Student Council Election

We were so impressed with the time and effort so many students put into their campaign for student council representative in Room 13!  All student candidates were so confident and well prepared for election day as they delivered their wonderful speeches and displayed their creative posters!

Gloria and Abby vote in their "private" voting booths.

Orlando casts his vote in the ballot box.

Check out all of the candidates' speeches and posters below!

Sameeksha

Allison

Jack

Jordan

Grace

Maddie

Alina

Calin

Audrey

Alex

Hemali

Emma

Zain

Congratulations to Alina and Jordan who were elected as our representatives for this school year!  Allison will serve as an alternate if either student is absent or cannot fulfill their duties.  We are SO proud of all students who had the courage to run!

Weekly Update

Reading Workshop
As we finished up our goal-setting conferences with each students, we introduced more CAFE strategies to the class.  In the ACCURACY domain, we taught lessons about finding familiar word parts (chunks) in multi-syllable words and then blending the "chunks" together to read an unknown word.  We also introduced the "Cross Checking" strategy where students are encouraged to ask the questions, "Does it sound right?" "Does it look right?" and "Does it make sense?" when decoding an unfamiliar word in a text.  In the FLUENCY domain, we taught students how to properly attend to punctuation as they read to make their oral reading sound more like talk.

Writing Workshop
Students finished up their first personal narrative draft this week.  They tried to use strategies we have taught them in class including "reliving the story like a movie in your mind," using the "Show, Don't Tell" strategy to bring emotions to life, adding "true, exact details," and trying to incorporate the 5 senses into their narratives.  Students were also asked to use one of the 4 types of leads that they were taught at the beginning of their story and one of the 3 types of endings that they were taught at the end of the story.  We will look closely at these stories when marking report cards to assess their application of the skills we have taught thus far.

Math Workshop:
We finished up the first unit in math last week.  Students continued to practice solving division and multiplication numbers stories using both arrays and equal groups before taking the final test on Friday.  You will find the corrected assessment in your child's homework folder this week.  Please continue to practice math facts with your child based on his or her level using the at-home math folder that was sent home last week.

Social Studies
Students took the "Peopling of the United States" test on Tuesday after reviewing for the test with a fun Jeopardy review game.  Overall, the class did very well on the test!  Now we will begin our regional tour of the United States where students will visit 9 cities or landmarks in each of the 5 regions throughout the rest of the school year.

All-Star of the Week
Abby Z. was our All-Star this week, and she celebrated her birthday on Monday as well!  She loved sharing her favorite things from her sharing sack, and the class loved looking at her special family photos.  She also did an outstanding job reading her favorite picture book, Rhyming Dust Bunnies.

Weekly Update

Reading Workshop
We finished reading our first chapter book read aloud, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo.  As a culminating activity we did a Visible Thinking routine called Step Inside.  Students were asked to step inside the character of Edward Tulane at the end of the story when he has been reunited with his original owner, Abilene.  Below are a few examples of this thinking routine.
We also began individual student conferences to set up CAFE reading goals and determine Just Right reading levels.  Together student and teacher look over the student's reading log to analyze the books they've read to decide which reading level seems to be just right for them.  Students leave the conference knowing their just right color code and one to two reading goals to work on during workshop time.

Writing Workshop
This week students learned how to write effective endings to complete their stories.  Then they read through all of the stories they've written so far to choose one story to draft.  As students draft their personal narrative they are focusing on making the story better rather than just copying the story onto new paper.  Students are writing their draft across three pages to focus on the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  Our goal is for students to write a lead that hooks readers in, write a thoughtful story with details in sequential order and end with a fabulous finish.

Math Workshop
MEAP testing wrapped up this week on Tuesday with the math portion.  During math workshop students learned to identify the following addition and multiplication properties:

Students also practiced identifying and solving word problems.  We will continue to practice identifying and solving the following word problems in class: 

On Monday students will bring home a review for Unit 1.  The review will help prepare students for the first Unit test on Friday.

Science

Students have investigated water as all three states of matter: solid (ice), liquid, and gas (water vapor).  During our latest investigation students discovered water changes into a gas called water vapor, and goes into the air.  We left a wet paper towel in an open cup and a wet paper towel in a cup with a lid.  Through this investigation students learned that wet materials become dry when exposed to air.  They also learned this drying process is evaporation.

