Today we continued our work on identifying aha moments and contrasts and contradictions. After reading their journal entries today and looking at their notes identifying these moments in the video clip we watched it was clear to me I need to continue working with them. Many students seem to be struggling so I don’t want to move on until we get it.
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Students continued working on the personal timelines. We will only be working on them one more class period (Wednesday) and then they will be due.
Today we started learning about identifying AHA! Moments in our books. We used excerpts from the book Crash by Jerry Spinelli to practice finding Aha's and doing thinking, writing, and discussion about how the aha changes things in the story.
Homework: Read for 30 minutes and identify in your book either an Aha or Contrast and Contridiction- mark the moment in the book with a sticky note. Make sure the book (with the sticky) comes to school tomorrow because you will need it for class! We began class with 10 minutes of read aloud to help us transition from one class to the next. Afterwards we talked about what Social Studies is and why it is important. I introduced the personal timeline activity that students will be doing- before we start learning about the history of our country, we are going to start small and look at the history of our own lives. I provided the students with a checklist and graphic organizer to help them brainstorm the events they are going to include on their timeline. Students then worked on completing the graphic organizer for the remainder of class. These are in their take home folders, but are not homework, however, if they need help coming up with ideas or remembering how old they were when something happened I wanted them to be able to ask at home and fill it in before they forget :)
Homework: None Class began with 10 minutes of writing about last nights 30 minutes of reading. Then we continued our work on the Contrasts and Contradictions sign post that we began on Tuesday. I read the story from start to finish and had the students pick out the CC that was the most surprising to them and then they got in pairs to discuss their selections and what they think it tells the reader about the character and what we learn- working hard to make sure that they used evidence from the text to support their thinking.
Homework: Read 30 minutes During periods 1 and 3 today in place of LA Mrs. Royale (5th grade guidance counselor), Mrs. Lynch (social worker), and Ms. Paule (social worker) came in for the first guidance/social work lesson of the year. Students will have (I think) about 12-15 of these lessons over the course of the year- they won't always happen during LA/SS- we try to not have the kids miss the same class each time. Today's lesson was mostly just an introduction to the three of them and their roles here at the school.
During period 2 we had a whole team meeting. Mrs. Arbour and I wanted to point out all the great things we have been seeing from our kids in the first week and a half of school (incredibly KIND!, great cafeteria behaviors, helping our friends) , and to also discuss some areas where we would like to see some changes/improvements (listening to/following directions when they are first being given, doing what is being asked- no arguing with teacher, not talking while teacher is talking). During period 4 the entire team finished up a science activity that they began yesterday. Homework: Read for at least 30 minutes- look for contrasts and contradictions in your book We began class by doing a writing prompt about the reading they did last night (see pic below of the prompt(s))
Today I introduced Sign Posts - which are specific things we are looking for when we are reading. After introducing the 6 sign posts (see picture below) I did a lesson on our first one: Contrasts and Contradictions. This signpost asks students to notice when a character acts in a way you don't expect, or in a way that is opposite of his or her previous actions- when you notice this it is important to ask yourself: Why is the character doing that? I then had students follow along while I read out loud the short story, "Thank you, Ma'm" by Langston Hughes and while reading I had the students use their sticky notes whenever they notice a CC (contrast and contradiction). Homework: read for at least 30 minutes Today we finished up presenting our partner interviews to the class- I loved learning more about each of the kids and was very impressed with how well they all did presenting- they were all so relaxed up there talking in front of the room to the whole class! Nice job!!
I did book talks on 4 more titles today: Fish in A Tree, Mockingbird, Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library, and Watership Down Each day we have about 10 minutes dedicated to read aloud- we are currently about 6 chapters in to The Way to Bea - it is an excellent book about a girl who suddenly finds herself without a best friend or really any friends...and she has no idea why. We will be using this book in our writing- doing writing prompts around scenerios addressed in the book, and also to help us with whole class and team discussions - not only around reading skills and strategies, but also around the topic of lonliness/being an outsider. Homework: Read for a minimum of 30 minutes Today kids finished up interviewing their partners and we began our presentations- kids stood up in front of the room and introduce their partner to the class sharing the information they gained from the interview. We will be finishing these up Monday.
The past two days I have been starting class by doing book talks of 3-4 each day and the kids have a list going in their notebooks where they write down any titles that seem interesting to them. So far the books/authors I have recommended are: Gregor the Overlander The Westing Game Star Girl Gordan Korman (author) Mike Lupica (author) Peak Fablehaven The One and Only Ivan I Funny Homework: Bring at least one but up to 3 books to class with you Monday that are at your reading level and you have not read before. We began our first read aloud book of the year, The Way to Bea. I explained to the students that I use read aloud to expose kids to different authors, genre's, and books. I also like us to have a common text that I can refer to in my reading skills lessons- I do not do whole class novels, I believe students should choose books that they enjoy (and are at their reading level), so read aloud books give us this common ground.
In addition to read aloud today, kids partnered up and began interviewing one another using a list of 9 questions. Once the interviews are completed - most likely tomorrow- they will be introducing their classmate to the rest of the class and sharing what they learned about them. Homework: Find at least 1, but up to 3 books that you have not read before and are at your appropriate level- bring in the book(s) by Monday at the latest. |
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April 2020
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