Excellent!

Today was an exceptionally excellent day! We began by splitting into 7 groups to collaborate with Darby Creek on the STEM challenge. Ask your kiddo if they were in a group that had one of the tallest and/or strongest beanstalks! Then, after gym, we had lunch and a chilly outdoor recess. We came in wrote our assignments down and then had some quiet time to calm ourselves. Unfortunately, when we went to go over our math homework, only 5/25 kiddos that were here, had theirs. I heard a LOT of, "I forgot it at home," but I'm not sure if they truly had completed it or not. They were supposed to create 10 fractions. (Ex. 3/4 of my family are girls...) Tonight, they should be working on ST Math as there are some great fraction puzzles. We began and ended Math Workshop with writing about our understanding of equivalent fractions and were able to see how much better we understood equivalence after an efficient workshop. We just had some worksheet practice looking at fractions in pictures, numbers and words. It was a great and efficient math time! Since we didn't have time this morning, we spent some time after math reading, writing and working on word study. We ended our day with Wonder/i-time.

Happy Monday!

Today was a pretty typical day. We began with M4T and then greeted each other with a compliment as to why they are happy to see them today on the way to meeting. In meeting, we shared our thoughts about our collaboration with Darby Creek tomorrow. Then, as our activity, we completed a category challenge with superheroes! In Word Study, we defined some holiday words which we'll be using to make pictures, puzzles and kahoot's with later in the week. We wrote our opinion letters in Writer's Workshop and in Reader's Workshop, continued our work with "Malala the powerful," read, blogged or kept writing. We had Music, lunch and indoor recess and then in Math Workshop, continued our work with equivalent fractions. We prepared for tomorrow's STEM activity by reading various versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. Our day ended with Wonder/i-time.

Friday fail...sorry!

Last week wasn't very stellar with my "daily" blogging--sorry! This is such a crazy and hectic time of year...

On Friday, we began our day with Hour of Code! We were more cool, calm and connected than we have ever been for one whole hour! AND we learned and had an amazing time! Thank you Mrs. Olson for coming in and helping us out! FYI-I saw this cool advertisement where you can buy a kit to build and then code your own computer! Here is the address if you want to check it out: http://us.kano.me/ . When I saw it, it made me think of some of your children! And it is only $99! After hour of code, we filled out our OREO graphic organizers about an opinion we have on something we want or about Christmas. You might see some persuasive letters coming home on Friday..hint, hint, wink, wink. We also read and visited the library, completed our padlet and blogged. We had Art, lunch and recess and then came in for some quiet time. In Math Workshop, we tried to place numbers both less than and greater than 1 on a number line. This wasn't very successful so we'll be taking a little extra time to secure our understanding of what fractions are as well as equivalent fractions. After Math Workshop, we spent a little more time with writing and reading and finishing Ohio Studies Weekly since we didn't have a lot of time this morning. Our day ended with Wonder/I-time.

Oops!

Sorry...forgot to blog yesterday! I'm actually writing this on my phone while driving to spirit night at Uno's...busy, busy! Here's how yesterday and today went:

We began by completing our M4T and then heading down to Music for special. (We switched with 3rd grade again.) When we came back, we had meeting planned by Abigail where we greeted each other with a fiat bump or hug, shared (I forget!) and then played "Would you rather?" We proved we understood regular plurals by finding 10 words in the class that fit the patterns. Then, we read, A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech which jump started our opinion writing. We used the OREO graphic organizer to write an opinion piece about keeping our school days he way they are-just in case Mr. H gets an idea like in the book. The Beaded Moccasins was pretty gross as they explained how they tan deer hides. In Reader's Workshop, we read a non-fiction piece paired with a poem about Malala, read, blogged, some visited the library and some met with me for guided reading. After Music, lunch and recess, we came in for quiet time. After we calmed ourselves, we had a fraction talk where we decided if a certain fraction was closer to 0, 1/2 or 1 AND explained how we knew. Then, we put 10 fractions in order on a number line and had a gallery walk to see the thoughts of others. To show our understanding of weathering, erosion and deposition, we took a quiz using kahoot! (Ask your kiddo.)

Today was a typical day with special at our normal time. We completed our M4T and then met for meeting planned by Juan. We greeted each other by speaking in Spanish (guided by Juan and Augustine!) We shared the name of a tv show we watched this week and unfortunately didn't have time to play category challenge. In Word Study, we practiced making words plural. Then, in Writer's Workshop, we finished our opinion writing and are OREO's while doing it! Yum! Mary learned that she will be heading to Sequin's trading post and they expect her to read...uh-oh... We worked with the Malala in StoryWorks, read, blogged and went to the library. We had a very sweaty gym, lunch and recess. After quiet time, we had an awesome fraction talk and then worked with cuisenaire rods to better understand fractions. We took the next 15 (but should've been 30 but they were too noisy!) to go out for extra recess from earning our final potato head piece last Friday. I even played Infected and swang...FUN! We ended our day with wonder/I-time!

