Homework
Along with reading 20 minutes daily, please complete the
following:
Monday: Summarizing activity
Tuesday: Spelling Activity
Wednesday: Inferring Activity
Thursday: Inferring Activity
Friday: Have some tea and read a book
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Book Share Rubric
Below is the rubric we use to record the hard work students share each month. There is a blank one and one with expectations/examples for each criterion. Should you have any questions, please email me. Enjoy!
February Book Share - Historical Fiction!
Historical Fiction:
A Book Presentation
A
historical fiction story tells a narrative about characters in real-life events
from the past.
 |
| Example Mobile Project. |
Your
book presentation genre for February is historical fiction. You will make a mobile to help you share some
of the things you learned. Here’s what
you will need to do…
1. Choose a book and have Mr. Mike OK it. Read and enjoy!
2. Look back over the book and choose at least
five things that you learned or understand better. You will use these for your mobile.
3. Gather
materials:
·
A
solid support—a piece of wood, a hanger, a stick, ???
·
String
or yarn
·
Poster
board or light cardboard
4. Choose
a shape that represents your topic (for example if your topic is the
underground railroad, you might choose a train, or river-crossing). You can choose several different shapes if
you would like (for example, if your book was on migration, you might choose
suitcase, map, or railroad tracks).
5. Cut
out one shape from the poster board or cardboard for each fact and one for the
title and author.
6. Write one
of the facts on each of your shapes (and the book title and author on another). Be sure that it is written neatly and has no
mistakes. You can look back in your book
for things like spelling or the correct date.
7. Punch
a hole in the top of each shape and use the string or yarn to attach them to
the support. Having different yarn
lengths may make your mobile more interesting to look at.
8. On the
date of your presentation, you will share the book’s title and author (after your attention-getting introduction!). You will also give your presentation as usual
according to the rubric we always use. Then you will show your
shapes and tell why you picked each fact as being special. You will share your opinion of the book and
then have a strong closing that will let the audience know that you have
finished and that they can applaud loudly!
*Please note: Due to Winter Break, we are not sharing during the month of January. When students return from break, they will have time to choose a book, read it, and then prepare their project. Students will present their Historical Fiction book on their day in February.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Volume 17: 9 December 2016
 |
| One student sharing a question, or line of a possible line of inquiry, after exploring a migration story. |
This week students defined multiples and factors, both in their own words and using mathematical vocabulary. We also looked at where and when using the ideas of multiples and factors would be useful in the real-world. Then, we used cubes and the 100 chart to help us create equations that represent multiples and factors and the patterns between the two ideas. This week, we are working with a fun activity called "Fantastic Frogurt to Frog Forever" which shows how to use the 100 chart and cubes to do mental addition and subtraction with "landmark" numbers, like 10, 25, or 100. We recorded our mental math using equations.
We left you last week with one central idea from each student. This week, we had three students lead a discussion to help narrow the central ideas to one: Human's migrate because of risks, opportunities, and challenges. Pretty good, huh? Each student made an argument about why people migrate, and the result were the three reasons listed in our central idea. Our three discussion leaders asked questions and included the community to be sure everyone had a voice, felt empowered, and responsible for creating the central idea.
We read the migration story Brothers in Hope by Mary Luana Williams and focused our central idea by looking at our lines of inquiry, or the specific ideas/questions we have that we want to explore as they relate to migration. Our lines of inquiry are Why people migrate? How people migrate? What are the consequences of migration? The last of the three have forced us to look at the choices people made in difficult situations, such as in our story mentioned above. Students then read other migration stories and began evaluating the many reasons humans migrate.
As an extension of our unit of inquiry in migration, we have also been looking at what our lives might look like in the future. Prompted with the idea, "Imagine your life 20 years from now..." students looked at the quality of the life they really want, rather than a list of negative things they don't want, and/or material goods. Some students said they wanted a Ph.D, a good job, a family, travel opportunities, to live in Space and rule the world (I am not sure the latter will really happen.) During our closing discussion, we shared our responses with each other and noticed some patterns as we analyzed a collective list of what we wrote. You guessed it! Needs vs. Wants. We also linked our lives with the migration stories we have been exploring. It turns out, we don't really need that much - we just want a lot.
Enjoy the Holiday break! Stay safe!
Homework
Along with preparing your book share, please read 20 minutes each night. Then...
Monday: Map Skills - Scales Activity (Please bring the school rule back Tuesday. Keep the ruler in your Homework folder.)
Tuesday: Spelling activity
Wednesday: What's your Blood Type? and How does Blood Travel Activity - on a separate piece of paper, write five new words and what they mean. You can define them in your own words, or use a dictionary. Also write the main idea, or gist, for each article.
Thursday: Compound Word Hunt: In your spelling notebook, walk around your house, backyard, neighborhood (with an adult please) and write things that you see. Using those words and other words you know, create compound words! For example, as your walking into your house you see... a "door". Record "door" and then think what words have "door" in them? Oh, "door+way=doorway". Record the compound word, "doorway" in you spelling notebook. We will compare and see who can find the most compound words Friday before our quiz. Have fun!
Friday: Read while jumping on a trampoline and turning the pages with one finger at a time. Be sure to not eat, or drink, while doing this as your epiglottis might forget to do its job.
What?
Factors of 100!
Sharing our ideas about how to find all the factors of 100.
Patterns with multiples and factors!
