Thursday - All About the Intro

• 1st/2nd - Today we did a little bit of "catch up" work!  Over the past 3 days we have covered lessons 1b.1, 1b.2, and 1b.3 - but we didn't get to the "writing" part of the lessons because we spent so much time breaking down the text, using graphic organizers to build comprehension and meaning.  Since the text we used was about Moons, I thought we would do our writing focusing on another aspect of our Solar System - The Sun! 
• We read two texts about the sun and then we used the web organizer to take notes.  The notes were then used to work on creating an Introduction.  The introduction for an information/explanatory text should include three distinct parts:
• A hook that grabs the readers attention and makes them want to read more
• A detail or two about the topic that the reader might find interesting.
• The last line of the introduction will be used to INFORM the reader of the topic.
• We then made sure that we add a visual or graphic that allowed the reader to better understand the topic.  We are taking the time up front to make sure that each student understands the aspects of informational non-fiction.  
• 3rd/4th - Mrs. Avalos went to a meeting for one of our students so I went over the homework from 3.3 with the class.  I wanted them to realize that multiplication can be thought of how many jumps on the number line of a certain number.  We went over each question, stopping to check for understanding along the way.  Students discussed misconceptions and then we talked about how they have learned to draw groups, do repeated addition, and now use the number line to solve simple multiplication problems.   We took extra time to look at the word problems because as we move into the text, the word problems are becoming MULTI-STEP and they have to do more than one computation, so close reading is necessary.
• Students then worked on the mid-chapter check up.  When Ms. Avalos returned, I went to meeting.  When I returned they were going over the midpoint review and checking for understanding.  
• 5th - Lunch   I picked the kids up 20 minutes before lunch was over and we went out front for some stress relief.  During recess, the kids ran around and played and we spent the last 5 minutes playing my favorite game - Duck, Duck, Goose!
• 6th - Gym
• 7th - We read another section of our class novel "Dear Mr. Henshaw".  We then wrote down our homework and went over a few problems in all of them.  We passed out multiplication fact sheet and told kids that next Friday they would have to pass the 3 times tables.  After all the homework was gone over and passed out, we went over the Social Studies test, question by question so they would know what to study.  I hope they remember to study all the vocabulary words and big themes covered in Chapter 1!

Homework:

• Study for Spelling Test
• Study for Social Studies Test
• Spelling - Practice Sheet
• Writing - Introduction Paragraph and Graphic