As I was putting my head down to go to sleep last night, I realized that I forgot to update my blog! Yikes! Sorry about that!
I got a chance to look at each child's blog entry from this week. I am very happy to say that I think we're getting it! Most students have taken the feedback I gave them from last week and used it to better this week's entry. Hooray! I think having to write for an audience is a big motivator for kids, especially when the audience is their own peer group. This week in reading, students not only wrote a blog entry about their books, they also read 2 to 5 of their classmates' entries and commented on those. The purpose for this in my mind is two-fold. First, as I mentioned, is writing for an audience. Secondly, I'm hoping that students will get ideas of books to read based on what their classmates are reading and saying about books. It seems to be working. I'm excited to see how many books the students in 6F and 6S are reading and enjoying! This is one of the best parts of my job!
I collected reading logs on Wednesday of this week and will do the same next week. The following week, they will be due on Tuesday due to the Thanksgiving break. Over that break, I will not require students to complete a log. They can still do this and turn it in for extra credit. They must, however, complete the 2 hour requirement as well as the vocabulary.
We are making our way through the different genres. Yesterday, we read a fantasy story and will take notes on the elements of fantasy on Monday. When we make through all of the genres, I will assess students on their ability to distinguish books based on their genre which is one of the report card standards. It is my hope that we get to this by Friday of next week.
During the course of the week, it is my goal to meet with each students for a reading conference. When we have 5 day weeks, this is do-able. Unfortunately, those types of weeks seem few and far between as of late! I'm excited to say that next week is a full week so I should be able to get to everyone during Reading Workshop time. I also have Mrs. Bewersdorf, Mrs. Serzans, Mrs. DiPastina, and Stu (my high school intern) who come in to help with these conferences.
In writing, we continue to work on the Compare/Contrast essays. On Monday, I will introduce how to write the introduction paragraph. We're getting there! It is my hope to be done by the Thanksgiving break.
Yesterday, my class spent the afternoon with the Artist in Residence. We had lots of fun trying our hands at Chinese Calligraphy.
Have a great weekend!
