Back in November our class took a wonderful trip to Montpelier. The kids were good and the weather was great! We enjoyed a day together learning about James Madison’s home.
A Little Inference Practice
We did a lot of moving around on Friday. Between buddy reading, probability experiments, and inference practice we were barely in our seats. During reading we did an activity that had students moving around the room. This is an activity called SCOOT, where you move around the room answering different problems. In this case students were making inferences based on pictures and clues that they were given. They did a great job on this!
In case any one is interested, this was a free activity from the teachers pay teachers website. If you would like a closer look, here is the link:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Inference-Carousel-Making-Inferences-with-Pictures-518792
Buddy Reading!
On Friday, we were able to buddy read with our sweet little first grade buddies! The fifth graders had to choose a short book, practice reading it in our room with a partner, and then read it to their buddy when we went to the first grade classroom. The first graders also had a book to read to the fifth graders. This was a wonderful experience for everyone. The first graders were so excited that we came to their classroom, and the fifth graders enjoyed being the “big” kids and reading to the first graders. It was an awesome experience.
Interactive Notebooks
We use interactive notebooks in almost every subject, but definitely the one that we spend the most time working in is our Math Journal (Our JAM Notebook – Journal About Math) We like to include items in the notebooks that are interactive, so that the students will be able to go back and use these notebooks to review.
Today, students made spinners for their notebook. We are studying probability, so they were able to create a spinner the way that they wanted. They could make all of the parts equal, or they could make the parts different sizes. There were all sorts of very different spinners. Students then tested their spinners and kept track of which color it landed on for each spin. We then discussed the results.
A lot of the results matched the predictions that we made prior to spinning. A few of the results surprised us.
Kim and Jimbo!
Instead of Music class today we had visitors, Kim and Jimbo, come and play music with us. Some students also got to try out instruments. Everyone seemed to really enjoy this!
Tuesday Boot Day
The group of kids that I have this year are so much fun. We have had a lot of laughs together. They are also very creative. Well a group of my boys decided that Tuesday was going to be boot day. This began early in the year. I haven’t noticed lately if they are still doing this, but I know earlier in the year they were doing this every Tuesday. For a while, I was even wearing boots on Tuesdays. I will have to pay attention next Tuesday and see if this is something that they are still doing.
Inside the Classroom – Work Time
Working hard on math morning work! Morning work always consists of a review of a previously taught topic. In this case, the morning work was math review.
Word Study is from the program Words Their Way. Students are placed into groups based on an assessment, and are given words based on their individual needs in spelling. In this picture the student is sorting his words into categories.
Partner and small group collaboration happens a lot in my classroom. In this picture, students are working together to complete an assignment.
This child is adding a checkmark to one of the vocabulary words for the week. Each time students use one of the words correctly throughout the day, they add a check to the word card. The goal is to have students using new vocabulary words in everyday speech.
Human Bar Graph! This class created a human bar graph by standing in the column that they chose. I can’t remember exactly what the topic for the bar graph was, but they enjoyed being able to act this out.
Old Newspaper Clipping – Kid Pan Alley
The first two years I taught at Tye River, we participated in Kid Pan Alley. A song writing program for the students. The kids loved it! (Sorry this is hard to see)
Small Noisy Visitor
One spring day last year, a little, yet loud, chick visited our classroom for two days. The poor little thing was absolutely adorable and the students were in love with it. It continued to escape from its box and to randomly make chick noises throughout the day. As much as we wanted to keep it as a class pet, on Friday it returned home with its owner. Oh, and the kids named it Popcorn (Popcorn Chicken, get it?) Fun times!
View from the Chalkboard 
