbon was cut and then we ran back inside because it was soooo cold! :) Finally, the students chose to read independently while we listened to calming music. It was such a nice way to end such a chaotic day!

Walk-a-thon

We started our day with a community meeting in the gym to discuss the upcoming garden dedication and Walk-a-thon. We also introduced ourselves to Omar, our new student! In Writer's Workshop, we continued our work with our fictional narratives and in Reader's Workshop, we focused on text structures--the ways authors write to get their ideas/purpose across to the audience, (i.e. description, cause/effect, sequence, etc.). In The City of Ember, there was a big black out and Lina and Poppy were separated during that, which was super scary. Luckily, Doon was there to "save the day!" In Math Worskhop, we moved on to the metric system. We DISCOVERED, using cm cubes, dm sticks and meter sticks, that 100 cm = 1 m, 10 dm = 1 m, 1,000 mm = 1 m. We also found the fraction and decimal equivalents and discovered that the metric system is a lot like place and value. :) Our day concluded with Mrs. Vidic and guidance.

Only Tuesday??

Well, it's only Tuesday, I guess... We are chatty and social BUT we are completing our work, for the most part. We are also getting a new student tomorrow! Omar starts tomorrow and he comes here from New York. We are super excited and can't wait to meet him! Our day began with M4T and continuing our fictional narratives. Students are so much more focused with using these story plot graphic organizers. We gathered more details about The City of Ember and learned about Clary and the greenhouses. Then, students read Up from Slavery in their StoryWorks as well as listened along with someone reading the story and/or watching a video about Booker T. Washington, thanks to the amazing resources provided along with our StoryWorks subscriptions. We made it outside for recess and then came in and continued our work with measuring and understanding angles. Students are doing great with this and some got the chance to use their understanding to play a game of golf on the computer. http://www.mesc.gov.ws/ssn1/Golf/golf.htm if you'd like to play at home-they really seemed to enjoy it! Finally, our day concluded with electricity!

Perfect weather for outside classroom!

Our morning began with creating a plot map for our fictional narratives. After we figured out where our story was going, we began writing. I noticed that the writing was much more focused after creating this plan. Then, after Music, we decided that since it was so nice outside, we'd show Mr. Buss our outdoor classroom space. We read The City of Ember while enjoying the gorgeous fresh air! We are still getting to know the characters and setting of Ember so not much is happening right now. Once we got back inside :( , we began reading a new story in our StoryWorks, Up From Slavery, and worked on understanding some new vocabulary words. We also read independently and took some time to count up our blogs and how many we have left to complete our 30-book challenge. In Math Workshop today, we tried to work on all of the measurement that deals with angles and students did a great job applying their understanding. At the end of the day, we had a bonus special by helping out in Music with the 3rd graders and recorders.

TGIF

What a good day! The storms and rain cleared out and we were able to go outside! This morning, we began putting dialogue into a fictional narrative. Then, after Art, we read, blogged and worked on the Grammar Cop portion of our StoryWorks. We also created a Friday Fun padlet. Remember those letters/notes we used to write on Friday's? Well, they went away but we found a more fun way to bring them back! Check it out at: padlet.com/heather_lambrig/Friday4-10 . In Math Workshop today, we all worked on the same task, although some were able to be more independent than others, we completed some real world implications of using angles and measuring angles. Our day ended with electricity inquiry and we finally got all 6 groups to complete their circuit and light the bulb!

Storms

Well, there are definitely some kiddos with a fear of storms in our class... I gave out some free hugs after a few cracks of thunder and a power glitch! :)

This morning, Mr. Buss and Mr. Smith led the students in an activity with dialogue and punctuating quotation marks correctly. They used pictures of themselves making expressions and partnered up to make a conversation. Good times! Then, in The City of Ember, Lina began her messenger job and is tasked with a message to the mayor. She doesn't know yet, but this message is the beginning of something big. After read aloud, students worked with Mr. Buss and Mr. Smith to share discussion and understanding of the paired text about toy safety from StoryWorks. We also had time to read independently, visit the library and blog. In Math Workshop today, we were a little disjointed compared to yesterday. I was enthralled at how well the differentiation of learning went yesterday but today, it seemed a little too chaotic. I think they all still learned and continued to be in charge of their learning but I felt that I didn't have as good of a grasp on their understanding and security as I did previously. It's ok. I'll be a little more organized with the chaos tomorrow! Finally, we began our Science Inquiry unit on electricity but first, we watched the Electricity song from School House Rocks!

