We Are Authors! January 22, 2010
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News.Tags: oral reading, peer feedback, personal narratives, publishing, Writing
add a comment
The children recently finished publishing their favorite personal narrative story. They chose from a variety of publishing options and were eager to share their stories with an audience.
As we know that authors write to share their ideas with others, we decided to share our stories with other students in Kindergarten, Grade One and Grade Two.
Students practiced reading their stories orally in order to get ready for their readings. They received feedback from classmates on a Read Aloud Checklist in order to help them improve their presentation.
Their stories were well-received by the students! Keep reading to see how we felt about the experience.
Brandon -Before I read I was very scared and nervous but when I was reading, it was easy.
Ellis - I liked it when we were practicing reading because we got to read to the whole class.
Ethan - When I got up to the little kids I felt like I was getting a shot at the doctor’s office because I was nervous.
Hae-Lim - I felt excited to share my story because I liked the problem in my story getting bigger and bigger.
Jesstina I liked it because I read loudly and clearly and the class sat nicely and listened.
Josh - It was very fun and a little bit scary reading to the first graders because I thought they might not like my story but they told me they liked it.
Jungyoon - It was hard to read slowly because I was nervous, but I think I kind of did it!
Lily - It was fun to read the book to my sister and brother and their class because I liked the story. I think they liked it too.
Nikki - I thought it was fun because the kindergarten was listening to my story.
Oh-Min - I was shy because all of the students looked at me.
Ta - I think it was fun when we shared the stories because we are the characters in the stories.
Tamar - I thought that it was exciting to have an audience because if we want to be teachers when we get big it’ll be easy to read stories to our children.
Thanakorn - It was hard to say the words slow because I talk fast at home, but I did it.
Tobias - First I felt scared because I thought my story was bad but then I felt normal. It was nice telling it.
Tres - It was funny that Ty (my brother) was smiling because when he laughs I laugh with him too.
Ya’el - It was so much fun! I felt like a teacher when I read because I saw the students looking at me!
Welcome Back! January 12, 2010
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News.add a comment
It’s 2010, the children are back and the learning has begun! Here’s a little update on what we will be working on for the next few weeks.
Reading
We will soon begin our new unit of study looking at the characters in our books. Building on work from our previous units on series and mystery books, we will work on getting to know our characters by learning about them inside and out, observing what they want or challenges that they face and how they change and grow as result of their efforts to get what they want or deal with a challenge. We will also continue to work on talking about our reading with partners, using the text as evidence while we explain our thinking and ideas and building and extending our partners’ ideas by asking questions and adding our thinking to theirs.
Writing
Before break we were working on publishing our personal narrative stories using the writing process. (See earlier post for details) The children were able to choose from a variety of publishing options and we are almost done. We will be sharing with students from younger classes and with parents soon. Stay tuned for details! In our next unit of study, students are going to be working on fiction writing. We are beginning with looking at comic strips and graphic novels. (These provide excellent inference practice and students are working to become more aware of when they are using this skill.) Students will create their own strips and then eventually use these to create fiction stories of their own.
Math
Next week we will be wrapping up our unit on addition and subtraction and begin a unit on geometry. Stay tuned for a parent letter regarding content and strategies covered in the unit.
Science
Our next unit which will be starting shortly is called Structures of Life. We begin with plants and then move onto crayfish and snails. Students learn about what these life forms need to grow and survive.
Hope that gives you a little insight into what is coming up in your child’s learning!
Earth Materials November 23, 2009
Posted by Ms Tulli in Science.Tags: earth science, investigation, notebooks, observations, Science
add a comment
We have just completed our first investigation in our Science unit about Earth Materials. The investigation involved breaking apart a “mock rock” in order to understand that rocks are made up a variety of minerals.
Students have been recording their observations in their Science Notebooks - just like real scientists!
Students have been using magnifying glasses to aid them in making careful and accurate observations.
We broke apart our mock rocks to find the minerals inside!
Here are some students talking about their learning thus far. Stay tuned for further learning after our next investigations!
Math November 16, 2009
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News, math.Tags: data analysis, graph, math, measurement
add a comment
On Friday we wrapped up our unit on data collection. Some of the major learning goals for students included
- describing the shape of ordered, numerical data
- developing arguments based on data
- describing what values are typical or atypical in a data set
During one of the last activities, students had to measure how far they could jump. Students worked together with a partner to measure the distance of their freestanding jumps. We then collected and organized the data and compiled it into a quick plot line. Students then worked on answering the following question.
Based on the data from our class, what could we tell someone is a typical distance for a Grade 3 student to jump?
Please continue reading to see some of the highlights of our discussion which I think demonstrate learning various students did around the idea of analyzing data and looking at data as a whole rather than just picking out individual data points on a graph.
Watching Treasure Maps in Internet Explorer November 13, 2009
Posted by Jeff Utecht in Class News.Tags: Internet Explorer, Videos
add a comment
Because Explore is trying to protect you from bad content on sites you will need to tell it that the videos on this site are OK to play. You will only have to do this once.
If you are using Internet Explorer on a PC you should notice a yellow strip appear at the top of this web page that looks something like this:
You will need to click on the yellow bar and choose “Run ActiveX Control“
Once you do this the videos on this blog will appear and you will be able to watch them.
If this yellow box doesn’t appear you should be able to just watch the videos as ActiveX is already active.
If you are still having problems watching the videos please leave a comment on this blog post with as much information as possible and we’ll do our best to help you.
Typing Link November 13, 2009
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News.add a comment
It can be frustrating for students when they are working on the computer and it is taking them a long time to complete a task because they have to search for letter keys on the keyboard. A little daily practice will make typing much less laborious! At the side of the blog, under Language Arts, there is a link for a typing practice website. Encourage your child to practice regularly and watch his or her typing skills improve!
If you bookmark our blog website on your computer, your child should know how to get to the link by navigating on the blog.
Can You Find the Treasure? November 6, 2009
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News.Tags: conferences, Geography, Mapping, oral reading, peer editing, Process, self-editing, Social Studies, Strategies, technology, Writing, writing process
comments closed
Our projects are complete and demonstrate a great deal of learning across various subjects. Students worked to practice and apply the following concepts and skills in their work.
Writing
- using procedural writing to communicate directions
- using sequential words to organize their writing
- including details and description
- using the writing process to self-edit, peer edit and conference with teachers before publishing
Reading
- reading aloud clearly with expression and appropriate pacing
Geography
- map components - key, compass rose, title
- using cardinal directions to navigate
Technology
- saving and retrieving files from a thumb drive
- using Notebook software
- keyboarding
- giving thoughtful feedback to other students’ via the blog
Enjoy! Hope you find the treasures!
Ta’s Treasure Map November 6, 2009
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News.4 comments
Brandon’s Treasure Map November 5, 2009
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News.6 comments
Ellis’ Treasure Map November 5, 2009
Posted by Ms Tulli in Class News.3 comments