The Daily Blurb

Happy Friday! It was popcorn day. We had outdoor recess until it start to rain hard, so we came inside for a few minutes. The Student Council announced the "winner" of the food drive for the past two weeks: Mrs. Christie's class collected 424 items of clothing for the needy! Wow, that is impressive! In the next few weeks, we are collecting food items again. Thank you for all of your donations!

My class is on a roll for answering the morning trivia questions correctly. Today's question had to do with the country which had the most red heads. I think we will keep the streak alive with a correct answer! Here's hoping....

In spelling this morning, we went over Word Ladders and finished making flashcards with homonyms on them. Then, students paired up and quizzed each other on the meanings of the homonyms by using them correctly in sentences. We got out the mini-whiteboards for this activity. Fun!

We read the last picture book for summarizing today. The Sweetest Fig by Chris VanAllsburg was an interesting read aloud. Students summarized using one complex sentence in their journals showing the beginning, middle and end of the book. I will be giving a quiz on summarizing on Thursday, April 15. Students will choose one short story to summarize in one complete, complex, grammatically sound, concise sentence. In order to practice more for the quiz, I told kids to read more picture books on their own and practice writing a one sentence summary. They can compare their summaries to those on the reverse of the title page in the books.

Homework: Log 25 is due 4/13; Bring book to class; book talk before May 1st.

In 6F science, we did the same thing as 6S did yesterday. Please see that blog for a full report.

Homework: Current Event due May 3 and South America quiz April 21.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Today in 6F

We've had another productive day in 6F! The schedule was a bit different today so we had a "zigger zagger day". We started the day with reading instead of writing due to the schedule in the computer lab. We read Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg, a picture book about being good to the environment. Students summarized this in their journals in one sentence. This skill seems to be getting easier for most students. Students read for the remainder of the time while I did reading conferences with individuals.

Homework: Log 25 due Tuesday; Book Talk due by May 1st; Always bring book to class

In writing, we typed final drafts and worked on process papers for the free choice piece of writing. Students also uploaded their stories to the classroom blog on the server and commented on others' writing.

Finally, 6F took their cell quiz for science. In 6S science, we read a book called Why I Look Like Me and You Look Like You to begin our study of genetics. Also, students began a scavenger hunt with their books on the topics that we will talk about in genetics. I love this unit!

Social Studies current event is due May 3. There is a quiz on South American countries and capitals on April 21. Tomorrow is the last day for the clothing part of the food drive. Also, students need to bring in their field trip money and permission slips for the Oceans movie.

April 7, 2010

Today, we started the day out with band, chorus or study hall. Students who don't go to band or chorus stay in the classroom and quietly work on anything that they need to accomplish. It is a nice quiet environment to use for completing work, studying or reading.

In reading today, both classes listened to students giving book talks. I went through my list of students who still needed to sign up for a book talk before May 1st. Many students have completed the two book talks needed for this trimester. Students who have completed the required two still may need to book talk any book they want counted for their Genre Bingo. Those who have completed the required two book talks in front of the class may book talk any book needed for Genre Bingo in either a podcast form or with me privately. If they choose to, they may also give the book talk in front of the class. It is each child's choice.

We organized our reading logs today as well. Students are required to complete 25 books this year. At this point, it is my hope that they have completed close to 20 books in order to achieve this goal.

Finally, in reading, we read a paragraph about zebras and together broke it down into the four important facts to include in a summary. Students got rid of redundant information and wrote a two sentence summary of the passage. All of the summarizing information is being collected in binders that are kept in the classroom.

Homework: Log 25 is due Tuesday. Anyone who hasn't done one book talk yet needs to do one by May 1st (that's either this week, next week or the week after). Students always need books for class.

In writing, we went to the computer lab and typed our final drafts of the free choice piece that we've been working on. Students completed a process paper to reflect on the entire piece and passed in the packet to me. Then, students uploaded their pieces to our classroom blog and commented on each others' writings. For those who didn't finish, we will go back to the lab tomorrow.

We had a quiz on cells in science today in 6S. 6F missed it because we participated in "Drop Everything and Recess!!!!" at the end of the day. The whole school went outside and had recess at the end of the day. Students got popsicles as well! Fun in the sun!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

In writing today, we started by writing in our writers' notebooks. The prompt of the day was "Chocolate". Next, we learned about verbs in the active and passive voice. Students scoured their drafts for any passive verbs and tried to change them to an active voice. Many individual conferences were held. The pieces will be finished by Friday. We will be in the computer lab for the rest of the week getting them finalized.

