We got a TON of stuff done today.
We started off talking more about base ten, and different ways of describing numbers. We can say 3 tens and 4 ones, 34, or (3 x 10) + (4 x 1).
It became very obvious that many students are not very familiar with mathematical vocabulary. Some are still struggling with describing basic numbers and operations. They can DO simple operations, but can’t explain what they are actually doing or why. We will continue to hit these concepts until I feel students are concrete on this. Math constantly builds upon itself, and a shaky foundation will spell trouble as we explore more advanced concepts.
We talked a LOT about character traits. On last night’s homework, many students got confused with feelings and character traits. We wouldn’t really say that ‘happy’ is a character trait. Even the meanest of mean characters are happy occasionally. What we might say instead of that is a character is ‘cheerful’ or ‘bright’.
Next I started reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart to the students. I really enjoy this book, and the students seemed to enjoy the beginning as well. We will read a little bit of it each day, and use what we read to practice writing summaries.
Students started another character trait chart to examine a character from the book, Reynie.
After that, we started a little newspaper worksheet about ourselves. Tonight they should finish this at home. If they would like, they are welcome to put a real picture on it.
Students also began a short piece about a ‘moment’ in their lives. The point of the writing is to really EXPAND that moment. Don’t just tell us “One time I fell down”. Instead tell us everything about that moment: what did it look like? What did it feel like? What were you thinking?
Finally I spent a good amount of time doing MCLASS assessments while students worked independently. It will take a few hours to get these done, so we will have a good bit of time to work independently each day for the next few days while we knock them out. These assessments will give me a good idea of where students are with their reading fluency and comprehension.
Before we left for the day we talked briefly about our seeds, and watched a time-lapse of some seeds germinating. Can you believe that some of our seeds have already started to sprout? I couldn’t believe it when I came in this morning.
so, tl;dr
As far as homework goes, there’s not much as students had a good amount of time to work independently today-
All about me Newspaper: Read All About Me
Read for 35 minutes, and get your reading log signed!
Have a good one,
Mr. Potter