Knots on a Counting Rope

• 1st/2nd - Literacy Block
• After breakfast, we went over the test prep question from last night.  Again, we focused on restating the question to make your topic sentence.  Answering the question.  And then giving two examples FROM the text to support your answer.  And the final sentence should explain how the evidence supports your answer.  We read the new test prep text about the Nightingale and then did the MODEL response using this same method.  Their homework for test prep tonight is recounting the story by filling in missing details.
• After a going over the warm up paragraph and questions, we looked at last night't homework.  Only 1/2 the students did it.  3 weeks until the state tests and only 1/2 of the students are doing homework.  That doesn't sound good to me!    Then we did today's lesson - ReadyGen 3A.2.  The focus was explaining the central message of a text and recounting the story using important events.  We also focused on nonliteral phrases in the text as part of author's craft.  Finally, in writing we talked about "opinions" and key words to show it is an opinion.  
• 3rd/4th - Math Block 
• We started the lesson with going over "area" in test prep.  We looked at the homework, the samples for today, and even pulled out the mock test booklet and went over several they missed from the mock test.  Then we talked about the homework.  
• Ms. Avalos did the number talks with the students and then the daily number review.  Afterwards, we did the interactive lesson for GoMath 9.6.  The focus was making equivalent fractions.  The groups worked with their adult to work through the instructional pages of the day.  My group then took fraction tiles and practiced making equivalent fractions for a variety of situations.  I think the students learn a great deal by constructive play - using the tiles to find the equivalents, and then looking for patterns.  They didn't quite get that its all about multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number to get an equivalent, but I am sure with a little more play, they will get it.
• 5th - Lunch/Recess
• 6th - Science
• 7th - Wrap Up / Class Novel "The Cricket in Times Square"

Homework

• Math
• Test Prep for 3/15/16
• GoMath 9.6 Practice Homework pp 543-544
• Literacy
• Test Prep # 45
• Spelling Practice Handout
• Knots on a Counting Rope - Reading Comprehension
• Knots on a Counting Rope - Opinion Writing
• Reading Log