In reading today, we read another Chris Van Allsburg book called Probuditi. Next, we summarized it in one sentence (36 words or less). I had students start with the Somebody Wanted But So method and then revise to another draft, getting rid of redundancies and rewording so that it flowed better. Students are getting better at this skill each time we do it.
I collected logs today. Log 25 is due April 13. Book talk #1 is due by May 1.

I did the same thing for science today in 6F that I did yesterday for 6S. There is a quiz on cells tomorrow.

Spelling homework is due Thursday (Take Home Task 9). Students need to bring in their permission slips for the Oceans movie on April 23. For math, 7.5 is due Thursday. Current event is due May 3. Don't forget the clothing for the food drive!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Go Red Sox!

Today, we started the day with spelling. Students worked on Word Ladders. This is an activity where they start with a word on the bottom of the ladder and work their way up the ladder by changing and adding or taking away letters from the original word. Each new word comes with a clue and a set of instructions for what to do. Students also cut out word cards and began to put homonyms on each card. This is for a future activity. I handed out Take Home Task 9 which is due Thursday.

In reading, we read aloud Jumanji, a picture book, by Chris VanAllsburg. In keeping with our summarizing skills, I asked students to summarize the book using one sentence and choosing words carefully. We looked at trying to get the summaries down to 28 words or less. I put an example of a 48 word summary and we looked at how to pare it down to the necessary words. Reading logs are due tomorrow. Book talks should be done by May 1.

In writing, we went over two things to revise our final drafts for: consistent verb tense and paragraphing. I introduced students to the Tip Top method for paragraphing. This is a cue to figure out when to change paragraphs. Ti stands for a change in time/ P is for a change in place/ To is a change in topic and the other P is for a change in a person talking. Students reread their pieces to revise for these two things. Final drafts are due Friday.

Finally in science with 6S, we reviewed for the quiz on cell parts for Wednesday. If students go to www.enchantedlearning.com they can find pictures of animal cells and plant cells to help them label and study.

Friday, April 2, 2010

I was out sick on this day, but wanted to let you know what we did anyway. We started the day with our writer's notebooks. We all wrote one entry in there. Then, we looked at the sentence fluency rubric. Students looked at two writing pieces and scored them together for the trait of sentence fluency. Finally, we did an organization activity where students put together a piece of writing that was cut into sentence strips. Teams worked together to put the sentences in the correct order. I would like final drafts of their free choice piece by Friday, April 9.

In reading we worked on an activity that looked at the unique vocabulary that The Last Book in the Universe used. Students found vocabulary and defined it based on how it was used in the book. Students need to remember that their logs are due on Tuesday. Also, they need to do a book talk before May 1.

In science, 6F did what 6S did on Thursday. Please see April 1 blog for that. There is a quiz on cells on Wednesday.

April Fools!

We started the day with an April Fools prank.... a following directions activity. Students were given a list of directions to follow. The first direction was to read all directions before writing anything down. The last direction was to not do any of the above things but sit quietly at their seats. It was very fun for me to see who could follow those directions!

During writing we looked at the trait of sentence fluency. With this, we discussed varying length of sentences in their pieces as well as sentence beginnings. Students mapped out their pieces, noting sentence beginnings and length of sentences. They then revised with this in mind.

Homework: Final drafts done by 4/9.

In reading, we finished The Last Book in the Universe! What a book! I'm not a science fiction fan, but this book was great! We also shared the Somebody Wanted But So summaries that we created with picture books. After hearing them, I asked students to choose another book to use the same method for summarizing. This one is the one that I will assess for understanding. It is important for students to be able to use this method with books that have simple plots before applying it to novels with sub-plots.

Homework: Log 24 due 4/6; book talk by May 1; students always need the book that they are reading for independent reading.

In science for 6S, we went over Cell Structures and did an on-line quiz on cells. Students also worked on an activity called, "Cell City". In this activity, a cell and its parts are compared to a city and students need to determine how the cell parts compare to a city and its parts. There is a quiz on cells on Wednesday of next week.

In 6F spelling today, we got our tests back and wrote the words we misspelled on our Words to Learn lists. Also, we did a word preview for unit 9.