After our Morning Work Time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader's Workshop.  Today we talked about how I will be running reading groups during the work time in Reader's Workshop - while some kids are working on independent reading, buddy reading, or the Listening Center, I will be pulling others to work in small groups with me.  We also began our first Author Study of the year - we will be studying Vera B. Williams to begin.  She will also be one of our writing mentors throughout the year.  We read one of Vera's more famous books, A Chair for my Mother.  We'll start to analyze it tomorrow.

After reading, we moved on to writing.  Today we finished wrapping up our first writing unit.  The kids sorted through their writing, did a little organization, and then decorated a folder to take it all home in.  We ran out of time, so we had to continue writing in the afternoon.  Before we knew it, it was time to head down for lunch and out for recess.  When we got back up to our room, we read another chapter in The Wind in the Willows (you'll be happy to know that Mr. Toad got out of prison today).  After a chapter, it was time for us to head back downstairs to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson.

When we got back up to our classroom, we finished up our writing - the kids each wrote a little bit about why they chose the piece that they did to publish.  This will get them thinking, hopefully, a little deeper about themselves as writers.  They also selected a piece for me to store in my files for a middle- and end-of-year comparison.  They will bring home their folders full of their writing tomorrow.

After writing (part deux), we headed down to the computer lab for Math Workshop.  The kids worked on a number of math games on the computer.  They worked off this website - if you're interested and/or would like them to practice some more at home, here's the link:  http://comp240.blogspot.com/

After our time in the lab, it was time to pack up and head home!