ALL GRADES - The thinking activity this week for grades 1 - 4 was to come up with words that begin with W and items that fold. What can you come up with?
First Grade - Wow we were busy on Tuesday. The day was all about stories. We are beginning Yolanda the Yarnspinner in the PETS series. Yolanda is all about being creative with words. We'll be doing more with stories for this unit, we'll read them, write them, and read aloud as much as we can.
I gave the kids a list of the 100 most used words and had them read them to me. I found out that I have a group of excellent readers. However, there were many words, that while they could read them, the students weren't so sure about how to use them properly in a sentence. So we will work through those words to make sure we can use them all properly.
We also did a short non-fiction writing activity. A few weeks ago we researched frogs and toads. I asked the students to use their notes from that research to write at least two sentences about frogs and toads and then they were to illustrate the idea being presented. Their work can be seen on the bulletin board outside my classroom.
Next week, I'm going to focus on some of the words the kids were unsure of and see if we can create unique sentences that still give us the meaning of the words.
Second Grade - Second graders learned a new thinking game called Attribute Stax. There is a commercial game called SET that is very similar. The children will play the game again next week and then I will let them bring a deck of cards home so they can teach you the game.
I guided the students through the process of laying out their game boards for our special Monopoly games. Next week we will begin to apply all the research the students have been doing to their game. They will choose which spaces to put each item they've learned about. They will also make fact cards for each space they put on their board. All of this work will be done in the classroom. Students will need to be sure to have their binders and research with them each week to be ready to work.
Third Grade - Third graders were introduced to criterion based decision making. That's a mouthful isn't it. Well, hopefully they are talking to you about the grid we learned to use when making an important decision. We did a couple of examples together as a whole class then each table group worked on a decision grid for choosing a restaurant for the entire family to enjoy. It was really interesting to see what they deemed important in deciding about a restaurant. I asked the children to show you the grid and see if you agree with their decisions. I can't wait to find out how those conversations turned out.
We also spent a great deal of time on the mysteries. Those that had a written or printed version of their stories were able to trade with a classmate to get feedback. It is wonderful if you, the parents, want to help your child. Once the story is typed into the computer (just as written please) have your child look at all the errors that the word processing program will so kindly point out with the red and green wavy lines. Ask your child to try and figure out why the computer program thinks there is an error. The student should be trying to fix the errors, but it is fine for you to help them should they need a little guidance. Often the gifted child will want to write and use vocabulary well beyond what they have learned to date. I would also appreciate a heads up to any particular writing or word choice that is cropping up that you think I might need to address. Last week I should the children how to punctuate dialog because I saw so much of it being used in their rough drafts. I hope to have the stories done the week after Thanksgiving.
Fourth Grade did not meet this week as I had to be out of the building. They should be FINISHING their A to Z books which are due Tuesday, Nov. 15. They may be turned in three different ways: 1. printed and bound; 2. printed and I will get it bound; 3. on a jump/flash drive and I will get it printed and bound. Please let me know if there are obstacles to getting this project completed.
Fifth Grade - I was able to meet with the fifth graders for about an hour on Thruway. The entire time was spent creating the Super Humans. Those will be finished next week during another shortened class. We are back to normal after Thanksgiving. You can see the in-progress Super Human outside room 213. They are really interesting creatures.
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