Sunday, December 3, 2017

November 29 - December 1

Happy December!!


BAILLY'S SUPER WORD OF THE WEEK:


LIBERTY: freedom to choose


~I was not here on Tuesday, our LA classes met one time on Monday~

1st GRADE LA
PERSUASIVE PARAGRAPHS: Monday I asked the class if learning Pig Latin was difficult. Some raised their hands in agreement while others found learning Pig Latin easy. I then asked, "who is right and who is wrong?" This question lead us to the idea of opinions and if  there was a right or wrong answer. Once we understood that an opinion could neither be or right nor wrong, I introduced the idea of persuasion. While children seem to have an inherent gift of persuasion, as least mine do, I wanted to formally introduce the concept as trying to convince someone to agree with your opinion . Next week we are going to write a persuasive paragraph together. We will be trying to persuade other first graders that Pig Latin is an easy language to learn. 

2nd GRADE LA
VENN DIAGRAM: This class is rocking all the connections in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Before Thanksgiving break we read the Velveteen Rabbit. I told the students to listen carefully for similarities and differences between the two stories. Monday we made a Venn Diagram between the two stories. It was amazing to hear the depth in the connections they made  between the two. They saw the surface similarities and differences, such as they were both rabbits or one had a girl owner and the other had a boy owner. They were also able to identify the concept of love and being loved in the 'lives' of both Edward and the Velveteen Rabbit.  
THERE WAS NO HOMEWORK SINCE I WAS GONE ON TUESDAY.

3rd GRADE LA
FINISH UP: The students were able to finish their Reading Analyzers over the different Beatrix Potter books they read with partners. Next week we are going to bring them all together for discussion questions. We will be looking for similarities in theme, setting, plot and character traits between the books. For the students I had last year, we did this a little between The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.We will also be discussing how INTERACTIONS affect the plot of the stories.  

4th GRADE LA
TIME LINES: At this point in our Biography  Project almost everyone is working on their time lines. The students have been shown that time line dates are NOT evenly spaced. I told them, with an Agent of Change individual, they may see a cluster of events between certain times. I explained I am looking for accurate spacing, meaning I can see they took the time to understand where the dates are relative to the individual's birth and death dates. I am also looking for neatness!!!!! I have rulers, yard sticks, markers, anything they may need, organization and neatness is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. 
We were supposed to go the the computer lab and print our pictures on Tuesday, with me being gone I will need to reschedule this for next week. 

*IF YOUR STUDENT DOES NOT HAVE THEIR MINIMUM OF 10 PICTURES BY THE TIME WE GO TO THE COMPUTER LAB, IT WILL BE THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND A TIME TO PRINT THEM*


IT SEEM LIKE FOREVER SINCE I HAVE HAD MY MATH STUDENTS!!!
WELCOME BACK!

1st GRADE MA
GRUPO.......FINIALLY: This has been the most well behaved week I've had with this class ALL YEAR!!! Wednesday we refreshed our memory on the rules of Grupo. The goal is for partners to find a pair of cards with 4 of the 5 attributes the same. 
After playing a couple of rounds we swapped the rules up needed to find pairs that had 2 DIFFERENT attributes. Team "A" had to tell team "B" the similarities or differences they found in the match and vice versa. If the cards were not a true match, the other team got the pair. 
We had a lot of fun with this!!


2nd GRADE MA
SMILE GALLERY: Wednesday and Thursday we worked on tiling. We first practiced tiling with a single pattern block. The students were then introduced to the concept of a  "basic pattern", this is the fewest number of blocks that are repeated to make a design. 
Our worksheet had us identify the basic pattern of two different designs. Next, the students chose 2-3 pattern shapes to create their own basic pattern. After they created a basic pattern, they cut it out and used it to fill in an entire 'wall mural' worksheet.
HOMEWORK: Any coloring they did not finish was sent home for homework.

3rd GRADE MA
Since we are a small class, I allow the students to sit or stand
where ever they concentrate the best.
WHAT'S NEXT?: This week we started a new lesson with patterns in sequences. Continuing to use the concept of growing patterns, we are trying to find a generalization or rule to determine any term in a given sequence. I demonstrated to the students what would happen if I punch 1+3 into a calculator and continually punch the " =" sign. We saw the answer of 4 continue to grow by 3's. We sampled this a few different times to make sure understanding was clear. I explained while 3+1 gave us the same previous answer of 4, if we continue to press the equals button, our answer will only grow by 1's rather than 3's. This idea was important to understand once they were given the "What's Next" charts. 

4th GRADE MA
THINK DEEPLY.....TO THE EXTREME: We have not had a regular math class in two weeks!! Two weeks ago we had part of the class missing because of Camp Goodfellow. Last week we did not have math because of Thanksgiving break. We are FINALLY back on track.
Wednesday we reviewed a little with a couple Think Beyond cards and Thursday we started our end of the lesson  Think Deeply. This was a tricky TD with many steps which we did together. THESE GUYS ROCKED IT!!! While I guided the class, they were the ones telling me what direction we needed to go next and why. So proud of them, especially after such a long break!