I have to admit that last week was very exciting. Students were able to reflect on all of the great learning that has happened so far this year. I would like to also thank all of the parents who came out to see POLs last week. Since POLs are done, we will be returning to our regular schedule next week.
This Friday our book club summaries are going to to be due. Students are choosing to present their reviews in fun and creative ways. Some of the choices include but are not limited to; cartoon strips, plays, videos, a news flash, puppet shows, and written summaries posted on Amazon. Each student is focusing on the plot, character development, and climactic moments.
In both classes we have started our center activities. This is an opportunity for students to rotate around the room to various work stations. Each center lasts for approximately 15-20 min. This allows me time to have small group instruction while students are practicing core standards independently. Activities will be varied to help maintain student interest. Last week our focus was on sharpening our dictionary skills, learning our states and capitals, responding to non-fiction periodicals, and learning how to type!
In social studies we are learning about the events leading up to the revolutionary war. I recently watched a HBO miniseries called John Adams. It is a historical account of the life of our 2nd president, John Adams. I was planning on showing parts of the program to the students. The show is rated TV-14 due to a few scenes which I will be skipping.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
POLs
I hope that everyone had a relaxing three day weekend! Tomorrow we will be reflecting on the holiday by looking at the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. Also this week we will begin our POLs. Each student will be presenting to the class what they have learned so far this year. There are still many empty time slots, so please sign up for a time if you have not done so already. We will need to start assigning times for students if there are still empty spaces tomorrow. You can sign up via Alexis' blog- there is a spreadsheet posted there.
We are also continuing our exploration of fiction and non-fiction texts. For non-fiction, we are working on summaries for the Cartoon History of the United States. Since we have finished reading Island of the Blue Dolphins and Holes, we are currently writing summaries and book reviews. Also, last week we researched navigation tools that were used by early explorers. Afterwards, the class made real compasses!
In preparation of his student teaching, our co-teacher, Alex, gave a wonderful lesson on the history of language. In addition to learning about the origin of the English language, students learned how to combine prefixes, root words, and suffixes of Latin and Greek words.
We are also continuing our exploration of fiction and non-fiction texts. For non-fiction, we are working on summaries for the Cartoon History of the United States. Since we have finished reading Island of the Blue Dolphins and Holes, we are currently writing summaries and book reviews. Also, last week we researched navigation tools that were used by early explorers. Afterwards, the class made real compasses!
In preparation of his student teaching, our co-teacher, Alex, gave a wonderful lesson on the history of language. In addition to learning about the origin of the English language, students learned how to combine prefixes, root words, and suffixes of Latin and Greek words.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Happy New Year!
I would like to first of all like thank all of the families who gave such generous gifts to me during the holiday season. I really felt an enormous amount of appreciation!
So far this year, the class has really hit the ground running. It seems that the children have matured during winter break. Keep up the good work parents! Thank you for all of your support, it really does make all of the difference.
This week we have begun an new program called Brainology. It is curriculum that is designed to change the "habits of mind." Recent research is showing that people tend to fall into two categories on how they view intelligence. Some people view intelligence as fixed and others see it as malleable. People who have a fixed view of intelligence tend to have a more difficult time completing tasks that they feel they are not "smart" in. While people with the malleable view associate being good at something as a result of hard work. In Brainology, we are training students to adopt the malleable view of intelligence. We will be celebrating when we make mistakes and when we struggle! This is where the real learning takes place. Our attitude about ourselves makes all the difference in the world.
We had a perfect example of mindsets changing yesterday when Alexis and I were tutoring Juliet and Julius after school on their basic math facts. Both these students at the beginning of the year had the belief that they were "not good at math." Recently their mindsets have dramatically changed and they have been working diligently on memorizing their times tables. It was amazing to watch these two students become so excited about the math game we were playing.
This week in Humanities, we finished making our American History timelines of pre-revolutionary events. In language arts we started analyzing the features of non-fiction texts. We read an article in National Geographic called "Fancy Feathers." We looked at the difference between facts and opinions in the article. Afterwards, each student wrote a brief summary of the article. For book clubs we have almost finished reading Holes and Island of the Blue Dolphins. Next week we will be celebrating by watching the movie Holes and comparing and contrasting it to the book.
So far this year, the class has really hit the ground running. It seems that the children have matured during winter break. Keep up the good work parents! Thank you for all of your support, it really does make all of the difference.
This week we have begun an new program called Brainology. It is curriculum that is designed to change the "habits of mind." Recent research is showing that people tend to fall into two categories on how they view intelligence. Some people view intelligence as fixed and others see it as malleable. People who have a fixed view of intelligence tend to have a more difficult time completing tasks that they feel they are not "smart" in. While people with the malleable view associate being good at something as a result of hard work. In Brainology, we are training students to adopt the malleable view of intelligence. We will be celebrating when we make mistakes and when we struggle! This is where the real learning takes place. Our attitude about ourselves makes all the difference in the world.
We had a perfect example of mindsets changing yesterday when Alexis and I were tutoring Juliet and Julius after school on their basic math facts. Both these students at the beginning of the year had the belief that they were "not good at math." Recently their mindsets have dramatically changed and they have been working diligently on memorizing their times tables. It was amazing to watch these two students become so excited about the math game we were playing.
This week in Humanities, we finished making our American History timelines of pre-revolutionary events. In language arts we started analyzing the features of non-fiction texts. We read an article in National Geographic called "Fancy Feathers." We looked at the difference between facts and opinions in the article. Afterwards, each student wrote a brief summary of the article. For book clubs we have almost finished reading Holes and Island of the Blue Dolphins. Next week we will be celebrating by watching the movie Holes and comparing and contrasting it to the book.
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