Powtoon Presentation Pictures

Today the students started to add transitions, music, and backgrounds to their Powtoon presentation.  Some groups were even able to start searching for images to add to their presentations.  They were working very hard today in the computer lab as a group.  We will finish up the presentation on Friday by finishing up with our pictures and making any final changes.  I am so proud of their hard work and collaboration on this project! 

Retelling Rope Fun!

This week the students have been practicing their retelling of fictional stories.  We started the week off by revisiting how to properly retell a fictional story and then the students made their own retelling rope.  This rope should help the students internalize how to properly retell a fictional story.  They should always start with the setting and characters that are in the story.  Then, they should state the problem(s) along with what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  To wrap it up, they should tell how the problem(s) was resolved in the story.  The students LOVED practicing using their retelling rope by watching the videos below in class throughout the week.  We also practiced with fictional story books too! :)  They had the opportunity to practice with partners and we practiced as an entire class.  We will also be using these retelling ropes in reading groups.  You will soon see the students retelling rope in their reading pouch so you can use this resource with them at home when they read fiction books to you.  Being able to retell a fictional story shows that a student is understanding the main elements of the story.  I told them I would post the links to the videos that we used in class for retelling on the blog since they enjoyed them so much!  ENJOY!!

The Bear and The Snowman

For the Birds

Pigeons

Below are some pictures of the students using their retelling rope for one of the videos.

Word Work

Last week the students learned how to practice their word sort rules in a new way.  They learned how to do a blind sort with a partner.  A blind word sort is when a child reads a word without showing it to the other student.  The other student then has to tell them the header that it belongs under or the rule that is in the word.  This helps the students to think about the specific pattern or rule that is being used in the word.  There isn't always an easy way to know which rule is used in a word.  Such as knowing that seed uses an "ee" instead of an "ea".  I told the students the more that they read and write, the better they will become at knowing which rule to use for certain words.  As long as they are using a rule or pattern that matches the sound(s) that they hear in the word is the most important element when spelling unfamiliar words.  They did a great job working in a group to practice the blind sorting of their sort words!

Green Bay Gamblers Visit

Last week the Green Bay Gamblers came in to share with the students how important it is to learn how to read well as a child.  No matter what type of career a child may have when they grow up, being able to read is essential to each of these careers.  They read a hockey book to the students and then answered questions from the kids.  The kids really enjoyed being able to hear them read and get their questions answered!  Thank you for stopping in Green Bay Gamblers!!

POW!!

Over the past week the students have been working hard in collaborative groups on a final performance task for our soils unit in science.   The students had to pretend that they were a group of scientists who had to explore a newly discovered planet.  One of their tasks was to figure out what was in the planet's soil.  They first had to name the planet they landed on, then figure out which tests they would do to prove what was in their planet's soil, they conducted the tests and took notes on their observations, and finally they had to figure out what the soil would be useful for.  They took this information and started to create a Powtoon (http://www.powtoon.com/) presentation.  The students worked hard on typing their slides last week and will be finishing up this week by adding transitions, music, pictures, and other features to make their presentation pop!  I can't wait to share these with you when the students are finished!! :)

Telling Time

Over the past week the students have been working hard telling time to five minute intervals.  The students did several activities during the week with partners to practice reading analog and digital clocks and then writing the time in a variety of ways.  This is something that you can continue to practice with your child at home.  Ask them what time it is when it is at a five minute interval or ask them to tell you the time in several different ways such has four thirty or thirty minutes past four.  The more they have the chance to practice telling time, the more comfortable they will get with it.

The Writing Process - Peer Conferencing

Last week the students were able to finish up the steps of the writing process with their fall writing piece.  After they were done pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing, they had the chance to peer conference.  Peer conferencing is when the students share their writing with another student and give positive feedback to a peer about their writing and offer suggestions to make their peer's writing stronger.  After peer conferencing they had a chance to conference with me and then they were able to publish their fall writing.  I was very impressed with how much they remembered about writing from last year.  I can't wait to see how far their writing will come by the end of the year!!  

Fire Prevention Week

Last week was Fire Prevention week so our class talked about fire safety.  During the week the students were able to listen to a group of firefighters from Pulaski talk about fire safety and they were able to closely explore the different fire trucks that they use when they go to an actual fire.  They had a great time learning about the trucks and pretending to be firefighters as you can see!

Reading Buddies!

Reading buddies have officially started for the school year! :) The students in our classroom had the opportunity to meet their fifth grade reading buddies from Mrs. Stapel's room last week. Since we did a fall writing piece, I thought it would be a great idea to do a fun fall activity with our reading buddies.  I read a book to the class and their reading buddies to teach them about why leaves change colors in fall.  Then the students and their reading buddies went outside to collect leaves that were in the process of losing their green color.  Their reading buddies helped them glue their leaves on a piece of white paper.  Later in the week, the students had the opportunity to express their creativity by using fall colors to paint around their leaves.  These leaf creations are displayed in the hallway along with their unbe"LEAF"able fall writing!

SUPER "STAR" FISH!! CONGRATS!!

Way to go SUPER "STAR" FISH of the week!  Thank you for demonstrating expected behaviors and following the school and classroom rules of Be Safe, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible!!  Awesome job!! :)

This week Mrs. DeBoth began teaching the students how to use Destiny Quest to help them find books in the library.  They learned how to search for a book by the topic they were interested in and even learned about the different call numbers for non-fiction, fiction books for everyone, and chapter books.  Next week the students will transition into the computer lab where they will learn how to apply the information they learned about Destiny Quest.  They will take the call number and book title and figure out how to use this information to locate the book in the library.  

Sneaky "E"

Who is that sneaky creature lurking around the corner looking for a consonant he can jump over at the end of a word to make a vowel say its long sound? Well, it is Sneaky "E" of course!! This week our word work focus was on words that followed the VCe pattern.  We mainly focused on the -ake, -ike-, -oke, and -ute word families.  The students made Sneaky "E" and then used him to help them locate sneaky "e" words that were in the room.  Then they added those words to Sneaky "E".  Plus since Sneaky "E" likes to be so sneaky, they were even able to do a Brain Break with Sneaky "E" where he would hide and they would have to find him.  He was pretty SNEAKY!! :) 

Fluency Friday

Fluency Fridays here we come!  Every Friday we will be doing a literacy activity that focuses on reading fluently.  Fluency is the "F" in our C.A.F.E. menu.   Reading fluently means that you read accurately, smoothly, with expression, and understand what you read.   Today the students focused on their phrasing (making sure they paused at the end of sentences) and using expression while they read (changing their voice for punctuation, etc.).  They worked in partners to practice these fluency skills.  Some students were even able to tape record their reading on the iPad so we can listen to it next week as we continue to learn how to be fluent readers.  Please watch your child's fluency at home and encourage them to use the strategies we are learning in class.