March 30, 2012

Today was awesome we got through all we needed to.  We did reading and had trouble showing proof for character traits.  This means reading my books and finding text support to back up the character trait.  We completed our unit in writing for leads to our story.  Then moved into math and completed our unit in geometry.  The class had a fantastic time in science and we wrapped up our unit for weather.  WOW! It was an amazing day, I can not believe how much we got done.  Also we even had time to play with our buddies and have lunch bunch!!!

March 28, 2012

WOW, another quiet day in the halls. The class as been fabulous both days for the fourth and fifth graders.  I am the proudest teacher alive.  They are working hard to complete their work too.  During reading we partnered up to practice our main idea strategy.  They read a paragraph and state the main idea of the paragraph to their friend.  Please have the students model it for you.We continued our leads for writing and the students found leads and wrote leads to their personal narratives.  Ask them to give you the names of the five different ways to lead off their compositions?  We continued geometry in math by describing the three dimensional shapes and comparing them to their regular or flat shapes.  They partnered up to state the attributes of the shapes and explain their findings to a friend.  Then we finished our vocabulary in science for weather.

March 27, 2012

Today fourth and fifth graders were STARR testing, I am PROUD of my little monkeys they were slient in the halls and chose to fallow the behavior in the halls to make sure the older kids could not be interrupted by noise.  We received tons of compliments every time.  I am amazed at their willingness to show what everyone else in school that secondd graders are leaders not followers.  we managed to cover reading groups and continued to discuss the big idea and what details support my main idea.  Then we moved into writing and wrote different leads to our personal narrative.  During math we discussed shapes and what attributes describe shapes.  We learned we can describe shapes using shape, size, vertices, faces, and edges.  We continued our unit on weather and discussed how clouds, seasons, and the position of the sun can change our weather.  Also how low pressure and high pressure can also affect the weather outside.  We will begin the water cycle and then wrap up weather to begin our unit on government.  What do you want to learn about our government?

March 26, 2012

STARR testing will be happening to morrow in the building, so please do not come to eat lunch with the students.  There is not to be any outside visitors.  The students were back in full working order because we got through everything we needed to.  We did reading groups and began discussing how books compare to one another.  Also the big idea or main idea of a section.  The main idea helps the reader understand the story.  During writing we looked at chapter books and discussed how excellent writers lead off their compositions to grab or hook the reader.  We discovered there are five ways to begin a composition.  We are writing personal narratives and trying to lead off our writing with excellent leads.  Then we did spelling and began our unit on SPL, SPR, and words with sent in them.  The students are amazing and we have almost completed our weather unit. What has fascinated you so far in our weather unit? 

March 22, 2012

Today was a fantastic day, because we had to visitors.  First in came Mrs. Shanahan dressed in a suit with body parts.  She guided us in a lesson about stress.  She showed us how to control our stress, by showing us a breathing strategy.  You might want to ask your child to demonstrate this for you.  We then continued reading and writing for a bit, when all of a sudden in walked Mrs. Doyle.  She started her reading by describing to us about the survivor tree in New York city she saw at ground zero.  Ms. Wolfean showed us a video and we thought it was interesting how different the tree is.  Then we had math and continued with our shapes posters.  We had science, but we had to design our calendar for April.  We had a productive day with lots of learning.

March 21, 2012

Today was a productive day, we had visitors come observe us during reading.  They reported they were excited to see all the connections, visualizations, wanderings, questions, and special moments my students were having to their books and informational texts.  They enjoyed listening to the students give them information about their reading.  I have to say, "I WAS PROUD OF MY MONKEYS!" I was also impressed with all they are doing and listening to them, and love to hear their reasoning behind their answers. I was excited to move into writing because we had a mini lesson on how to add details to our writing.  We discussed adding similes and metaphors to our own writing because it gives the reader a visual of what we are discussing.  We had a blast in math because we mingled with our Friends trying to discover who had our matching flat shape to our three dimensional shape.  Finally we ended with our science discussing weather and how we can measure our weather.  We learned water, wind, and heat can be measured using different instruments, what were those instruments?

