Wednesday, November 10, 2010
What do you call a pig with three eyes?
Sorry for no post today - I'm off to a series of meetings... :-(
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
What goes tick, tick, woof, woof?
Today, after the usual Morning Festivities, which included singing on old favorite ("Down by the Bay"), we had Reader's Workshop. Today, to extend our lesson from yesterday, we worked on what we're calling "Cover Questions" - looking at the cover of a book and using the "Cover Clues" to formulate a question or two about what the book will be about, its genre, or style. As the kids went off to read, they worked on making questions and then reading to answer them. All of the kids also traded books for the Independent Reading bookbags. At the end of workshop, then, each child shared one of the questions that they made, as well as if their reading thus far answered the question or not.
During Writer's Workshop, we are working on thinking more flexibly and creatively about stories, so I showed the kids a series of photos from old National Geographics and had them make up interesting and detailed stories about the people and objects in the photos. As you can probably expect, there were some very, well, interesting and entertaining stories told. Good stuff.
After writing, it was time for lunch and recess, and then back up to our room for literacy work time. Tuesday spellers got their words today, and then we worked on thinking critically and in more depth about the two Stone Soup stories that we have read thus far (this one, and this one, for those of you keeping score at home...). We are analyzing the stories for main characters, setting, and plot. Then we were on our way to the Media Center for class with Mrs. Hennen. After media, we headed next door to the computer lab for Math Workshop. The kids played games on our class math website, which you can certainly access from home, if you like (www.comp240.blogspot.com).
When we got back to our room from the lab, it was simply too nice of a day (in NOVEMBER!!!) to not go outside to play for a bit, so we headed out to the playground to finish up. After that, it was time to pack up and head home.
During Writer's Workshop, we are working on thinking more flexibly and creatively about stories, so I showed the kids a series of photos from old National Geographics and had them make up interesting and detailed stories about the people and objects in the photos. As you can probably expect, there were some very, well, interesting and entertaining stories told. Good stuff.
After writing, it was time for lunch and recess, and then back up to our room for literacy work time. Tuesday spellers got their words today, and then we worked on thinking critically and in more depth about the two Stone Soup stories that we have read thus far (this one, and this one, for those of you keeping score at home...). We are analyzing the stories for main characters, setting, and plot. Then we were on our way to the Media Center for class with Mrs. Hennen. After media, we headed next door to the computer lab for Math Workshop. The kids played games on our class math website, which you can certainly access from home, if you like (www.comp240.blogspot.com).
When we got back to our room from the lab, it was simply too nice of a day (in NOVEMBER!!!) to not go outside to play for a bit, so we headed out to the playground to finish up. After that, it was time to pack up and head home.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Why can't you ever play jokes on snakes?
Back again to the blog - I apologize for the long absence. I've a ridiculous meeting schedule after school for the past several weeks, which has now cleared up, so I'll be back to posting Monday - Thursday as often as I can.
After our normal AM routines, we celebrated our new Star of the Week - Owen. He read his poster to us, and then answered questions about his info. Then we moved on to Reader's Workshop - today the mini-lesson was about "Cover Clues" - looking at the covers of books to get clues about what the book will be about, as well as the genre. When the kids went out to read, they were looking at the covers to try to get clues, and then we shared their 'discoveries' at the end-of-workshop share.
During Writer's Workshop, we began looking at pre-writing skills - the kids divided a paper into 8 sections, and then planned (not wrote) a story - we will go back and write the stories in the coming days.
After that, it was time for lunch and recess, an d then back up to our room for Literacy Time. During this time, we will be doing out Spelling, which we call 'Word Work' (your child will either be a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday Speller - and bring home their words that day, as well as have their test [we call it a 'check-in']). We also began a "Story Study" about the traditional Stone Soup story - we will be reading several versions of the story (today we read this version) and comparing them.
After that, we headed down to the gym for class, and then back up for Math Workshop. Today in Math Workshop we worked on writing numbers sentences for subtraction (7-5=2, for instance) that relate to stories and situations.
At the end of the day, we started a new Science/Health unit on Nutrition and Food, which will lead directly into our Stone Soup celebration in two weeks (more info to come soon). Today we talked about foods that are good for our bodies and foods that are not so good for our bodies.
After our normal AM routines, we celebrated our new Star of the Week - Owen. He read his poster to us, and then answered questions about his info. Then we moved on to Reader's Workshop - today the mini-lesson was about "Cover Clues" - looking at the covers of books to get clues about what the book will be about, as well as the genre. When the kids went out to read, they were looking at the covers to try to get clues, and then we shared their 'discoveries' at the end-of-workshop share.
During Writer's Workshop, we began looking at pre-writing skills - the kids divided a paper into 8 sections, and then planned (not wrote) a story - we will go back and write the stories in the coming days.
After that, it was time for lunch and recess, an d then back up to our room for Literacy Time. During this time, we will be doing out Spelling, which we call 'Word Work' (your child will either be a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday Speller - and bring home their words that day, as well as have their test [we call it a 'check-in']). We also began a "Story Study" about the traditional Stone Soup story - we will be reading several versions of the story (today we read this version) and comparing them.
After that, we headed down to the gym for class, and then back up for Math Workshop. Today in Math Workshop we worked on writing numbers sentences for subtraction (7-5=2, for instance) that relate to stories and situations.
At the end of the day, we started a new Science/Health unit on Nutrition and Food, which will lead directly into our Stone Soup celebration in two weeks (more info to come soon). Today we talked about foods that are good for our bodies and foods that are not so good for our bodies.
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