10.4.15

“Today at Choice, I worked on the house I was building. I worked on it with Julia, Omi, and Marley. We added a cat, a bathroom, a zip line, and a cat house,” reported Maya.

“At brunch, we played kickball with Kevin, Cyrus, Daniel, Jahmai, Ronan, Otis, and me. When it was time to line up we went to Communication Workshop. I wrote more than I though I could. Then it was lunchtime and we played kickball again,” reported Naima.

“This school is awesome. I am also awesome. Math is rad. Communication Workshop rules. Reading rocks. Choice is awesome. Thank you to all the helpers,” quoted Nicholas.

Thank you to the families who have returned their Family Heritage Questionnaire! We will use the information from the paper to build Trees of Life the week of October 12. Our first clay experience of the year!

In Theme, the class completed Family Pictures in the style of by Carmen Lomas Garza and Sandra Cisneros in their book by the same name, and wrote a short paragraph about who is in the pictures, what they are doing, and the thing the artist remembers the most about the moment.

Go to this link to watch a movie of our Family Pictures:  

https://animoto.com/play/fvDBn1cs1Oif4ozoO9UswA

In all the Communication Workshops, students are writing about small moment true stories as well. This cross-curriculum writing is an example of integrated learning!

This upcoming week is our first Theme Multi-Age Week. Students will move from classroom to classroom to experience four different map-related activities with four different teachers. In the Sea classroom we will make collages from road maps, topographical maps, and maps of train and bus systems. Here are a few examples from the professionals:

This week in learning to be Citizen Scientists, the students will collect data on the number of different species they can find using a particular method (hula hoop on the ground, 12 inch quadrat on the ground, walking around, or sitting in one place looking around). Last week, the scientists compared two of the methods they used, and this week, they’ll compare the next two methods. We are teaching the students to use a particular rhetorical skill: building up two arguments (Jeff Zwiers, Stanford University), compare the value of each of the arguments, and make a claim (again, cross-curriculum: science, listening, speaking, and English Language Development, logic, etc.)

And now for the details of the week:

Monday - October 5, 2015

Morning Meeting

Theme:

Multi Age Week Day 1

Map Collage

Communication Workshop:

10:30-10:35 Agenda and agreements

10:35-10:45 Writers ML: Draw a map of a special place to get ideas for writing small moments

Give Special Place graphic organizer

10:45-11:15  Writing time: start spelling groups-teach Aren how to Teacher Sort

11:15-11:25 Read aloud/author share

11:25-11:35 Readers ML- What's a summary?

Retell the important parts of what was read and say, “This is important because...,” or “That makes me think...”

11:35-12:00 Rotations

Math Workshop:

Agenda and agreements

Number talk from good question book

ML: choosing a menu game: Adding and Subtracting Game or Sweet 13

What did you notice about the game you played?

Class Meeting

Choice

   Blog:Omi

Cards: Ragen Andrews

Tuesday - October 6, 2015

   Morning Meeting

Theme:

Multi Age Week Day 2

Map Collage

Communication Workshop:

10:30-10:35 Agenda and agreements

10:35-10:45 Writers ML: When you're done, you've just begun!

10:45-11:15  Writing time: teach Michelle how to Teacher Sort

11:15-11:25 Read aloud/author share

11:25-11:35 Readers ML-  In the beginning, readers name their characters and talk about what they know about them. 


11:35-12:00 Rotations

Math Workshop:

Agenda and agreements

ML: teach Odd or Even

What did you notice about the game you played?

Citizen Science

Teacher Information:

Try out the 4th way of recording

Think of the two ways you collected data. Which one seemed to work best, and why? and why MLM create a sentence stem to scaffold this talk and writing to fit in science notebook; add under line of learning if possible

Blog/CQ : How did you include someone today?

Wednesday - October 7, 2015

   Morning Meeting

Citizen Science:

9:00-9:30 Think about the 4 ways you counted biodiversity; what will you add to line of learning under Healthy Schoolyard?

Go out with notebooks

9:30-10:00 PE

Library:

with Jolene

     PE: Capeoira

Community Meeting

Thursday - October 8, 2015

   Morning Meeting

Theme:

Multi Age Week Day 3

Map Collage

Communicatio Workshop:

10:30-10:35 Agenda and agreements

10:35-10:45 Writers ML: When I run out of gas... Solutions!

10:45-11:15  Writing time: teach Sandy how to Teacher Sort

11:15-11:25 Read aloud/author share

11:25-11:35 Readers ML- In the beginning, readers predict what they think might happen in the story.

11:35-12:00 Rotations

Math:

Agenda and Agreements

ML: menu Adding and Subtracting, Sweet 13, Odd or Even

What did you notice about the game you played?

Class Meeting

Choice

Blog: Otis

Cards: Sloan

Friday - October 9, 2015

   Morning Meeting

Theme:

Multi Age Week Day 4

Map Collage

Communication Workshop:

10:30-10:35 Agenda and agreements

10:35-10:45 Writers ML: Listening carefully to a partner's story can uncover our own stories too!

10:45-11:15  Writing time: each Mandy how to Teacher Sort

11:15-11:25 Read aloud/author share

11:25-11:35 Readers ML-     In the middle, readers check and revise their predictions based on what is happening. 


11:35-12:00 Rotations

Math Workshop:

Agenda and Agreements

ML: teach pyramid 10

What did you notice about the game you played?

Friday Courses:

First Friday Courses

Blog:   Ronan

Cards: Snyder