Thursday in Room 304

• 1st and 2nd - Literacy Block
• I love when we have literacy first thing in the morning.   We got into class and the I CAN learning target was on the board.  The students wrote down the focus and then we did our WORD WORK Warm Up - Word Ladder.  The students love manipulating these words to learn new words.  Great at building thinking skills and vocabulary. 
• Then we worked through ReadyGen Lesson 1B.18.  After reading through the sections, we broke into groups for the Reading Analysis section.  One group went with me, one with Mr. Johnny, and one with Mrs. Avalos.   Each group had one question to answer based on one of the texts we have read in this unit.  All the questions were on author's craft at using his text and graphics to inform the reader.
• I gave the students an entire 50 minutes to work on their Performance Based Assessment.  Now mind you, we started doing research last Thursday, so we are literally a week in.  They should have read their articles, taken notes, drafted body paragraphs, and written an introduction and conclusion by now.  Mrs. Avalos and Mr. Johnny worked with students who still needed help, I worked with students who wanted final edit and getting on the computers to type. 
• THESE ARE DUE TOMORROW!  I am giving them almost the entire 100 minute block to finish their writing 1B task.  I put it on the blog a few days ago, so please make sure that your student is JUST ABOUT FINISHED!
• 3rd and 4th - Math Block
• Ms. Avalos did the number talks with the class.  We are still doing mental math subtraction with a variety of strategies.  Then we did the Daily Number Review as a whole class.   Finally, we watched the Interactive Lesson for GoMath 4.9 on the smartboard.  The students call it "The Rabbit" lessons.  It is a great animated way to discuss the learning target of the day and to unluck both of the challenge questions of the day.  
• We broke into groups to complete the assignment for GoMath 4.9.   My group started by reviewing yesterday's lesson 4.8 by doing the enrich activity for 4.8.  It was using multiplication product pyramids to practice our 8's.  Then we did a warm-up using base 10 locking blocks.  Students worked with blocks of 9 to figure out their 9 times tables.  We looked for patterns and ways to memorize each fact. After we completed the task, the students went on ThinkCentral to work on assigned tasks on lessons 4.7, 4.8, and 4.9.  Yes, they can go online at home and practice as well.  Their user name and password is on their library card.   
• 5th - Lunch
• 6th - Gym
• 7th - Catch Up Period
• students copied down homework and then listened to Mrs. Avalos finish the class novel "Emma on the Air!".  Students who have not finished their turkey coloring project for the SchoolIn contest.  We cleaned the room and got ready to head home.

Homework:

1. Math - Lesson 4.9 Practice/Homework pgs (245-246)
2. Writing - Work on Performance Task 1B (Due Tomorrow)
3. Writing - (1,3,4,6,14,15,16,20, 23,24,25, and 27) Need to complete Performance Task 1A
4. Spelling Practice Sheet - Spelling Test Tomorrow!