Tuesday, November 13th

ELA -- Students worked on their guided reading packets while I attended the schools IB meeting in the morning.

Social Studies -- Students began working on their Cattle Trails & Cowboys maps.   We read over the information and discussed the types of migration involved.  Also, during lunch, students watched a short video in immigration and shared facts after it was over.

Math -- We worked on reducing fractions and how to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers.

Monday, November 12th

ELA - I worked with several of the guided reading groups today and we did some whole-class research on the Wright Brothers.

Social Studies - We completed an inquiry activity into the motivations behind human migration, specifically at the turn of last century.  Students were given pictures of various types of migrants and asked to categorize them into four categories:  seasonal, opportunity, forced, and escape.  Students finished the lesson by answering the following two reflection questions:  

What motivates people to move to different places?

What is life like for people who have migrated?

 

Math - We continued to work with equivalent fractions and students practiced reducing fractions.

Students got to preview the book fair today; they were really excited...

Thursday & Friday

ELA - We had our second Literary Cafe coaching session and we finished The Giver.  Students also began work on their Turn of the Century Inventor's project.  Some students took their packets home to work on their research.  They will have class time over the next few weeks to research and assemble their projects.

Science - Ms. Karably lead a lesson on building circuits.  Students had to use their own inquiry skills to use a wire and battery to light a bulb.  It was interesting to see how students tried different techniques to build their closed circuits.  

Math - We continued to work on making equivalent fractions and we discussed its inverse, reducing fractions.  I plan on giving the first portion of the math assessment next Friday.  This term I plan on assessing throughout the term so I can avoid having to give an excessively long assessment at the end of the term.

Social Studies - Students began working on their Turn of the Century projects. This term there are several segments to the social studies standards and students are going to meet the majority of them by completing various projects.

Art Work

 I noticed this on the word board after school on Friday after Dr. Root's talk with the class.  She talked to the class about personal boundaries and the social changes between girls and boys.  

We shared library space with Mrs. Sharkey's and Mrs. Semones' classes to watch the live Lois Lowry webcast.  She read from her new book, Son, and answered student questions.

Wednesday, November 7th

ELA - Today we started guided reading and it went really well.  During guided reading Mrs. Washington and I will be working with groups of 4-5 students on reading fluently, identifying text components, and comprehending/retaining information.  We are focusing on informational (non-fiction) texts this term and all of the readings will support this term's science and social studies content.

Math - Students had their weekly compass time today and had a mini-lesson on equivalent fractions with Mrs. Washington.

During Social Studies we watched a special, live telecast in the library.  It featured Lois Lowry, the author of The Giver, The Gathering Blue, and The Messenger.  

Happy Election Day!

Monday, November 5th

ELA - We continued to discuss the guidelines for narrative writing and we read/discussed another chapter of The Giver.  Lastly, guided reading will start on Wednesday and we discussed the work and behavior expectations.

Math - This term Mrs. Washington and I have divided the class into two groups based on the Pre-Test performance.  We both discussed fractions basics and my group used clocks to create equivalent fractions.

Social Studies - I read a book about George Washington Carver and students practiced taking notes from a verbal source.  

A Note about Assessments & the Standards

This term I'm going to give smaller and more frequent assessments.  It was overwhelming for students to take, and for me to grade, the long, multi-format assessments.  For example, I'm grading the student's notes that they took on George Washington Carver since that is one of the standards this term (summarizing information in notes).

Parents can download the standards from my document list on the right.  Also I'll send home a copy of the standards we are covering this term tomorrow.  If you have any questions contact me, and if you have any expertise in any of the standards, let me know if you have any activity suggestions.

Update

Thank you for your patience.  The transition between term 2 and 3 is the most difficult since there are so many standards to assess and we have NO break.  But I finished and we got this term off to a great start!  

Last Week
Math -- Fractions Review
ELA -- Poetry, Literary Cafe', Narrative Writing Introduction
Social Studies -- Turn of the Century Notes & Competition w/ Mr. Zimbardo's class
Science -- GA Power visit (electricity)

Next Week
Math -- Adding & Subtracting Fractions with unlike denominators, Equivalent Fractions
ELA -- Literary Cafe' Preparation (writing/editing poems), Narrative Writing, Guided Reading Groups begin
Social Studies -- Turn of the Century - Cattle Trails, Inventors, & Economics
Science -- Electricity & Magnetism

Heritage Festival

Thank you to the parents who helped chaperone.  The field trip was fun and informative.

I was SO surprised!  Thank You!

Literary Cafe' / Poetry

It's Cold Outside....

GA Power Electricity Lesson/Activity

Music

 Fractions Activity

Turn of the Century Fact-Finding SHOWDOWN (we won!)

Mittens was EXHAUSTED after helping me complete grades this week