Significant Small Moments : A Few Highlights...

Okay all,

I planned on blogging about all of our Valentines Day fun, but in the midst of all of the crazy, I forgot to snap a few cute photos of what we accomplished, so it will have to wait until tomorrow! :(

I did though want to share a few highlights of this past week that the students and myself found quite enjoyable!

To begin with, we have been learning about ordering numbers in Math, so what better way to practice than through the creation of a number line. I gave each team a starting point and an ending point. They had to synergize and use sticky notes and string to order the numbers between the two boundaries. Depending on their ability levels, I made the numbers easier or more difficult. Some teams mastered their challenge and asked to continue as far as they could! Of course..:)

A few team members of mine also tried something new during Writers Workshop! We had the students bring their journals to the carpet DURING the mini lesson instead of taking their supplies out afterwards. In this case, I taught the mini lesson and each child started writing in their carpet spot. I dismissed them one at a time if I saw them writing the whole time! Ya'll, I've never seen all of them writing SOOO much at one time! I think the fact that every child was writing and focused helped SO much. Definitely doing this from now on. On that day, they were writing opinion pieces as to which resource class they like the best....here is a snapshot!

We also continued this week with Inferring. I used the book "Grandfather Twilight" and they ate this up! The first day we started with a statement to which they had to agree or disagree just based on the cover of the book. We then read the book and I gave them the chance to change their original thought. We talked about the power of prediction and how our thinking changes as we read!

**Sorry about the glare on the board! I'm out of chart paper and REALLY need to get more! I'm using the board and snapping pictures until then!**

The next day we re-read the text and then brainstormed what else he could be besides a ghost! They came up with brilliant answers (a human, a mythical creature, the sky maker, God, etc). Each student then put their thinking on paper and wrote what they thought he was as well as the thinking behind it. We are really trying to help the students use textual evidence to support their thinking. This has been a great start...