Finding Fiction, Paws, Personal Narratives, Multiplication and More

Our days sure have been filled with learning!

In Reading, we launched Reader's Workshop and searched our classroom library for "just right" books. We are working to build our fluency so that when we read, it sounds as though we are talking. We use post-its to track thinkmarks when we discover an unfamiliar word, have a question about the text, learn new information, recognize a character trait... The list goes on!

During Reader's Workshop we also practice our oral reading with weekly poems, read current event articles on our iPad minis, and enjoy word work practicing our spelling words. 

 

While our first unit focused on fiction, characters, setting, and plot, this week we launched our second unit with a focus on informational texts. 

 

Ask us about this week's read aloud--a literary nonfiction text. 

Students who continue to be role models and show expected behavior that is safe, respectful, and responsible have earned themselves valuable Paws which can be turned in for $100 BBQ bucks! Teachers and staff are always on the lookout for that Paws-itive behavior--both in and out of the classroom. 

In Writer's Workshop students chose a "seed" idea from a larger "watermelon" idea for their first personal narrative. These student accounts range from family vacations to the birth of siblings to adventures in a haunted house! Students focused on choosing an entertaining beginning to hook their reader. Following their detailed main event using dialogue, sound words, and varied sentence starters, writers closed with an extended ending reflecting on the story's main event.

This week, students met with their writing partners to peer edit their pieces before teacher conferences.

In math, we dove right into multiplication and division. We connected multiplication to repeated addition of equal groups. For example 4 x 6 = 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24. We have learned our 2s, 5s, 9s, and 10s table. Below, Andrew is using his nines finger tricks. We worked with building arrays, and this week we explored the Distributive Property which taught us to break apart large arrays into two smaller arrays. 

 

 

Practice with problem solving has continued using Exemplar word problems. It is important that we show all of our thinking and use math terms in our explanation.

Halfway Day, Wordly Wise, MLK, News-O-Matic App, Close Reading, Division, and Homework Club

What a snowy few weeks we have had! We welcomed Halfway Day with a few puzzlers--half of a cup, half a dozen, and half a yard. In writing, we wrote the beginnings of stories and swapped with a writing partner who wrote the other half of the story. Some stories were awfully silly! Here, Aly and Billy finish each other's stories.

Breaking from spelling for a week, we returned to Wordly Wise. We used top-down webs to record the unique parts of speech and meanings of multiple meaning words and homophones such as foul. These words often appear in our reading and knowing their parts of speech and meaning can help us better understand the text.

 

In our study of Martin Luther King Jr. we read aloud My Brother Martin and Martin's Big Words. We completed KWL charts recording facts we know, wanted to know, and learned about him. Next, we used text evidence to assign character traits to Martin and members of his family. Context clues and our background knowledge helped us complete chapters of an informational book about Martin's life. Our final task involved assigning an appropriate title to each chapter based on the text's main idea.

Studying informational texts often brings new and unfamiliar words. Using context clues help us figure out the meaning of those words. Often, the author shares a direct definition, an example, synonyms, antonyms, or use word parts. 

After reading an article about whales and fish, their similarities and differences, readers shared their knowledge and wonderings in their Reader Response Journals (RRJs). They used evidence based terms such as "The author stated..." "On page ______.." "From the reading I know that.." and "According to the text..."

During Reader's Workshop, students "snacked on multiple meaning words." Listening to context clues, students had to determine the meaning of the homophone. If they answered correctly, they earned a "snack" card. Well done readers!

Later, readers sorted words with suffixes and matching sentences into the correct Suffix House. They then used these words in their own sentences. Word parts sure can help us decode and define!

A Scholastic News article about the typhoon in the Philippines led us on a text features walk. We revised our predictions about the article's main idea after reading the text. We skimmed the article entitled Sniffing for Slime to predict the genre and author's purpose. We learned that dogs are being used to catch invasive snails that have recently come to Florida and are destroying many important crops there.

 

This week we began work on a strategy that empowers readers to dig deeper into text. Called "Close Reading," students "read with a pencil" annotating passages with symbols and thoughts in the margin. Revisiting the text for multiple reads encourages students to read the text for multiple purposes. We initially read a text for the main idea marking up the text using symbols to show our thinking and questions. Next, we read the text for important vocabulary, author's purpose, and the text structure. Finally, we revisit the text to answer text-dependent questions searching for evidence.

 

Topic 8 has extended our work with division. We've learned 4 rules for dividing with 0 and 1, and have been using fact families to solve multiplication and division equations.

Kelly and Bryan work together as math partners as they use solve division problems where 0 is the dividend and 1 is the divisor or quotient.

Billy and Sean are loving our new lap desks!

Homework Club meets every Tuesday after school, and we've had a crowd each week! You'll hear an awful lot of math talk around this room!

Wrapping up our science unit on Matter, students used a number of resources to create Molecule Meal Menus being sure to serve up solids, liquids, gases, mixtures, solutions, and a chemical change. These chefs sure brought their knowledge to the table!

A new app that has become quite popular in Room 16 is News-O-Matic. Here, students can read informational articles relating to current events. This interactive app allows students to dig deeper into the world's major headlines.

Writers are drafting, editing, and revising their opinion pieces. Here, Mike U. chooses a transition word or phrase to kick off his third paragraph explaining why playing video games is his favorite hobby.

Our January class store had many fun prizes ranging from Valentine crafts, shamrock glasses, school supplies, and surprise QR codes. Bryan chose a QR code, scanned it on one of our class minis and scored a seat swap for the day. Other prizes included a day in the teacher's chair and pajama day!

When discussing the special verb to be--am, is, are, was, and were. We recorded our knowledge using a two-column note organizer.