Room 13: Weekly Update

Reading Workshop:
We are continuing to focus on ways nonfiction readers "read with power." We began the week building on our main idea lessons from last week, but we took it a step further. Students practiced finding the main idea of a section or chapter in their nonfiction books and then determined the details that supported the main idea. We also reviewed strategies for determining the meaning of unfamiliar vocbulary words. At the end of the week, students were introduced to 3 different text structures: descriptive, sequential, and comparison. It is important for students to recognize that nonfiction text can be organized in different ways.

After determining the main idea, students used sticky notes to identify the supporting details.

They recorded the main idea and supporting details on this graphic organizer.

Students recorded unfamiliar words and marked HOW they determined the meaning.

Students identified sections of their books that were organized in a descriptive text structure and recorded the descriptive details they learned about the topic.

Writing Workshop:

Students officially chose a topic for their informational "expert" reports and determined 4 categories of information they knew about their topic. Those categories became the chapters in their rough draft booklet. After reading many examples of introductions in nonfiction books, students wrote their own introduction for their report.

Math:

After completing an "extended response" performance assessment for Unit 4 on Monday, we began Unit 5: Writing Equations to Solve Word Problems. Students first reviewed the concept of math mountains (which are similar to fact triangles). We then used related facts (fact families) to solve and write addition and subtraction equations. Students also learned how to solve word problems with unknown addends and unknown factors.

Social Studies:

We began our tour of the Midwest last week! So far, we have traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, the farm state of Iowa, Mount Rushmore, and Dodge City, Kansas. In Dodge City, the students learned about cattle drives and even pretended to work at a cowboy employment agency. They made "help wanted" posters to advertise the specific jobs that are needed on a cattle drive.

March is Reading Month Activities:

Students are having lots of fun with our March is Reading Month calendar activities. They are also doing tons of reading. In the first week, the class read a combined 3,700 minutes! Keep up the awesome reading!

St. Patrick's Day: We ate green bagels and read limericks, a style of poetry that originated in Ireland.

I "Mustache" You to Read: Students wore silly mustaches while reading on Wednesday!

Mystery Readers:

We had our first Mystery Readers visit the classroom this week. Let us know if you'd still like to come read!

Mrs. Cruz read a Patricia Polacco book on Monday.

Calin's sister read to the class on Friday.

All-Star of the Week:

Sameeksha was an awesome Star of the Week! She brought very special things to share in her sharing sack including wonderful family photos. Her parents wrote an incredibly thoughtful letter to the class telling us more about Sameeksha, and they even included some funny stories about her when she was younger. She read one of our favorite books, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, which was a perfect choice for reading month! Her mom joined her in the cafeteria for Lunch Buddy Day on Wednesday.