ACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS: This week we did a lot of learning. In Literacy, book groups met to discuss more information about the Wampanoags. Students are really becoming experts about the Wampanoags. They have gathered so much information over this unit of study. Their hard work and focus is unquestionably paying off. During Word Work students also continued learning more about contractions such as: You're = you are Don't = do not Shouldn't = should not We even had a "check in" to see our learning growth. We decided to make this learning experience even MORE FUN by asking students to go on a scavenger hunt in their own books. When they read their independent books later on in the day, students searched for contractions in their own texts! It was really exciting to see the lists they accumulated. . . many students found at least 10 or more contractions. In Writer's Workshop, students continued to write their informational text on the laptops. Starting their writing with a topic sentence and then continuing further with details and transition words is what we are currently working on. It was easy to do once our planning stage was complete. Before typing students used graphic organizers to gather their ideas and organize their ideas into sections. Doing this allows the reader to understand the writers craft. In Social Studies, we also learned about the different stereotypes that some people might believe are true about Wampanoags and Native Americans. Students watched a slide show created by the teachers which had images of people on them. Each photo had people dressed in what we might call "current day" clothing and some photos had people dressed in what we might call "Native American" attire. Students were given a green and red card. They voted by raising their card in the air as the slides went by with their colored card choice. Green meant that they believed the person was Native American. Red meant that they believed this person was not Native American. It was interesting to hear the class discuss why they believed the person being shown was or was not a Native American. They were able to explain characteristics about the person and they used their prior knowledge about Native Americans to provide evidence to support these claims. Some responses included describing their clothing, skin color, and hair color. Students were able to use their reasoning skills that they have been learning about throughout the year to help them support their reasons with evidence and examples. It was also great to see the conversations these opinions brought to the table of learning. Example: "Just because the person is wearing a Red Sox hat does that mean he/she can not be a Native American?" Students learned at the end of the lesson that ALL of the photos were people that identified as Native American! Students realized that to be Native American doesn't mean you have to LOOK or ACT a certain way. You can have ancestors that were Native American which may not reflect your outer appearance. The best way to know if someone is Native American is to ask them! "Do you identify as Native American?" In Math, we started off our lessons with something called a "quick image." Students were shown an image that flashed on the screen for a few seconds. Then, they were asked to redraw what they remembered on their whiteboards. It was impressive to see the students create strategies to remember the images. Some saw these images as shapes in certain patterns but others found other artistic and creative ways to engage with the images. I remember some students saying an image looked like a "take-out container folded open." If you look below you'll see the image. Once drawn completely, the image would have a square in the middle and four triangles around it. That DOES look like a take-out container folded open. Another student mentioned that the image below looked like a 3D chair. If you look closely you can see that the squares on the bottom are the base of the chair, the triangles in the middle is where you sit, and the squares on the top is where you rest your back. Math is always fun in 327. We also continued to learn more about AREA and PERIMETER. Here are a few student exemplars: CLASS UPDATES/NEWS: -This week we earned a "cash in" for earning all 20 stars. -This week students also showed a lot of engagement by raising their hands during lessons and actively participating. -This week students also silenced themselves upon hearing the chime in the classroom. -This week we earned 2 stars in LIBRARY, MUSIC, and PE. These are all essential since it helps us transitions quicker and learn more! I was impressed. GREAT JOB ROOM 327 "Team work makes the DREAM WORK." SHOUT OUTS/THANK YOUS: Shouts outs also to all the students for bringing in Valentines for their friends and teachers. Thank you. Thanks to any student or parent that surprised the teachers with flowers on Valentine's Day as well. We very much appreciate your kindness. Also, thanks to Ray, his family, and grandmother for painting such a wonderful painting for the classroom. Here is one example of one of Ray's grandmother's art pieces (Below). She made one for all the teachers in the classroom! Here is the one Ms. Merrell received. Saying thank you for the "small" accomplishments in life really brings us joy. . . Always remember to appreciate kindness. Like we are learning each day in class, a simple thank you can really put a smile on someone else's face. Spread the joy. MR. JOCEYLN/MR. WONG: This week Mr. Joceyln acknowledged our CLASSROOM over the intercom on Friday afternoon for having an amazingly productive P.E. class. The students were so excited to hear their classroom honored for excellence. Mr. Wong let him know about our class time and how we worked together to run laps and tally points. Learning can and should be fun. When we allow students to learn, move, think, and play we can motivate them to challenge each other in exciting ways. This is something we do everyday in our academic classroom setting, but merging academic learning throughout the specials truly shows that learning merges throughout the subjects. Students during this lesson challenged each other to a game of multiplication. One student rolled dice and then multiplied their two factors together. Then, the next student did the same thing. The student with the higher product proceeded to the next level on the "pyramid." The other student would then run a lap around the gym and tally his/her points on the large class whiteboard and then he/she would start the pyramid levels over again. There are five stages until the top of the pyramid. The student that arrived at the top of the pyramid was able to write his/her initials on the whiteboard. It was so much fun seeing the kids challenge each other but get excited for MATH at the same time. Seeing their competitive side was rewarding. It just let us teachers know that they were having a great time. We also had some parents come to visit us during P.E. It was really great having you all there to experience our learning. I bet you were impressed by how fast some of our kids were multiplying in their heads. (I know I was impressed!) I also bet you were exhausted after all the laps YOU ran too. "Thanks for exercising your brains and bodies with us all." - Rm. 327 (3MD) Here are some photos of the class in action. We also had an ALL SCHOOL MEETING this week. During all school meeting we honored Black History Month. Some of our own students participated in the slide show. Some of these individuals were famous inventors and others were artists. Students at Franklin know that they are listened to, loved, and heard. We respect everyone no matter their backgrounds or beliefs. Culture is embraced and accepted! It is wonderful when we can share our identities with others. During the all school meeting our classroom was ALSO acknowledged.
Franklin the Falcon visits classrooms to see what we are learning and doing. When he visited our classroom he saw us responding to the chime. (Ask your child about Franklin. . . I am sure they can share more. . .)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
June 2019
Categories |