Kids spent all of class working on their US maps- we will be wrapping these up early next week! We started LA class by taking our IXL quiz- overall the kids did well, students that got below an 8/10 need to continue to practice IXL this weekend and retake the quiz next week during WIN (preferably Monday or Tuesday). They can (and should) come see me for extra help if they spent a lot of time practicing this week, but still didn't do well on their quiz...often times, however, when students don't do well on their quiz it is because they did not do all (or any) of their IXL homework during the week.
After the quiz we had a quick fun film fest and then worked on our September book talks for the remainder of class. Oops- just realized I forgot to post about SS class yesterday! So sorry! Yesterday we continued talking about natural resources and the different energy sources that exist. We had discussions about how the vast number of natural resources in our country separate us from many nations in the world that may only have 1 or 2...this has led to us becoming one of the largest (population) and wealthiest nations in the world. We also talked about how they can also impact where you live within our country (would you want to live near a large oil rig or nuclear power plant?). We finished class with a discussion about water and land resources and what has caused water shortages (pollution and droughts). Please see class notes below.
Today we worked on our personal US maps- my goal is to actually use these maps throughout the year, adding to them as we study the different units- now I just need to figure out a way to keep them in good shape and not get lost as the year goes on! I have posted the product descriptor that I passed out to each student and then they used the various maps in their textbook to help them locate and label the various features. Today we started class with our read aloud and then as a class we wrote a summary of the Rising Action of Home of the Brave using the same graphic organizers the students are using for their book talks. I explained to the kids that at this point I would rather have them have too much information in their summaries than not enough info. Some of the kids are struggling with details and/or remembering their books and so I have them chatting with the other students who read the same book as them in order to help them remember.
Homework: IXL (quiz tomorrow!): VV1-4 and FFF1 Students spent most of class today working on writing their summaries of their summer reading book for their September book talk. You will notice in the photos that I am a big believer of having kids sit anywhere in the room where they feel comfortable and feel they can be the most productive. The kids understand that if they are not being productive I will make them move. If anyone has any comfy furniture (smoke free home please) that they are looking to get rid of/donate please let me know- I would LOVE to offer even more seating choices to the kids- it makes such a difference! Today in class we read and discussed natural resources- and talking about the difference between a renewable and a nonrenewable natural resource. We began talking about different energy sources that are nonrenewable and the plusses and minuses to each of these resources- particularly: coal, uranium, and oil. Tomorrow we will be talking about water and resources we get from the land. If time allows we will also be labeling our maps with important landforms and the names of the states.
Today we read a couple more chapters in Home of the Brave. In the Ely class I shared some background information on the Lost Boys of the Sudan which is what this book is based on- I will be sharing the same info with the Newton class tomorrow. I then gave them the remainder of the period to work on their book talks and reminded them that they can work on these in WIN time as well.
Homework: Read 20 minutes IXL: VV1-4 (Context Clues) and FFF1 (Cause and Effect) Quiz Friday Today we started class by setting up our SS notebooks for the first unit/chapter in our textbook. I explained how we will be doing this at the start of each unit and the purpose behind it (teaching them organizational and note taking strategies). I organize all of my units in SS around Essential Questions- the big over arching ideas that I want students to be able to understand and discuss- and so we set up the notebooks by writing the essential questions at the top of the page (each question gets its own page) and then throughout the unit we take notes under the appropriate question. I always take notes on large sticky notes and post pictures of the notes each day on the blog, and then I leave the notes hanging up in the room for the duration of the unit. This way students know where to look if they miss class one day or were unable to finish writing down the notes during class. Luckily this unit only has 1 essential question so it didn't take us long to set up the notebooks! Homework: If a student did not yet get a 50/50 on their states test than they need to continue to study the states and retake the test during WIN one day this week (they can choose the day- as long as they are prepared and ready!) At the start of class I handed back Friday's IXL quizzes (and their states tests) and had them look them over before putting them in their portfolios. We then talked briefly about this weeks IXL homework- due to time constraints I was unable to fit in a mini lesson today on these skills, but asked that they all check them out today (either in WIN or at home tonight) so that when I give the mini lesson tomorrow they can also ask specific questions about things that confused them. I introduced plot structure to the students today. We talked about how the majority of short stories/novels structure their plots in a very similar way. As we went over each section of the plot we used specific examples from Home of the Brave and other stories that most kids were familiar with. Afterwards I had them work on writing their summary of their summer reading book- keeping in mind plot structure. Homework: Read 20 minutes! IXL skills this week (QUIZ FRIDAY): Context Clues:
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