Ahhh, report cards went home on Friday with our students. Thank goodness, because we kept revising them until the last possible minute. By Thursday night we could not look at one more grade or comment. We do not have a ton of fun activities to share this week because we had to spend time giving formative assessments to be absolutely positive of the grades we were sending home.
We feel like we can finally get back to the fun of teaching this week. However, we did manage to do a few fun things.
If you remember, we were working on biographies beginning with the story A Weed Is A Flower: The Story of George Washington Carver. In our last blog we told you how we split the kids into two different shared reading groups for this story. The more guided group completed a thumb-nail sketch biography of George Washington Carver after reading the story. Anne guided them with their writing as they used their notes from the text. When they were finished, the students illustrated a portrait of George Washington Carver.
After reading A Weed Is A Flower, the more independent group continued reading biographies of other important Americans. While reading biographies of their choice they took notes. After two full days of reading, the students began their Can You Guess Who It Is? biography project. They had to pick out seven unique and important facts and write them as clue sentences on the construction paper that was segmented into equal parts. On a separate piece of construction paper, they needed to draw their famous American and include other symbols that portrayed the person's life. Then we stapled the clues on top of the portrait and cut the strips, so when they shared their projects in small groups, they slowly revealed the person. Below you will find sample of their work and the rubric they needed to follow.
Earlier in the year we read many fables to the kids and they absolutely loved them. So it was the perfect time to read A Froggy Fable to review this genre. We were ecstatic that our kids remembered the important features of this genre. They still ask if they can keep this book in their book boxes to read during Read-To-Self time.
We continued to work in two shared reading groups for this fable. The more guided reading group first did a close read and discussion of the story together. The next day, students partner read the story with the purpose of noticing how the character of Froggy changed. They used post-it notes to mark the events in the story that caused change. Then, we completed a Story Map Showing Character Change together.
Finally, the students completed an extended response to the question: In your opinion, which is better, when things stay the same or when things change?
The more independent group began with a shared reading of the first four pages of A Froggy Fable. Then, they chose a partner to read and discuss the rest of the story using the discussion questions provided to them. After reading, we reconvened as a group and did a literature circle share, discussing their thoughts and answers to the questions. That's all this group had time for with this story because they had spent so much time on their biographies.
Our Word Block was filled with many fun activities. One activity focused on Compound Words. We read aloud the book, If I Were a Compound Word, and then brainstormed a list of compound words. Then students completed their own compound word flap book.
We also learned about the adjective suffixes -er and -est. We read the book, Snakes Long Longer Longest by Jerry Pallotta. Once again, we brainstormed a list of base words and their suffixes. Then, the students made their own flip book.
We incorporate a lot of technology throughout our school day. Next week, we will share the newest app we found, and also other technology projects.
Hope you have a great week! We'd love to hear from you.
Kim and Anne
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