What's Happening?

     It has been a busy week to say the least. We have begun using our new Best Practices workbook in reading. It is an engaging, color workbook that uses fiction and non-fiction to teach various reading strategies. For example, the first story was a fictional piece about a young man who wants some pizza. The next story was a non-fiction text about making pizza. The students were then to summarize each text and then compare and contrast the two texts. This is an excellent way to improve reading comprehension.
     We also continued to read Ants by Rebecca Stefoff. Today we re-read the text to get ready for our test tomorrow. We also reread the story because rereading is a wonderful way to improve fluency. As we reread the story, the students took turns discussing the story, asking questions, and explaining what they learned. These "mini-discussions" with peers are also an excellent way to improve comprehension.

     Our class is still focused on functional or procedural writing at this time.  We will begin report writing the second week in March.  At this point, the students are trying to finish their pieces for their portfolio.   They really know the standards for this kind of writing.  It is amazing to watch them write their pieces and double check the standards to make sure they have met every aspect of them.  I have also found conferences with the students much easier because they are familiar with the standards.   The students understand when I tell them that their piece lacks a context or sequential steps.  

     Math Investigations has focused on rectangles, symmetry and fractions.  One day was spent creating quick images.  This is when the students are shown a rectangle as shown below.

The students are only given a brief glimpse of the rectangle.  They must then recreate the shape on a piece of paper.  Once they have recreated their shapes, the students were then expected to describe their shape in enough detail so the teacher could then draw what they drew. 

      The students discovered fairly quickly that their rectangles had column and a row.  A column would be the line of tiles that go up and down (vertical).  The row would be the line of tiles that go from side to side (horizontal).   They found that they were able to draw the images if they counted the column and the rows.  They also discovered they could describe the image better in terms of columns and rows.    This new found knowledge will help the students when we move on to our discussions of fractions, multiplication, area, and so much more.

     Our class has also been studying the Arctic and Rainforest this past week.  The students completed a WebQuest on the Arctic at the beginning of the week.  They then created a PowerPoint display.  The class then posted the slideshow to Voicethread and added commentary.  To view the final product, visit the student blog.  They did a SUPERB job!

      Finally, we have been studying famous Americans all week.  The students have learned about Abraham Lincoln, Paul Revere, George Washington, Ruby Bridges and a few other famous Americans.  On Friday, our American Icon Projects will be due.  we are looking forward to seeing what the students have created.  It should be a real treat.

     As a final note, Sheffield Elementary has some adorable new additions to our school.  For photos on these ADORABLE new additions, again visit the student blog.  The students have responded very well to these new additions.  They are very careful to observe from afar rather than try to get up close for fear they may scare them.  We will keep you posted as to their progress since we do tend to feed them daily.