Searching for educational enrichment this summer? Consider
Duneland's High Ability Summer School! With the theme of "Do What the
Romans Do," the 13-day program in June will focus on reading strategies
and literature comprehension. It is open to current 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade HA
students. The gold sign-up flyer went home a few weeks ago. Take advantage
of this wonderful opportunity!
Kindergarten LA
Knuffle
Bunny: This week we read Knuffle Bunny and applied our
‘Four-Level Questioning’ to it. ‘Four-Level Questioning’ introduces students to the idea that a question can have more than one correct answer. We
discussed Level 1 questions, questions that usually have 1 correct answer. An
example question would be, “Where did Trixie and her dad go?” Next, we discussed
Level 2 questions. These questions give us answers that could look a little different
due to more thinking required for the answer. Our Level 2 question was “Why doesn’t Trixie’s dad
understand what is wrong with her on the way home?”
Graph Fun: On
Monday we finished our skip count charts. Tuesday we had fun with graphs. The
kids took clipboards and walked around asking their classmates what their
favorite activities were on the weekend. Our class total was: Play outside: 3 students and 1 HA instructor,
Watch a movie: 4 students, Sleep late: 2 students, Visit a friend: 2, and Go shopping: NO ONE.
Persuasive
Writing: This week I asked the students, Should parents buy first-graders a cell phone? Believe it or not, the class was split!! I
then separated the class into their ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ groups.Together the groups needed
to brainstorm and fill out their graphic organizers and come up with 3 reasons to
support their opinion. We will start writing these next week.
Let’s Go
Ask:
Last week we were measuring with beaks and realized this may not be a very
accurate way to measure. On Monday, we went around asking different staff
members if they have ever heard of Imi or Zani (the birds in our math lessons).
We then asked if they have ever measured using bird beaks, NOT ONE person said yes!
However, the students did find out everyone they interviewed measured with
inches. We decided this is because an inch will always be the same and everyone
already knows what an inch is. As for beaks, they can be all different sizes.
We then read the story Inch by Inch,
and started measuring parts of our hands and items around the room with 1 inch
straw pieces. This allowed the student to become familiar with what an inch
looks like and to use as a ‘benchmark’ later in the lesson.
2nd Grade LA
The Tale
of Despereaux: Homework: Read up to Book the 4th
and REVIEW chapter titles. If you did NOT finish your journal entry, that needs
to be done as well. On Wednesday we reviewed our homework reading and
discussed the new character, Miggery Sow. We found connections between her,
Despereaux, Roscuro and their fascination with light.
On Thursday the students
needed to answer a question the narrator asked at the end of chapter 28, “Do
you think that it is a terrible thing to hope when there is really no reason to
hope at all?” If they did not finish it during class, they needed to take it
home and finish it. I told everyone I’d like to see at least half page
answer.
2nd Grade MA
Scavenger
Hunt:
This week everyone finished their scavenger hunt worksheet. Those who finished
early worked on a Think Beyond card. These cards are simply extra trivia from
our current lesson. This class loved them!!
3rd Grade LA
Tic-Tac-Toe: The
students are continuing their fairy tale projects. They are doing a great job
working on them. I am giving them the choice to bring parts home to work on.
Tuesday
they may need to take a little home to work on. No big deal, the will have 6
days to work on what they bring home.
3rd Grade MA
Can a
Yeti come to school? : The students were read a scenario from our math
books. This scenario told the student they were going to have a Yeti join
their class. The building inspector from the story shared the federal
regulations that there must be 20 square feet of area for each student or
teacher.
The class was divided into 3 groups, each needing to find a different
20 square foot rectangle. We then discussed which 20 square foot area would
best represent how much space the Yeti would occupy in the class.
4th Grade LA
Mystery: This
week the students began writing their mysteries. Five of their elements were chosen from lists
they created with partners. Some of these elements are a little crazy! I can't wait to see how they incorporate them.
4th Grade MA
Vocabulary
Madness: We have finished our math book!!! We will be retaking the assessment
test the students took at the beginning of the year to compare progress. As a
review, I took ALL the vocabulary words we’ve learned over the year and spread
them on the floor. I then had students go around matching words to the definitions and
bring them to me. The student with the highest score was able to pick a prize
from the prize box!! Great Job Sam!!!!!
Knuffle
Bunny: This week we read Knuffle Bunny and applied our
‘Four-Level Questioning’ to it. ‘Four-Level Questioning’ introduces students to the idea that a question can have more than one correct answer. We
discussed Level 1 questions, questions that usually have 1 correct answer. An
example question would be, “Where did Trixie and her dad go?” Next, we discussed
Level 2 questions. These questions give us answers that could look a little different
due to more thinking required for the answer. Our Level 2 question was “Why doesn’t Trixie’s dad
understand what is wrong with her on the way home?”
Let’s Go
Ask:
Last week we were measuring with beaks and realized this may not be a very
accurate way to measure. On Monday, we went around asking different staff
members if they have ever heard of Imi or Zani (the birds in our math lessons). 
We then asked if they have ever measured using bird beaks, NOT ONE person said yes!
However, the students did find out everyone they interviewed measured with
inches. We decided this is because an inch will always be the same and everyone
already knows what an inch is. As for beaks, they can be all different sizes. 
Scavenger
Hunt:
This week everyone finished their scavenger hunt worksheet. Those who finished
early worked on a Think Beyond card. These cards are simply extra trivia from
our current lesson. This class loved them!!
