Thursday, September 27, 2012

Today was a great day! We began the day with math. We started out commenting on a post on KidBlog. Then we practiced telling time and figuring out elapsed time. We used a t-chart to figure out elapsed time. Elapsed time means how much time has gone by. In the middle of math we had to take a break to participate in "Jammin' for the Record." We all had to exercise at the same time to break a world record. We did all different exercises for a minute while listening to music on the speaker. Then we went back to finishing our math. This afternoon we had literacy. Mrs. Bahl's class joined us as we read a chapter of "Jake Drake, Bully Buster." Jake's problems with Link, the bully, just keep getting worse! In art we continued to work on the trees we are making. After art, we read an article about invertebrates from National Geographic. Invertebrates are animals without backbones. In fact the animals we read about have no bones at all! While we were reading we worked on monitoring our comprehension, leaving tracks of our thinking on our think sheets as we read. Then we did Daily 5. You may have noticed that we didn't have physical education today. Mr. K was not here this afternoon, so we are going to have P.E. first thing tomorrow morning.

Daily 5

Here are some of the members of our classroom doing Daily 5.

 

Emily is doing "Read to Self."

Konnor is doing "Read to Self."

Morgan and Jaylon are doing "Work on Writing."

Ty is doing "Listen to Reading."

Daniel is doing "Word Work."

Hunter and Jair are doing "Read to Partner."

Monday, September 24, 2012

This morning, the first thing we did was to write on our KidBlog what we like about math. We did math groups and BUILD math. We worked on fractions. In the middle of math we took our MAP test on Language Usage. We are done MAP testing for fall! Yeah!! After the test we finished math. This afternoon we had SEL. We took a test on our listening skills. Our partners told us what to do and we had to draw what they said. We got our new spelling sorts this afternoon. It was kind of chaotic because we still had lots of kids who left the room to finish their MAP test. Then we did some Daily 5.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

We had yet another busy day today for our twelfth day of school! This morning in math we wrote about math on our iPads. We posted comments on our classroom KidBlog (the link is on the right side of our blog). We also played some math games. Then we used fraction strips to identify equivalent fractions. This afternoon we were focused on literacy. We did Read to Self, talked about many different ways we can practice our spelling words, and did Word Work. At the end of the day we started brainstorming for our first quarter writing assessment. Tomorrow we will be writing our rough drafts. If we have the opportunity tonight, we want to log onto Achieve3000 and earn some points for our class. Mr. Bagurdes' class is trying to stay in the lead and we want to overcome them!

Tuesday, September 18. 2012

Today was another busy day! This morning we worked on fractions again in math. We did BUILD math. At the end of math, we used DoodleBuddy on our iPads to draw a picture of what we learned. Then we took a picture and used a post-it to write about what we learned in the app, ABCNotes. After lunch and recess we had music. After music we went on Achieve3000 on our iPads. Achieve3000 is a great website that we can login to and do activities that will help us become better readers. Our goal is to do 40 activities per quarter. To get to Achieve3000, you can login at http://login.achieve3000.com (each student is bringing home his/her individual log-in tonight). We finished our Achieve3000 activities after physical education.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Today was another busy day! We are learning about fractions in math this week. We began practicing more of "Build Math". Build Math is like Daily 5, but for math. We have done Buddy Games, Learning about Math, and Using Manipulatives. This afternoon we had SEL and we played "Try Bingo". Then we did some Daily 5 - we worked on "Read to Someone". We also had some time to do "Read to Self" and "Work on Writing." After that a few of us switched into Mrs. Bahl's classroom. We all got our spelling words! We will have our first test on Friday.

Homework:

• Remember to be completing your homework calendar in the back of your red folder! We should be doing reading, math, and now spelling every night!

Friday, September 14, 2012

This morning we had our class meeting. Afterwards we played two different games on our iPads and we took a pretest on the computers in the classroom. We had SEL this morning. During SEL we took some tests about taking tests. Today's recess was better than yesterdays because we didn't get rained on! This afternoon we had music. We watched a movie about the war of 1812 and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Mrs. Benedict. It is also Mrs. Bina's birthday this weekend. After music we did three rotations of Daily 5 - Read to Self, Work on Writing, and Listen to Reading. We did each rotation for 20 minutes. We are building our staminas. The last thing we did today was to work on publishing our "Best Parts of Me" books.

Reminder:

• If you did not return the bright yellow information sheet sent home yesterday, please return it on Monday.
• On Monday, we are going to start spelling groups. Expect to see spelling words come home on Monday in red folders.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Yikes! School is going so fast and we have been doing so many things. It has been hard to fit in writing our class blog. So far this week, we have been working on writing numbers in different forms - using base ten blocks, expanded form, and word form. In reading, we have been talking about choosing a good fit book, using several reading strategies (Check for Understanding, Cross Checking, Backup and Reread, and Tune in to Interesting Words). We have begun Read to Self (one element of the Daily 5) and have been working on building our stamina. We (as a class) have been able to read for about 15 minutes. Our goal is to be able to read at least 30 minutes at a time. We have been reading to Mrs. Benedict and other reading teachers to help determine our reading levels. On the computers we have taken two inventories to help determine what type of learners we are. We have used our iPads to go on Tumblebooks and to explore other apps that Mrs. Benedict downloaded for us. This morning, in remembrance of 9/11 and anticipation of the upcoming election, we each made a square for a quilt about the United States. We also wrote thank you letters to some of the heroes that we have in the United States. This afternoon we read a book about maps. We created our own heart maps in our writing notebooks. A heart map shows things that are important to each of us. We can use our heart maps when we are looking for a topic to write about during "Work on Writing", another element of Daily 5.

MAP Testing:
We are starting MAP testing this week! Tomorrow (9/12) we will be taking our Math test, on Thursday (9/13) we will be taking our Reading test. Please encourage your child to do his/her best. We will be using this data to make decisions regarding instructional goals for each child.

Homework Update:
Students will NOT be bringing home worksheets. As part of our commitment to Next Generation Learning, students will be given more choices regarding homework. Rather than worksheets, homework is to read, practice math (facts or skills), and practice spelling. In the back of each student's homework folder is a bright yellow (for September, anyways) calendar. Students (or parents) should write down what is done for homework that night. There are several options at the bottom of the calendar. If you are choosing an online option, more options will be sent home as we come across them, and there are many resources on the Jefferson School (or other schools in the district) webpage and here on our class blog. I had hoped to do a practice spelling sort this week, but with all that we are trying to accomplish getting the school year setup, I think that next week will offer us more time to begin.

Tomorrow is TEAM spirit day! Team Brilliance is wearing our team color, RED!!! Please wear a red shirt or a shirt with red on it!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

We have had a fun and very busy beginning of the school year. Today is our first day writing our blog. On Tuesday it was our first day of school. It took us a long time to put away our school supplies. We did some activities with Mr. Bagurdes' class and Mrs. Bahl's class. Our three classes make up a pod, called "Team Brilliance." On Wednesday, we continued learning about the expectations and rules at school. We had an assembly with Team Brilliance in the gym.  Ms. Wall talked to us about "The Jefferson Way" and "The Three Rs", which are respect, responsibility, and ready to learn. In the afternoon we got to try out some apps on our iPads. Today we took some more pretests. We have taken several pretests so far. In math we made our own additional flash cards and we learned a game called "Addition Top-it". This afternoon we worked on building our stamina while doing "Read to Self."