March 20, 2012

It was a busy day filled with loads of learning.  We had library and was upset to see Mrs. Wallingford was absent.  Her sub was excellent is read our class a foltale and we all giggled at the book.  Soon after this Mrs. Doyle stopped in to give the class a surprise, BOOKS!!!!  She hand delivered new clss library books from her last story she shared My Lost Dog, she made sure we had all the copies of the next books.  We even recieved the newest one number six.  We had math and started our new unit on geomentry.  Then moved onto science to continue our weather unit.  I hope everyone had a safe Spring Break and you got lots of rest.  what was the number one thing you enjoyed about you time off from school?

March 8, 2012

Today was another great day, we learned a lot. We did our writing and wrote about an important person who has helped us.  We worked on personal narratives and writing is stressing some students out.  It is difficult to write, but remember to show not tell. Then we read and met in our reading groups to discuss our informational texts.  After this we had recess and we were lucky it was not raining.  we had fun playing with our friends.  Then Mattie came in and finally shared her show-n-tell. Mattie brought her Pan Pan and her Lie Lie stuffed animals and her favorite book.  Her book was The Beginners Bible she shared her favorite part when the baby was born.  We practiced our CGI math and then headed to lunch.  We ended our long day with a video on the water cycle.

March 7, 2012

Well I hope you all are enjoying your short day.  I have been in a meeting learning and discussing with the teachers ideas and new ways to teach my little monkeys.  We had a busy day today, we wrote, read, and took a math test.  We had a noisy day and almost all students were very talkative.  In the morning when they arrived the whole class was chatting and I gave several warnings.  It is hard to see who is not talking and who is because I was trying to work with a small group of students.  Then we lined up loud three times today and started over.  Do you think it was fair of me to do what I did?  I just think it is hard to pin point exactally who is doing right when the majority was not.  I hope you all have a restful day and know that I love my monkeys.

March 6, 2012

PARENTS TONIGHT IS PTA, a sing along.  Today was a day filled with loads of learning.  We came in to the room with a creative writing topic.  the Class was to write about how they changed into a rain drop.  They had to explain the process it took.  I wonder if they could later revise after we had discussed weather in science?  I am curious if they included the water cycle in their writing?  This might something they will revise for?  During writing the students were trying to locate sentences in our story books and explore the two types.  They learned about the difference between a question and a statement sentence.  We discussed our books in groups and reviewed character traits using our Dr. Seuss small book.  They will bring them home over Spring Break.  In math we continued to regroup using double digit subtraction, and will begin our unit on time again.  They started their unit on weather today and learned what weather is about.

March 2, 2012

Today was another fun filled day with a lot of Dr. Seuss activities.  We made hats, played a Green Eggs and Ham game in math.  We wore our hats to see Mrs. Lucas to try to convince her to give us the cookies to eat.  She was not in her office, but Ms. Wolfean delivered the letter. When we came inside from PE, there was a sign waiting for us. It stated, "You got your Oreos!"  I knew my class could do it we just need to be specific when we write and remember to include in our opinion statement exactly what we want.  Mattie was an excellent top Banana, however we ran out of time and therefore she will be sharing her show-n-tell on Monday.  Mattie shared her pictures and we loved seeing and learning about her family. We also learned hearing about her and all the things she enjoys. 

March 1, 2012

I am still have issues with the computer, and tomorrow I will have a new calendar.  We had a very valuable lesson today.  The students finished their persuasive letters to Mrs. Lucas, however most of the students wrote they want the bag for a visualization not to eat them.  They learned today that their opinion needed to also include eating the Oreo cookies.  We also learned to be specific when we write.  Tomorrow she has given us a chance to write her a class letter to convince her to let us eat them.  We had math stations with double digit games and our story cubes.  We read a Dr. Seuss book, My Many Colored Days and we are creating a book modeled from it to give to the library.  We ended our day in Art and then headed home!!!

February 29, 2012

I am sorry that I could not post the blog.  I received a new computer at school, and when I arrived at home my computer there was messed up.  We had a great day and I have enjoyed revising and reading the students letters they are writing to Mrs. Lucas.  We worked on the letters and they are struggling with giving excellent reasons and examples of why they deserve the OREOS.  We stayed with double digit subtraction and made sure to check double digit addition.  They both had to regroup and most are getting the method.  We watched a video to show the students how methods I have taught can be used in their life.