9-20-12

Great things are happening!

Today's Brain Fun :)
 


Nursery rhyme clue:  elderly woman with unique living quarters
Answer:  Little old lady who lives in a shoe!












Today, I put students into groups based on learning profiles.  Based on a beginning of the year survey, students learned what their top learning style was and I get to use that information to get to know them, group them, provide differentiated instruction and choices in order to honor differences in the classroom!  We had so much fun and I CAN'T wait to see the final product of what we began today!


Ask your student/or classmates how they were grouped and what their group activity was!  Details to be shared Monday..........stay tuned :)


To find out about differentiated learning/instruction go here: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/263/
Homework:  independent reading and/or complete your part from today's group work and bring back to class tomorrow.

9-19-12

Brain Fun!  Nursery Rhyme Game
Clue:  Small seated girl who was afraid of insects.

We finished up Raymond's Run as a class read aloud.  Core groups worked together under the direction of their group leader to complete the plot map.

Homework:  15 minutes of silent sustained reading and don't forget to update independent reading calendars!





Click here to view the notes

9-18-12

Brain Activity:  Nursery Rhyme Game
Clue:  Irreparable broken egg 

It was awesome to watch new technology at work in our classroom!  As groups finished up a "personal clues" worksheet today, 1 member from each group used the interactive board and pen to fill in add information to the projected document at the front of the room.  It was fun to watch one student teach the next how to use the pen, hover cam, computer and white board!  

Plot map review:  over the next couple of days we are using the story, "Raymond's Run" to review and practice in groups how plot progresses in a story line along with acquiring new words with comprehension strategies.

Class Norms and Other Stuff!

Brain Activity:  Nursery Rhyme Game
Clue:  Rodents who can't see a thing!  What is the title of the nursery rhyme?

Today students set the class "norms" which usually are called rules for our classroom.  The norms had some differences for each hour but there were a lot of common themes such as:  raise your hand when you want to talk, show respect to all, be ready for class, be a good group member, follow directions, do not interrupt the learning and follow class and school procedures!  I love the what they came up with!  All students signed the paper and it will stay up in the class all year!

We discussed that one of the biggest things I need from them to guide them toward mastering 8th grade skills in English is a "Growth Mindset".  They will be discovering more about that as we go on.......

In today's lessons, we reviewed and graded a nouns worksheet, discussed in groups and as a whole class the expectations for the monthly independent reading and the trimester book project.  As groups we just got started filling in a "Personal Clues" worksheet for 6 vocabulary words that we will hear over the next 2 days from a story in our literature book, "Raymond's Run".

No Homework