Out of the ordinary = chaos

Today did not follow our typical schedule. 3rd grade is taking their big AIR tests (previously the OAA) and needed a lot of time this morning so we switched specials with them. We also had a technology lesson with Mrs. Bargar in the afternoon.

Our morning began with completing our Math 4 Today and then heading off to Art. After Art, we had our morning meeting planned by Kamryn. Today we greeted each other with an "H"~high five, handshake or hug. Then, we shared our favorite animals. Have you heard of the comebacktome?? :) We ended with another game of "Would You Rather?" I think they really enjoy that activity. Next, we sorted our words and found that they are all REGULAR plurals so we need to: add s, es or change the y to i and add es. In Writer's Workshop, we revised and edited our "autobiographies" for our iBook that we are making about our class. Then, we read The Beaded Moccasins. Today, we read about Mary and her needing strength. She tried to do something to get more but in reality, she's pretty strong already. In Reader's Workshop, we read informational text in order to complete a book review about it, blogged, visited the library and read from our new StoryWorks. After lunch and recess, we had some quiet time and then had a fraction number talk. Is 5/8 more than or less than 1/2? What about 16/31? Then, we had some time to play Cover and Uncover using our fraction kits we made yesterday. Mrs. Bargar came in for our technology lesson about creating our iBook page on Pixie complete with selfie and sound so we were unable to play our Boys v. Girls gave of Uncover. We'll have to play tomorrow. Finally, we ended our day with a quiet and calm, Wonder/iTime. :)

No voice/man voice

So, I have gone back and forth between sounding like a man and having no voice. Anyway, it's been a tough day trying to get their attention~and they were a little more chatty than usual too!

We began our day with M4T and then had our first STUDENT PLANNED morning meeting. McKenzie planned today's meeting~We greeted each other with a different language, shared what we want for Christmas (and if we don't celebrate, something we really want) and then played, "Would you rather?" In Writer's Workshop, we wrote about ourselves in preparation for our technology lesson with Mrs. Bargar tomorrow. We are creating a book of us to share with ADE and Darby Creek in iBooks! Next, it's October in The Beaded Moccasins and starting to get pretty cold in that cave. Mary is starting to bond with her new "family" but feels bad about it...she states that she's not happy but more content right now. Hmmm...must be very confusing for her! In Reader's Workshop, we read, blogged, visited the library and/or met with me. We also got our new StoryWorks! We had a great gym, lunch and outdoor recess and then came in for quiet time. To begin Math Workshop, we set up a Math Journal in our binders for writing about our math and began it with writing about what we are learning right now. Then, we created fraction kits by folding and cutting different colored strips to represent different amounts and then we played one game of "Cover." In Social Studies, we continued showing our understanding of early Native Americans by completing Ohio Studies Weekly crossword puzzles and activities. Finally, in Wonder/iTime, we added a couple of things to the "menu"...some brain games like Rush Hour, Master Mind and Perplexus and also added the option to Wonder and research THICK questions again.

TGIF!

Our day began with a division AND a multiplication problem. This is awesome news because they are getting more efficient with both! Then, in our meeting, we watched the ADE news. *Did you know that you can watch the news each week? And can submit news ideas? The news can be found in Mr. Higginbotham's weekly news that comes on Fridays through email. (Not getting the emails? Maybe you still need to subscribe to ADE's eNews!) You can submit story ideas through the News & Info tab on our school website, ade.hilliardschools.org. Then, in Writer's Workshop, we created a padlet and wrote without boundaries-which means that they could write anything and about anything that they wanted. We had a freezing fire drill and then Mrs. Kleman's kiddos came in and performed a Reader's Theater for us. (We showed so much attention to the 2nd graders and were so respectful, we earned our final potato head piece!) Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to read The Beaded Moccasins. In Reader's Workshop, we completed our fiction book reviews, read, blogged and/or met with me for guided reading. We had Music today, lunch and outside recess even though I totally protested...(partly because I had duty!) Math Workshop was working with fractions again but this time, instead of pizza, we shared 13 candy bars equally with 8 children. They struggled a bit with this but I think they did a good job getting the main idea of equal parts and sharing parts of a whole. After we finished making our thinking visible by putting our work on a poster, we used computers to show our understanding of Early Ohioans with an interactive web activity. We finished off our Friday, completing our padlet entries, blogging or working on our shared writing.

