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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Slavery Unit Book Talks

In our morning reading class, we have been reading picture books about slavery and the Underground Railroad. Students worked in pairs and read these stories, making connections, asking questions as they read, and writing down any words they were unfamiliar with. Then they completed their own books talks, summarizing the book and leaving you with a question to think about. This was a first for some students to be in front of the camera and they were a little nervous!  Enjoy and I hope you read their book suggestions!
 
 
         










 
That's all folks!

           

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Minute to Win It- Valentine's Day Fun




          After we passed out Valentine's and ate our snack, we played a game during the last ten minutes of class.  We used oreos and students had to get the oreo in their mouth without touching it and it started out on their forehead!  It was so funny to watch them.  Here is our winner- Colton!

Ordering and Comparing Fractions



               This week in math we have been ordering and comparing fractions, which is a very difficult concept!  We have used fractions strips as models, drawn illustrations, used number lines with benchmark fractions, and today we learned how to use cross multiplication to compare.  The task we completed today was to order fractions with unlike denominators from least to greatest.  When putting them in order, we looked to see which fractions would equal a whole or a half to use as a guide.  Then we could easily sort whether they were greater than a half or less than a half.  This was definitely a "productive struggle" task for our students, but I feel it was a great task for student-led learning!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Duck Dynasty Hands-On Day!


Duck Dynasty Day!













         

           Duck Dynasty hands-on day was so much fun!  During reading, we took an article that was cut into pieces about Duck Dynasty and the students had to put it back together in the correct order, paying attention to the introduction, transitions in the body paragraphs, and the conclusion.  There were some sentences that had been added to the article also and students had to figure out where they would fit best and explain why.  During math, we completed a gallery walk and during each stop, students had to figure the cost of different orders from the online store from the Duck Commander website.  These problems included multiple steps and multiple operations. 

          We had a couple more tasks to complete today and ran out of time.  The first item was a "Beat the Thesaurus" game where students try to think of more synonyms for words than the thesaurus lists.  We have some of Si's favorite words to use for this task.  The last planned task we had was to review first and third perspectives, which was in our last reading unit.  Students were to watch a two minute video clip from the show and then retell it from one of the six perspectives- Jace, Willie, Godwin, Martin, Si, or Jep.  They were going to complete this in groups and to group the students, they each had a picture on their desk of these six people from the show and they would work would the same people who had that same picture.  We will complete these two tasks next week.

It was such a great day and just another reason why... I LOVE MY JOB!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Phases of the Moon Lesson

We love music in Studio 214 and here is a rap song we used to learn the phases in order...


Here's another song we really like!

 

 Example of what we made using oreos!




Here is an illustration Mrs. Braber shared with us!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Comic Strip Fractions





Keep going and don't give up!

         We are learning about unit fractions in math this week and today we completed a task called "Comic Strip Fractions".  Students had to create several fraction strips by folding strips of paper.  All their pieces had to equal the whole and had to be equal parts.  They then had to label the fraction strips.  The task starts off easy and then gets harder as they create the smaller fractions.  They created the following fractions: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, 1/12, 1/16.  I love this task because they really have to think about how to fold it to create it and it is such a great visual for them to see all of the parts equal a whole.  We also made envelope holders to hold their strips so we can use them in class in later lessons.

Weather Instruments Project



               Students were given an option of creating different types of weather instruments to culminate our weather unit in science.  They received a rubric to score themselves and reflect as they were creating their instruments.  Check out their awesome weather instruments!

Reading Lab- Family Learning Night!



          Tonight is our annual Family Learning Night!  Students and parents are invited to attend to get free pizza, play games, visit our science lab with sharks, and visit the book fair!  Students got to dress up today in their favorite science gear because our theme is "Reading Lab" and earn a chance for their homeroom to win an iPad! 

Monday, February 4, 2013

Pizza Party!


         
          During our snack time Friday, we had a pizza party for collecting the most canned goods during our Christmas Service Project- Food Drive.  Way to go, Studio 214!  You make me proud!