Working Hard Wednesday!

• 1st/2nd/3rd - Math Block
• We had a longer than normal math block today.  Let me explain why.  First we started the day with our 20 minutes of D.E.A.R time.  Students pull out their reading books, find a place to read, and READ for 20 minutes.  Some people check out new books, others take tests... it is their 20 minutes to settle into the day.
• Then we passed out the Chapter 6 performance Task for the day.  As we were passing it out we noticed it was the 5th grade Chapter 6, so we had to quickly collect them and print out the 3rd grade Performance Task.  I love when the students can see that we are human too, we make mistakes, but instead of getting upset, we fix it.  So we quickly printed Chapter 3 and printed it out.
• We then read the performance tasks together.  We looked at each questions, we underlined important information, and then talked about "how" we would go about solving the problem.  We made sure that they understood the problem before they did it.  I told the students they had about 6-8 more weeks of me walking them through the tasks so step by step, but then I have to gradually release them so they do it for themselves of the state test in April.
• After that, we promised they could do their daily math on the computers.  So instead of the text, they did the Chapter 7 Pre-Test using the Think Central page on the computers.  That is why it took so long today.  Many of the computers didn't have the website saved, many students couldn't find their card with their log in information.  It took a long time, but we FINALLy got everyone up and running.
• 4th - Literacy Block
• Today's learning target was being able to find main idea and then look for the central message of the text.  We started by going over our homework.  We talked in depth about the state test, and how 2/3 of their grade comes from reading texts and answering multiple choice questions.  They have to become closer readers who really understand the text they are reading and then be able to pick the BEST answer.  You notice I said BEST instead of Right.  Sometimes there are more than one answer that COULD be the answer but which one is the BEST answer is what we are focusing on.  I also told the students that Monday - Thursday they would have these short 1 paragraph readings with 5 questions to answer that were just for practice.  The one we do Friday will be a longer passage and would be collected Monday for a grade.  So it is important to concentrate and try all week because those same skills we practice will be in the LONGER Friday text and questions.  
• We then went back to comparing and contrasting our texts we worked with.  Today we compared the informational text "The Athabascans" to the legend "The Frog Princess" and we looked for similarities and differences.  We stressed they couldn't just say their alike unless they could show the evidence from the text.   
• 5th - Lunch / Recess
• 6th - P.E. with Mr. Hoffman
• 7th - Social Studies
• Today we finished Chapter 2 and worked on the end of the chapter review sections.  There will be a SHORT test tomorrow for Social Studies - Chapter 2 on Nigeria.

Homework;

• Math - Division Practice 
• Reading - Reading Comprehension Practice Week 6, Day 3
• Writing - Brainstorm Ideas for "What Happened Next" with Miss Agnes
• Social Studies - Study Chapter 2 for Test Tomorrow