Creative Book Reports

This is an example of one of the Creative Book Reports that the students created back in the fall. Students were pretty much open to creating whatever they wanted as long as they gave viewers a brief summary of the book.  There were many different types of projects that were turned in.  This one was so cute that I had to snap a picture of it. These two little girls are made from clay and painted.  If I remember correctly, they were laying down and sharing a secret. This was a favorite scene from the book.

 

Patterns Scoot!

We played another round of Scoot, this time with pattern cards.  Students had 32 patterns that they had to solve.  They were able to use calculators, which automatically makes math better with my students.  They did very well with these and enjoyed getting up and moving around.

           

 

 

Tree Diagrams

After a few lessons on tree diagrams, I had the students create one on their own.  They were able to choose whatever they wanted, as long as they were able to create combinations.  Most students created similar ones to the example that we created, ice cream combinations, cake combinations, etc.  These are two of the more creative diagrams that really stood out.

     

 

Time for a little Buddy Study!

With benchmarks quickly approaching, we took a little time out yesterday to study our History flashcards with a friend (or two).   I was very impressed with the amount of quizzing and reviewing that I heard going on.  Kids were not only asking each other the questions, but they were also explaining answers if they were answered incorrectly.  Bravo!

 

 

 

Online flashcards

 

A few random pictures from earlier in the year

I took these pictures earlier in the year. Enjoy…

    

 

   

 

  

 

   

 

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

 

 

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.

                                                       

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.