All-Star of the Week: Mark Yabut
Mark was our amazing all-star this week. He started off by showing us the special items in his sharing sack. Mark brought in a notebook collection of his drawings, stickers that he got while in New York and then shared a number of photos from musicals that he's attended such as Matilda, School of Rock and the Phantom of the Opera. He also shared some photos of his trip to Legoland in Florida which was a big hit!!! He read aloud his favorite book titled Peanut Butter and Cupcakes and had his parents surprise him on Wednesday with a special lunch at school.
Writing Workshop:
Over the past two weeks, the students have been writing personal narrative stories. They have been working really hard at implementing all of the things they've learned thus far to make their stories come to life. They've been practicing how to....
*Include the characters/setting in their introduction
*Write an organized piece by paragraphing
*Show, Don't Tell
*Elaborate with description by using your 5 senses
*Close a story with an emotion/wish/hope
Students are changing telling statements to showing paragraphs.
Cooperative group work on Show, Don't Tell
Cooperative group work on Show, Don't Tell
Cooperative group work on Show, Don't Tell
Hannah sharing her Show, Don't Tell paragraph using emotion
Mark sharing his Show, Don't Tell paragraph using emotion
Peer-to-Peer Partnerships in Writing
Peer-to-Peer Partnerships in Writing
Peer-to-Peer Partnerships in Writing
Peer-to-Peer Partnerships in Writing
Peer-to-Peer Partnerships in Writing
Peer-to-Peer Partnerships in Writing
Peer-to-Peer Partnerships in Writing
Independent Writing Time--Look at that stamina!!!!!
Below you'll notice observations we made during Independent Writing Time. As students wrote, we looked for evidence of strategy implementation from our writers. We then celebrated these writers at closing meeting.
Reading Workshop:
With M-Step testing taking a lot longer than anticipated, we decided to let our third graders have a little fun! Below you will see students engaged in Reader's Theater. This is where students receive a script, have a specific part/role and are practicing their expression and fluency as they perform as a group.
When not engaged in Reader's Theater...the students were working in small strategy groups. In these small groups, students read with us a book at their reading level. We then work on a specific reading strategy that we feel the group needs to develop their reading skills even further. Below you will see that both groups are working on reading comprehension using evidence from the text to support their thinking. This type of reading response will be very common in 4th and 5th grade reading workshop times. They are also examples of the types of conversations we will be having with our proficient readers to get them to think at a higher level.
Math:
In math this week, the students began unit 5 "Writing Equations to Solve World Problems." In this unit, students will use drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem. They will use information in graphs to solve comparison problems and use properties of operations to explain patterns when problem-solving. In the photo below, students were using math mountains (drawings) to solve subtraction and addition word problems.
Mr. Shankin's 5th Grade Debate Assembly:
The students also attended Mr. Shankin's 5th Grade Debate assembly. Our third graders witnessed a debate between the Loyalists and the Patriots of Room 14. They had to then vote on who won the debate (based on their performance) and the Patriots won! Great job to all of the 5th graders who participated in the debate! It was very educational and entertaining for our class!
The Week Ahead (May 2-6)
Student Council Coin Drive:
The student council will be holding a coin drive next week to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The campaign is called “Making a Change.” This is a progressive coin drive with each day focusing on a different spirit wear item and coin.
Pajama Penny Monday: bring in a penny and wear your PJs for the day!
Neon Nickel Tuesday: wear neon and pay a nickel!
Wacky Wednesday Hat day: pay a dime to wear your wackiest hat!
Dazzling Thursday is a the day you can wear something shiny or something that makes you unique and different by paying with a shiny quarter…25 cents!!!
Friday is Team up for Leukemia Day and for only one dollar you can wear your favorite sports team clothing!!!
Thanks for your help in “Making a Change” and Fighting Cancer!!!
M-Step Testing:
Both Monday and Wednesday are M-Step testing days. This week the students will be taking the third grade math test. Please make sure your child gets a good rest the night before, eats a big/healthy breakfast and comes to school with their charged iPad/headphones. Thank you for your support with this!
