Another great day in Room 240 - here it is:

After beginning the day with independent reading and Morning Meeting, we had Reader's Workshop. Today I taught the kids a mini-lesson about predicting (it's one of the habits of good readers). We read a cool book by Chris Van Allsburg called The Z was Zapped, which is a great book for predicting. After the lesson, the kids each got a book and went to go practice the strategy. After the work time, we gathered for the lesson closing, and the kids each talked about the strategy or strategies that they used as a reader today.

After that, we had a short break time, and then were on to Writer's Workshop. The mini-lesson for today was about making little stories bigger by including more details, splitting the events up and using multiple pages to make a book. We read another cool book, this one by Dav Pilkey, who also wrote the Captain Underpants books, among many others. The book is called The Paperboy, which helped to illustrate how a simple story is much richer with details. After the book, many of the kids went and tried to write like Dav Pilkey, and at the end of workshop, when we gathered, each writer shared how they wrote (not what they wrote, but how they wrote).

It was then time for lunch and recess, and then back up to our room for Read-aloud, in which we finished Cam Jansen and the Monster Movie Mystery. Then it was up to the art room for class with Mr. Fairbanks.

When we got back to our room, it was time for Math Workshop. We continued our study of the hundred chart. Today we worked on comparing two digit numbers using the chart. Then the kids played the game "It's Mine, It's Yours" again, but this time with 2 digit numbers and 100s charts. At the end of the workshop time, we again gathered to talk about the various strategies that they discovered for comparing numbers.

After math, it was time for science - we read a fun book about butterflies, so that we woudl know what to expect as our caterpillars grow up and get bigger.

After all of that, it was time to get ready to go home, to Spanish class, or to Minneapolis Kids!