All-Star of the Week

Abigail was one of our All-Stars of the week!  We loved learning about her adoption story from her thoughtful parent letter.  We also enjoyed meeting her cats through the pictures she shared with us.  Abigail enjoyed her lunch buddy day with mom!  The students wrote many sweet compliments to Abigail on Friday.

Francine was our other All-Star of the week!  We loved listening to her read aloud her favorite story and her sweet parent letter.  Francine enjoyed her lunch buddy day with mom!  Students wrote many nice compliments to Francine.  We will miss seeing Francine's beautiful smile in class!

Weekly Update

Writing Workshop
Last week students worked on developing the "internal" story where they added their thoughts and feelings to their small moments rather than just telling the events that happened in the story.  They were also introduced to 4 leads.  A good lead at the beginning of a story draws the audience in and makes the reader want to keep reading.  Below are examples of the 4 leads we taught our student writers last week.

Reading Workshop

Much of our reading time this week was spent doing MEAP testing.  Students took the MEAP reading test on Tuesday and Wednesday.  On the test, they were asked to read both fiction and nonfiction texts, answer multiple choice questions about the selections, and write constructed responses.  After the reading portion of the MEAP testing was completed, we returned to our regular reading workshop routine where students reviewed how to retell a story and identify important events.

Math Workshop:

We have added a new component to our math workshop this week.  As a way for students to begin memorizing their multiplication facts, students have been assigned "fluency fact partners."  Each day, partners will practice their facts by reciting them to their partner.  Partners will keep track of the facts that they miss so that each student know which facts need more practice.  Students will practice the facts in the order that they have been taught (5s, 2s, 10, 9s, 3s, 4s, 1s, 0s).  In order to pass a level, students must be able to recite both the multiplication and division facts to their partners from memory and then pass timed one-minute quizzes for both multiplication and division facts.  More information will be coming home this week to explain the process in more detail and provide you with materials to use for practicing at home.

This is what the study sheet looks like that fluency partners use to practice their facts on a daily basis.

Math partners, Brett and Jordan, work together.  Jordan calls out multiplication equations for Brett to answer.

Gloria and Alex study independently to prepare for their next partner check.

Social Studies

We began a new unit this week called The Peopling of The United States.  In this unit, students will understand the meaning of diversity as they learn about the first 5 groups of Americans who migrated to the United States: Native Americans, Latino Americans, European Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans.  This is a short unit that we will finish up this week.

All-Star of the Week

Calin was our All-Star of the Week!  We loved seeing his baseball trophy and his iPad that he brought in the sharing sack and listening to him read his favorite book aloud to the class.  He is still looking forward to his Lunch Buddy Day!

Weekly Update

Field Trip Fun!

We had an awesome time on our field trip to Detroit where we were able to tour the Renaissance Center and Ford Field.  You can check out tons of photos from the trip in the slideshow below or click HERE to see the photos individually.

Jog-a-Thon
The students had a great time at the annual jog-a-thon!  We loved seeing so many parents there to cheer us on and give us "shout outs" while we were running.  Check out the photos in the slideshow below or click HERE to see the photos individually.



Reading Workshop
At the beginning of the week, students learned how to recommend books to other readers in our classroom.  We have a Peer Recommendation area in our classroom where each student has his or her own pocket. Students can place recommendation cards in the pockets with suggestions for books from the classroom library that they think their peers would enjoy reading.  We also spent time reviewing test-taking strategies as a way to prepare students for the MEAP test this week.


Math
Students were introduced to fluency folders on Monday.  These folders contain lists of the count-bys and multiplication/division facts that students will be responsible for memorizing this year.  Each day in class will now include time for fact practice.  Students also learned to use the area model for multiplication, and they looked for patterns in the x4  facts.  They learned multiple strategies for finding 4s count-bys and solving problems involving 4s.


Social Studies
Students took the geography test on Friday.  You will find the corrected test in your child's homework folder today.  We will now move on to our next unit, "The Peopling of the United States" to learn more about the diversity in our country.


Star of the Week
Allison was our first All-Star of the Week!  We enjoyed seeing the photos she added to the Star of the Week board, hearing her read her favorite picture book to the class, listening to the wonderful letter her parents wrote to the class about her, and making a compliment book for her on Friday.  Allison especially enjoyed Lunch Buddy Day when her parents joined her in the cafeteria!