Celebration time!

I am overwhelmed with the feeling of such a full heart! Watching the students' plan come together to celebrate Layth and his family was indescribable. Thank you!!
Our day began with a community meeting led by Mr. Higginbotham. We talked about how at ADE, we take care of others, take care of ourselves and take care of our school, as well as what that looks like. Then, we had a FUN quotation mark activity. What would the conversation look like if Justin Bieber, President Obama and Lebron James were all chatting? What about Katniss, a minion and Beyonce? Or Katy Perry, Mr. Higginbotham and Elsa? SO FUN! After music, we learned a little more about The City of Ember and Lina and Doon. What is this place? Then, we worked on providing text evidence to answer questions about the paired text in StoryWorks. Ask your kiddo about the creepy baby! Our celebration was great--check your email for pictures... Then, in Math Workshop, some moved on to additive angles and finding missing angle measures when they know part of the picture. To conclude our day, (and coming down from the sugar high), we watched a couple videos about Immigration.

Deluge!

Deluge is a word that we learned earlier in the year but with the way it was raining yesterday, I think it fit!

We uploaded our book trailers to padlet all morning. It was a process but now that we know the steps (and there are many), we should be able to do this more often and quicker next time. Check it out by going to padlet.com/heather_lambrig/booktrailers  . We also began a new read aloud, City of Ember. This will jumpstart our electricity unit and help us to understand the real life implications of electricity. After lunch and recess, we measured using protractors and learned more about what the journey was like for immigrants and why they chose to immigrate. 

New seats maybe?

Ok. The chatting and talking while others are talking and not paying attention has got to stop. So, tomorrow, we will be getting new seats. This happens every spring and although they aren't doing anything terrible, they are keeping learning from happening. I'll let you know how it goes but I'm sure you'll hear about it! Our day began with 2 FEEP students from OSU! Mr. Smith was also with us as his school, Starling Elementary, is on Spring Break this week. I have to say, it's nice having 2 sets of extra hands! Anyway, we began with "talking." We discussed dialogue and quotation marks. We looked at the 'rules' of adding dialogue to our writing and how we use it to add to our writing. Said is dead! We brainstormed a list of words to use instead of said. Then, using elbow macaroni as our comma and quotation marks, we corrected sentences using dialogue. Mr. Terupt made it! He had the brain surgery and woke up from his coma! AND, the class gets to loop and continue the magic next year. Because of Mr. Terupt was a great read! Then, we got a new StoryWorks and read a pretty creepy story about dolls-according to the children. We also read, blogged and/or visited the library. After lunch and recess, we discovered what we already know about measurement before starting our measurement unit. Listing everything we already know helped us to feel more confident with moving forward. I also shared with them the statistics of students passing their math assessments from the first math test to this last one. On the first assessment, 16 students scored below 72%. On this last geometry assessment only 2 students scored below a 72%. Wow. Again, this knowledge helped them gain confidence in their mathematical knowledge. Finally, our day ended with learning about Immigration. We began with a School House Rocks video, then read some from a book about young, recent immigrants to the United States. Social Studies ended with an Ohio Studies Weekly about Immigration more specifically in Ohio.

Here is a picture of a birthday treat we enjoyed today. 

Spring has sprung!

Sorry for no post yesterday, I had my OSU class until 7:30 and then forgot. Oops!

This morning I was out because of doctor appointments but Mrs. Bowers was in and said they were great and she loved the creativity she saw from them. Kudos! They began their day completing their paired texts--a personal narrative about their spring break and a poem that they've either written or found. Then, in Reader's Workshop, they continued working on their amazing book trailers! You'll see these on our padlet next Wednesday after we upload them with the help of Mrs. Riley, our technology teacher. I arrived around lunch time and then after lunch and recess, in Math Workshop, some kiddos took their Geometry assessment while others continued practicing and/or working with me to clear up and misconceptions they may have had. The last two assessments, we've completed this way, where the students have been in charge of when they test and how much practice they need. It has really worked out! Then, since we completed our Mrs. Potato Head before break but the weather was too cold, we celebrated our reward with extra recess. It was glorious and I loved seeing them play, enjoy and be kids!