Productive

Today felt like a productive day. I'm not sure if it is because I'm finally feeling better (I haven't been feeling great this week.) or if we just were in a groove. No matter the reason, I'm happy we were productive! Oh and I forgot to mention that we have begun reading to the preschool! We have 4 classes of students from the ADE Preschool that we get to read with! Some classes even have both AM and PM! We will be reading to some each week and other's once a month. It's a win-win because our children practice fluency, patience and choosing kind and the preschool kiddos get some great role models! :)

I think students are finally feeling more successful with division! I could see more really working and trying to solve this morning's problem and getting more efficient with doing so. They are also doing a great job with completing their more standardized homework practice~again, thank you for your help with this! **Here's my disclaimer: I can see that a lot of the kiddos are solving the multiplication problem using the traditional method. Thank you for teaching them/helping them with this. I'm happy about that. Please be careful though because I can tell that some that have this work on their paper have no idea how or what they did... if you find this to be true, one way we've been solving multiplication is by taking a step backward from traditional by separating the two steps into four steps. So, instead of this:

they would do this:

AGAIN, thank you for helping them!! Some of them truly get traditional, however, some do not so here is how you can help them better understand your "shortcut." :) 

In our morning meeting, one student asked to play a specific game so I got to thinking, why should I be planning everything?? So, starting next week, our meetings will be planned by students! I can't wait... However, today, was mine. We shared our favorite or "go-to" snack. Then, we played, "Would you rather?" (I love and hate this game!) Then, in writer's workshop, we continued our opinion writing. I'm excited to read them! We finally got back to The Beaded Moccasins and Mary has arrived at the Cuyahoga River and I finally got to show them actual pictures of the cave where she'll be living. It is in Cuyahoga Falls (near Cleveland) and it's a historical site called, Mary Campbell's Cave. If you are ever up that way, you should check it out! Anyway, they thought it was pretty cool that I was in the exact spot that our book is about. In Reader's Workshop, we read, blogged, finished our book review of fiction and I met with some for guided reading. I love meeting in small groups because I get a chance to really focus on each child's specific needs and can really pinpoint where they are in their understanding. Today was Art. After lunch and recess, we had quiet time and then finished our fraction posters showing how we can share pizzas equally. They did an A-MAZING job with sharing pizzas, relating it to fractions and sharing HOW they figured the solutions out. Math Workshop was cut a little short since we had Guidance. Mrs. Vidic talked with us today about citizenship and how we can be good citizens. After Guidance, we worked on an Ohio Studies Weekly about the Woodland Indians and then had our Wonder/I-time. 

Tuesday and Wednesday...

I was out yesterday afternoon for an appointment for myself and one for my daughter but Mrs. Bowers-an amazing substitute-was here in my place.

Both yesterday and today, we began our day with solving a real-world division problem. They are working through the problems and feeling more comfortable doing so! I think the guided/review homework is helping also...the kiddos really seem to enjoy it and hopefully, it's not taking too long. After going over our homework and the division problem, we had our morning meeting. Yesterday, we talked and shared about overcoming bad things, like what we'd seen from Alfred Tibor. Today, we shared our goal and then played Popl-a game where we practice multiples of a number. In Writer's Workshop yesterday, we continued working on our shared writing. They are not a very sharing group when it comes to their writing ideas! We'll eventually get them done. Today, we began writing an opinion piece. Mrs. Firestone came in and read, The Raft, to us and as we read, we made inferences and supported them with evidence from the text. They were really good at making inferences but had more trouble with giving text evidence to why they made the inference. We are working on writing fiction book reviews in Reader's Workshop this week, reading independently and blogging. Their blogs aren't great...they need to be longer and consist of more information at this point. Keep checking in with your kiddo on their blogs! Unfortunately, yesterday, we didn't get special (Music) so we just worked a little longer on each subject in the morning. Today, some were pleasantly surprised that we had Gym (they thought it would be music). Indoor recess yesterday but outdoor recess today. In Math Workshop, yesterday, they worked with multi-digit multiplication and division problems for practice and then had some ST Math and game time. Today, in Math Workshop, we began fractions. We talked about what a fraction is and what they already knew. Then, they had to show how to: share 4 pizzas among 6 children, 7 pizzas among 6 children and 5 pizzas among 6 children. This was difficult for some to get started but once they got going, they did ok with it. We finished up weathering, erosion and deposition by identifying the differences in Earth's surfaces with each process.