I apologize for not giving a solid update for awhile...the days just dissolve sometimes don't you think? It was so enjoyable to see the kids having fun while singing for the Holiday Concert. Music really is such a crucial element to our school experience
Literacy Workshop
We finally finished our read aloud novel The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. What an awesome book! The kids were hooked from the first 2 pages, the true sign of a good read aloud. This somewhat apocolyptic, alternate society novel had main characters who were children, causing the students to immediately visualize themselves in such a different world. We used the entire book to focus on Expanding Vocabulary. How did we do this?:
- recorded a running list of new and interesting words
- talked through our strategies for decoding meaning
- recognized that some words can be multiple parts-of-speech (nouns,verbs etc.)
- looked for common prefixes, suffixes, and Latin/Greek roots in our new words
- created a Popplet (a zooming web) to visually explore new words
Writer's Workshop
Using Google Drive, students are beginning to effectively create, share, and collaborate on documents. So far we have:
- experienced teacher-student conferring via the commenting feature in Drive
- begun peer conferring using the commenting feature
- shared single documents with peer collaborators
- shared folders with me so I can consistently access their digital writing
- learned how to type the correct punctuation when using dialogue in our pieces
- practiced the reasons writers create new paragraphs to show a change (speaker, event, day etc.)
This year, we are approaching Word Study in some similar ways to last year and some a bit different. We will move through the phonics scope and sequence and produce personal word lists throughout the year, but much of their differentiated spelling instruction is happening not only in small groups with me but also Spelling Vocabulary City. This web-based program provides an efficient way for students to access the exact patterns they need (as determined by developmental assessments administered by me via Word Journeys). The extensive and tricky patterns we have worked with lately are:
- r-controlled (bossy r) patterns (ar, er, or etc.)
- digraphs (vowel teams and 2+ letters creating a new sound (ea, ie, ow, oi etc.)
Students are working through computation, beginning algebra and problem solving. Skills we are working toward mastering are:
- solving for a variable in open sentences using all 4 operations
- creating a true number sentence by adding in parenthesis
- following order of operations
- calculating elapsed time
Math fact practice continues!!!Some students are ready to "test out" of fact practice or move on to a division focus. After the New Year, we will work toward scheduled mini-fact quizzes to narrow down what facts we still do not know. Remember that the goal is to have all multiplication and division (as well as maintain addition and subtraction!) facts down and be able to fluently show how to arrive at answers using a variety of models. This is a heavy goal and can only happen with hard work at both home and school.
Social Studies
We are immersed in our unit about "Our Country". Students have learned to:
- gain geography skills using outline maps and Google Earth
- show understanding of geography concepts, study and memorization skills through regions quizzes
- create webs to understand "Human/Environment Interaction" in the Northeast. (ie: lobstering, blueberry picking, industry)
- think critically from a variety of perspectives when considering historical events (ie: Lewis and Clark exploration, viewpoints of various members of the team)
- create Slavery "found" poetry to show understanding of capture, hard work and escape to freedom
- compare and contrast song lyrics and stories from the region of Appalachia, closely reading lyrics such as "Shady Grove" and "Pretty Saro" and books such as Cynthia Rylants When I Was Young in the Mountains, in order to understand life there
- make bread and create the connect to the "bread basket" of the US (midwest)
Upcoming
- Maple Sugaring season- it will most likely begin the week or so before February vacation and continue until the peepers come out. Look for information in the beginning of January!
- Holiday Party: does anyone want to send in some treats for us to enjoy Friday afternoon? (12/20)
Jaclyn Karabinas