A student-led discussion about narrowing our central idea to one! Building Consensus is key:)
Exploring migration stories
Map work and geography plays a large role in understanding how much people move around the planet.
Lost in a book, or migration journey.
"Look at these statistics!" Data and migration stories overlapping!
Hopping around the Holidays with St. Lucia.
Asian New Year.
Russian Christmas and New Year
Sing us a song..!
Showing off our work from Russian class.
Polish Christmas a la Ms. Magda and Ms. Pam.
Wishing each other well, until we have no more bread left.
Hugs!
Getting ready for read aloud in style.
What is a best friend for? To lean on, literally and figuratively... during Library.
Can you guess how the Cookie-Swap went?
Guest Speaker: Ms. Blackmore, as she shares her migration story with all of Grade 4. Thanks!
Needs vs. Wants: Imagine your life in 20 years...
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Volume 16: 3 December 2016
Our Movember tribute (Mannequin Challenge)
 |
| Data Mind Map. |
Inquiry is boundless and infinite and so are we. Our community was faced with the question: "What do we wonder about where we are in Time and Place?" Such a provocation has lead us to wonder about the universe, the meaning of life, why animals and humans are not joined together, why do we fight, why do countries have borders, why are their different cultures, and so much more. We examined all these questions and then found common themes. Our themes were: history, humans, connected, person, choice/desire, change, movement/travel, action, and consequences.
Such a discussion needed to be narrowed, so we broke into different groups and read several articles about a variety of topics, including how astronauts prepare for space, how expat children move from country to country, migrants, and others. We did not just read, but we close read, these articles. The steps to close reading help a reader not just improve his/her fluency, but also improve his/her understanding of the text.
What is Close Reading?
1. Read to get "the flow."2. Re-read and record important and unknown words. Discuss their meaning.
3. Re-read to write the gist, or what the article is mostly about.
4. Re-read to add supporting details for your gist.
After we did this, we came together and compared our gist statements and analyzed how the connected with our themes from our initial questions from the day before. This rich discussion left us debating and moving our thematic words around quite a bit. In the end, we realized that we moved several words more frequently than others. We decided to focus on the ones we moved then: humans, person, change, and movement/travel.
From these words, did not know where to go yet! We decided we needed to experience these words, so we did. The teachers became actors and the students completed four activities: 1. Walking vigorously and aimlessly around campus. 2. Completing a Polish visa application with Ms. Magda only speaking Polish. 3. Playing an advanced Russian game with Ms. Irina only speaking Russian. 4. Ms. Tina giving different scenarios requiring students to engage each other from different cultural/made-up backgrounds. The reaction? Students were tired, confused, angry, frustrated, apprehensive, and felt every range of emotion! We debriefed and used our raw emotions, along with our focused thematic words - humans, person, change, and movement/travel - and wrote our own central ideas:
Humans move place to place responding to risks and challenges.
We move for purposes.
Humans move to respond to challenges.
History's desire of movement changes for humans.
People move place to place to respond to challenges and try new things.
People move to new places to take risks.
Humans decisions in their movement can create challenges and risks.
Humans move place to place to go to better, or rich, countries.
Humans take risks, travel, and meet new challenges.
Humans move to take risks and have a future.
Some people move to countries to be safe, for example Syrians.
Humans move to a new language, be smarter, help people, solve problems, and work.
Humans move to help and give others challenges and risks.
Humans travel to learn other languages.
Humans respond to risks by moving to other places.
The changes that people go through.
Humans go to different places to learn different cultures.
Humans take risks, travel, meet new personal, and diversity (international) community challenges.
Humans travel to do research.
Although they are thought-provoking and resonate within each child's experience, some are too narrow and some are too broad. What to do? We asked three students to analyze them and focus on what we as a community want to explore further. They wanted to focus on disease, medical care, and job/leisure travel. They will lead a class discussion to weed out the central ideas and then create one with the community. What is most powerful is they are leading the discussion. We can not wait to see what we decide, as it will guide our specific questions of inquiry and central idea for the next five weeks. Stellar and amazing work in owning our learning and guiding our exploration into a changing theme of "Where we are in Time and Place." Enjoy the week!
Homework
Besides working on your book presentation and reading 20 minutes each night, please complete the following:
Monday: Gather your family history activity
Tuesday: Map Skills: Map Directions activity & Choose 1 Math Activity
Wednesday: For the next two weeks, we are trying something
new. IXL will be done at school, so here is an activity: Map Skills: Scales
activity (Please bring the school ruler back; keep the ruler in your folder.)
Thursday: No School Uzbekistan Constitution Day
Friday: In a push up position, turn 90 degrees so that your shoulders and ankles are above each other, place your right hand in the air, while your left hand turns the pages of a book. (Send pictures as photographic evidence.) We might even play tennis next week, while reading the newspaper?
How you doin'?
Creating our gist and discussing how they connect with our main themes.
Experiencing where we are in Time and Place.
... We have to get there!
Sheer exhaustion and strength, at the same time.
It's so crowded.
Consequences of not making up the stairs. The actor playing Mr. Mike was tough.
Risking your life for someone else.
In it together.
Triumphant!
Alone, and yet, not.
Two students planning to seek snowball revenge on Mr. Mike. Gotcha!
Writing about our experiences from the morning.
Practice makes perfect at the winter concert rehearsal.
Book Share!
Mind mapping in style.
You are moustashe-tic!
What? You don't have two heads as well?
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