Friday, November 16th

ELA -- Students wrote a 2-paragraph essay on their final reflection of The Giver.  They had to write their opinion of the book and write about how reading the book changed their understanding of the world.  Students also continued to do research for their inventor's projects and they completed and turned in their guided reading packets.

Social Studies -- Students worked on their Cattle Drive maps.

Math -- Students took the first part of the math assessment on creating equivalent fractions, modeling fractions, and adding/subtracting fractions with alike denominators.

Science -- Ms. Karably pulled small groups to go over how to create parallel circuits.

Holiday Homework

At the risk of damaging my "cool-teacher-who-doesn't-give-homework" reputation, I'm giving a small math packet to be completed over the break.  After looking at the assessment results, I can see that students need a bit more practice with finding common factors and making equivalent fractions.  I want to make sure that everyone has those skills down before I move on to multiplying and dividing fractions.  Students who did well will be given a front/back challenge sheet.  The homework is due on the Monday we return from break.

Thursday, November 15th

ELA - Students continued to work on their guided reading packets and students who finished continued their research for their inventor projects.

Math - Today we reviewed making equivalent fractions, reducing fractions and comparing the value of fractions.  The assessment is tomorrow.

Science - Ms. Karably lead an inquiry lesson about conductors and insulators.  Students had to hook up their battery, wires, and bulb and then, once they lit it, one of the wires was taken away and they had to use other materials to see if they were conductors or insulators.  

Thanksgiving Luncheon

...coming together to give thanks...

Wednesday, November 14th

ELA - I worked with two groups during guided reading and students worked on completing their guided reading packets.  They also practiced their literary cafe poems.

Math - Students worked on fractions and other individualized math lessons on Compass. 

Social Studies - Students continued to work on their Cattle Trails maps and we watched and discussed a short video on the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Our Thanksgiving Lunch (brunch) is tomorrow at 10:45am in the cafeteria.  It's $5, cash. 

Literary Cafe

Literary Cafe was a great success!  All of my students prepared original poems and some memorized them. I'm so proud of my young public speakers.

Email Help!

I am about 3 months behind in making my parent email list so I need some help.  If you could, please email me at msblack545@gmail.com and type "Add Me" in the subject line.  This will help me greatly and save a good bit of time.  

Thank You!

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.