Such exciting stuff going on in 6F and 6S/B! In writing, we started brainstorming topics for our first piece of published writing: the personal narrative. This is my FAVORITE writing project! I read a chapter from Ralph Fletcher's book A Writer's Notebook about writing small. Next, I did a lesson that compared finding a small topic to eating pizza. One would never eat an entire pizza (especially if it's a Sal's pizza!) just like you would not try to write about a huge topic. I showed them my huge topic, My Summer Vacation, and how to pare it down to a smaller topic such as A Whale Watch. I read them my actual story about a whale watch and then asked them to do the same thing with an experience that happened to them. Many found topics right away while others needed a bit of help. By the end of class, each student had an idea of what to write about for the personal narrative.
In reading today, we read aloud. I also handed out books for the Celebrate Our Differences Unit. Students met in small groups to decide deadlines for each day from now until October 20, which is the end of the unit and deadline for finishing the books. Students need to be keeping track (with sticky notes) of any predictions and questions they have as they read the book. They may count any time reading this book at home for their 2 hours. Reading logs and vocab are due tomorrow.
During science, we organized our portfolios and reading logs. Then I showed a few clips introducing the scientific method. We discussed what it was and then did some work with hypothesizing. I gave them 3 scenarios involving water, corn syrup, a marble and oil and asked them to make a hypothesis about what will happen. Then, we discussed how scientists use their prior knowledge (oh my, a reading term!) to make educated guesses. 6S has Learner Essays due tomorrow.
In spelling today, 6F made their first Words to Learn lists. The words came from a pretest I gave last week. Each child has a different list based on their performance on the pretest. They should be studying these words nightly to learn how to spell them. I also discussed Priority Words with them. These are the "no excuse" words that ALL pieces of writing should be checked for before being passed in. I will take one assignment per week and do a Priority Word check on it. This assignment will not be announced and it can be from any subject. The point is for all students to be checking all assignments for their Priority Words.
Picture Day is Wednesday!
