Week of September 26, 2016

Our wall display of our All About Me portraits.

Highlights from Last Week:

Students turned in their first homework project this past week. Overall, I was very impressed with their work. Students wrote some interesting stories about themselves, some charming compliments to people they know, and some clever predictions about themselves and their friends. To top it off, they created some very appealing artwork to represent themselves. Check out their colorful portraits on the Student Work Page.

In Writing, students composed "I Am" poems and added graphics to enhance them. Students learned how to cite their images in a kid-friendly way, and how to add alliteration and rhythm to their poems for effect.

Our class read aloud of Louis Sachar's There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom is helping the class use their literary analysis skills. Students are thinking critically about character development, theme, and symbols. I've been using the story to model my thinking and show students how reading is all about the inner conversation you have with yourself.

What We Didn't Get To:

• In Math, we have more to do with Place Value and Divisibility.
• In Writing, we still need to discuss what we want to do for our Kimball Class Newsletter.
• In Reading, we still need to work on Monitoring our Comprehension.

This Week's Plan


Upcoming Special Events: 

• Early Release --Wednesday, September 28th.
• Rosh Hashanah --Monday, October 3rd.
• Early Release --Wednesday, October 5th.
• No School, Columbus Day --Monday, October 10th.

Special Activities:

• DARE Class --Students learn decision-making skills and how to resist unwanted pressure with Office Smith for 10 weeks of 40-minute lessons on Wednesday mornings.

Math:
Multiplication Basics, Factors, and Number Theory.

• Divisibility --We learn what it means to be divisible by a number and we learn some tricks to determining divisibility without actually dividing.
• Square Numbers --Students learn about these special numbers and what exponents do.
• Open Response Practice --Students learn how to effectively respond to a math open response problem, showing their work clearly and concisely.
• Unit 1 Review & Assessment --We begin a review of what we've learned in this unit in preparation for our first assessment. Check out the Study Guide here.

Reading:
Launching Reading Workshop.​

• Monitoring our Understanding --Students will learn how to recognize that their comprehension is fuzzy and will practice some strategies for fixing it.
• What is a "Just Right" Book --We'll learn how to recognize books that are just right for us and how to recognize when a book is too hard.
• Our First Reading Response Blog --I will explain my expectations for student responses on the Reading Response Blog. For homework, students will respond the Blog #1.
• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. An entertaining story about a boy who hates school, hates his peers, and hates himself, but turns his life around with the help of a committed school counselor and personal resolve.

Writing:
Launching Writing Workshop.

• "I Am" Poems --Students will finish their "I Am" poems, complete with rhythm, alliteration, graphics, and image citations.
• The Kimball Class Newsletter --I'll try to get our class newsletter started this week. Students will have an outlet to publish their writing for an authentic audience.
• Narrative On-Demand --To learn about students' skills with writing narratives, I will ask them to go through the writing process in order to write a complete personal narrative. Students will have 50 minutes. This is just a sample of writing to help inform my teaching in preparation for our Narrative Writing unit.
• Sharing "I Am" Poems --On Friday, we will have a class share of our poems complete with mood lighting and hip music.

Social Studies:
Inquiry Investigation of the US Government & Elections.

• Asking Questions --Students will learn how to ask deep questions about government and elections that require research and explanation.
• Taking Meaningful Notes --I will show students how to use note-taking as an exercise in thinking about the content. We'll create "What I Read/My Thinking" charts.
• Resource Exploration of NewsELA --Students will get log in information for a great web resource called NewsELA.com, where they can read about current events, particularly US Elections and Voting.
• Features of Informational Text --Students will read about US elections and learn how to navigate an informational text filled with a variety of resources.

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. 

1. Respond to the Reading Response Blog #1 by Friday.
2. Read 25 minutes at home per day and keep a log in your planner.
3. There will be a math page for homework each night.
4. Find an article about the US Elections and/or Voting on NewsELA.com (using the log in information I give you in class) and complete a "What I Read/My Thinking" chart. More details in class. Due by Friday.
5. Get your All About Me rubric signed by a parent.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback.