Another great day in Room 240 – here are the details:
After Independent Reading time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. The kids spent some time trading books for their book bags, and then the balance of the time reading and responding to their books. After that, we ate the much-awaited Stone Soup, which was remarkably tasty. Thanks to both Matt and Jane who came in to help serve (and eat) the soup. Several of the kids had multiple bowls of soup, and several were talking about making it for Thanksgiving dinner (just a heads-up; email me if you want the recipe… ☺).
After the feast, we spent some time talking about the people that work in our school for whom we are thankful. Each of the kids chose a person who is a non-classroom teacher (we get plenty of thank yous and fun letters from kids, generally) and wrote them a letter to say why we are thankful for them. We’ll finish the writing and the illustrations tomorrow, and then go out delivering!
After that, it was time for lunch and recess, and then back up to the classroom for Read Aloud (we started a new Cam Jansen book today). Then we were off to the Media Center for class with Mrs. Hennen.
When we got back to the room, we had Math Workshop. Today we worked on number combinations – using 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s to make 6, 8, 10, and 12 in as many different ways as possible. The kids should have the page that we worked on in their folders today.
At the end of the day, we worked on our thank you letters for a little bit, and then it was time to pack up and head home!
Monday, November 23, 2009
A bit of a crazy day in Rom 240, but a great one!
This morning, as many of you probably know, we did all of the prep work for Stone Soup. Thank you to the parents (Greg, Kristen, Christine, Jean, Sandee, Jill, and Joanne) for coming in to help out. I certainly could not have done it alone – that many kids with knives is quite a sight (even if they were all butter knives). We had a great time peeling, slicing, and dicing carrots, potatoes, celery, and an onion. Here’s some video of our escapades:
After all of that excitement, we learned the Stone Soup song – it goes like this, to the tune of “All Around the Mulberry Bush”:
Start the soup with water and stones,
Water and stones,
Water and stones.
Start the soup with water and stones,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Drop in carrots and onions, too,
Onions, too,
Onions, too.
Drop in carrots and onions, too,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Peas and celery go in too,
Go in too,
Go in too.
Peas and celery go in too,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
The tomatoes make it look like soup,
Look like soup,
Look like soup.
The tomatoes make it look like soup,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Potatoes make the soup taste good,
Soup taste good,
Soup taste good.
Potatoes make the soup taste good,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Add some barley to make the soup,
Make the soup,
Make the soup.
Add some barley to make the soup,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Don’t forget the salt and pepper,
Salt and pepper,
Salt and pepper,
Don’t forget the salt and pepper,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Stir it up and let it cook,
Let it cook,
Let it cook.
Stir it up and let it cook,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Eat it all but please don’t slurp,
Please don’t slurp,
Please don’t slurp.
Eat it all but please don’t slurp,
YUM, YUM, YUM!
After that, we were back to (somewhat) normal. We had Writer’s Workshop, in which the kids went back to previous stories that they have worked on and added in details, much like our ‘friend’ Vera B. Williams does in her stories.
After that, it was off to lunch and recess, and then back in for Read Aloud, which was another version of Stone Soup. We then headed down to the gym for our time there.
When we got back up to the room, we had Reader’s Workshop, which we missed in the Stone Soup excitement this morning. Today we reviewed how to do Buddy Reading, and then they kids read and some of them met with me for Reading Group.
After reading, we had a bit of a “make-up” time. We fed the scraps from the Stone Soup fixings to the worms, got to look at some more money from around the world (thanks, Eleanor!), and talked about the food drive and the Penny Pals campaign. After that, it was time to pack up and head home!
This morning, as many of you probably know, we did all of the prep work for Stone Soup. Thank you to the parents (Greg, Kristen, Christine, Jean, Sandee, Jill, and Joanne) for coming in to help out. I certainly could not have done it alone – that many kids with knives is quite a sight (even if they were all butter knives). We had a great time peeling, slicing, and dicing carrots, potatoes, celery, and an onion. Here’s some video of our escapades:
Start the soup with water and stones,
Water and stones,
Water and stones.
Start the soup with water and stones,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Drop in carrots and onions, too,
Onions, too,
Onions, too.
Drop in carrots and onions, too,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Peas and celery go in too,
Go in too,
Go in too.
Peas and celery go in too,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
The tomatoes make it look like soup,
Look like soup,
Look like soup.
The tomatoes make it look like soup,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Potatoes make the soup taste good,
Soup taste good,
Soup taste good.
Potatoes make the soup taste good,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Add some barley to make the soup,
Make the soup,
Make the soup.
Add some barley to make the soup,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Don’t forget the salt and pepper,
Salt and pepper,
Salt and pepper,
Don’t forget the salt and pepper,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Stir it up and let it cook,
Let it cook,
Let it cook.
Stir it up and let it cook,
Yum, Yum, Yum.
Eat it all but please don’t slurp,
Please don’t slurp,
Please don’t slurp.
Eat it all but please don’t slurp,
YUM, YUM, YUM!
After that, we were back to (somewhat) normal. We had Writer’s Workshop, in which the kids went back to previous stories that they have worked on and added in details, much like our ‘friend’ Vera B. Williams does in her stories.
After that, it was off to lunch and recess, and then back in for Read Aloud, which was another version of Stone Soup. We then headed down to the gym for our time there.
When we got back up to the room, we had Reader’s Workshop, which we missed in the Stone Soup excitement this morning. Today we reviewed how to do Buddy Reading, and then they kids read and some of them met with me for Reading Group.
After reading, we had a bit of a “make-up” time. We fed the scraps from the Stone Soup fixings to the worms, got to look at some more money from around the world (thanks, Eleanor!), and talked about the food drive and the Penny Pals campaign. After that, it was time to pack up and head home!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Hello all,
Once again, I apologize for the lack of posts. We have had a glut of meetings after school for the past couple of weeks, and it has been busy.
On Friday, for those who might be interested, I was out because I was presenting at a Writing/Literacy Conference for teachers that was held at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, MN. I presented with our Literacy Coach, Megan Pershica, and I'm proud to say that everyone there was VERY impressed by your children's writing (of course I took samples to brag with...). If you 'd like to know more, you can access the brochure for the conference here.
Today, however, was a great day in room 240. After Independent Reading time and Morning Meeting, I decided to switch the normal order of the morning – we had Writer’s Workshop first, and then had Reader’s Workshop. The kids came in this morning with so many stories, and they were so excited about their stories, that I just had to let them write first off. They wrote some amazing pieces today – be sure to ask them all about them!
After Writing, we had our musical interlude – a fun song that we sing to get the kids up and moving a little bit before the next part of our morning. Today we sang an old favorite – “Someone’s Taking Us to the Zoo Tomorrow.” After that, we had Reader’s Workshop, in which we went shopping for new books for the book bags, and also got to do Buddy Reading, which the kids love. They also recorded their books that they read on their book log and then wrote a short reader response in their journal.
After that, it was time to head down to the lunchroom for lunch, and then out to recess. When we got back up to our room, we started a new book, called Cam Jansen and the Scary Snake Mystery, which Ray was nice enough to bring in for us to enjoy. After Chapter 1 (which had a nice cliff hanger ending), we went down to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson.
When we got back up to our room, we had Math Workshop, in which we worked on solving addition story problems using manipulatives (hands-on items to visualize the problem). We finished workshop with a nice discussion of the various strategies and methods that they kids used to solve and keep track of the multiple solutions.
After Math, we had Science Lab. In Science we are wrapping up our unit on Organisms, so today we had a discussion as a class comparing people to plants. We also made a Venn Diagram of our ideas, which we will continue to work on tomorrow. Also tomorrow, we will compare ourselves to other animals, to see similarities and differences.
After all of that, it was time to wrap everything up and head home!
Once again, I apologize for the lack of posts. We have had a glut of meetings after school for the past couple of weeks, and it has been busy.
On Friday, for those who might be interested, I was out because I was presenting at a Writing/Literacy Conference for teachers that was held at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, MN. I presented with our Literacy Coach, Megan Pershica, and I'm proud to say that everyone there was VERY impressed by your children's writing (of course I took samples to brag with...). If you 'd like to know more, you can access the brochure for the conference here.
Today, however, was a great day in room 240. After Independent Reading time and Morning Meeting, I decided to switch the normal order of the morning – we had Writer’s Workshop first, and then had Reader’s Workshop. The kids came in this morning with so many stories, and they were so excited about their stories, that I just had to let them write first off. They wrote some amazing pieces today – be sure to ask them all about them!
After Writing, we had our musical interlude – a fun song that we sing to get the kids up and moving a little bit before the next part of our morning. Today we sang an old favorite – “Someone’s Taking Us to the Zoo Tomorrow.” After that, we had Reader’s Workshop, in which we went shopping for new books for the book bags, and also got to do Buddy Reading, which the kids love. They also recorded their books that they read on their book log and then wrote a short reader response in their journal.
After that, it was time to head down to the lunchroom for lunch, and then out to recess. When we got back up to our room, we started a new book, called Cam Jansen and the Scary Snake Mystery, which Ray was nice enough to bring in for us to enjoy. After Chapter 1 (which had a nice cliff hanger ending), we went down to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson.
When we got back up to our room, we had Math Workshop, in which we worked on solving addition story problems using manipulatives (hands-on items to visualize the problem). We finished workshop with a nice discussion of the various strategies and methods that they kids used to solve and keep track of the multiple solutions.
After Math, we had Science Lab. In Science we are wrapping up our unit on Organisms, so today we had a discussion as a class comparing people to plants. We also made a Venn Diagram of our ideas, which we will continue to work on tomorrow. Also tomorrow, we will compare ourselves to other animals, to see similarities and differences.
After all of that, it was time to wrap everything up and head home!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Another good day in Room 240!!
After independent reading time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. We are beginning an Author’s Study about Vera B. Williams. We looked at a poster that I made that highlighted events from her life and facts about her, so that we could get to know her a bit. The books that she writes are largely personal narratives, which is the next unit that we will be doing in Writer’s Workshop (we will use these books as Mentor Texts in our writing in the coming weeks). We read one of her books today as well – A Chair for my Mother (more details here). We’ll go back tomorrow and analyze the books for several key points.
After that, we had a short break time, and then it was on to Writer’s Workshop. Today we looked back at all of the writing that they have done thus far. They picked out one piece to give to me for a year-long record, one piece that they wanted to keep at school to continue working on, and then packed up the rest to bring home – ENJOY!
Then it was on to lunch and recess, then back up to our room to finish Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig, and then off to the library for class with Mrs. Hennen.
When we got back to our room, we had math workshop, in which we worked on the end-of-quarter assessment. After that great fun, we had Science Lab, in which we figured out what makes an organism an organism (breathing, eating, needing water, being alive, growing, and dying). Then each of the kids made a picture of their favorite organism.
After all of that, it was time to pack up and head home!
After independent reading time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. We are beginning an Author’s Study about Vera B. Williams. We looked at a poster that I made that highlighted events from her life and facts about her, so that we could get to know her a bit. The books that she writes are largely personal narratives, which is the next unit that we will be doing in Writer’s Workshop (we will use these books as Mentor Texts in our writing in the coming weeks). We read one of her books today as well – A Chair for my Mother (more details here). We’ll go back tomorrow and analyze the books for several key points.
After that, we had a short break time, and then it was on to Writer’s Workshop. Today we looked back at all of the writing that they have done thus far. They picked out one piece to give to me for a year-long record, one piece that they wanted to keep at school to continue working on, and then packed up the rest to bring home – ENJOY!
Then it was on to lunch and recess, then back up to our room to finish Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig, and then off to the library for class with Mrs. Hennen.
When we got back to our room, we had math workshop, in which we worked on the end-of-quarter assessment. After that great fun, we had Science Lab, in which we figured out what makes an organism an organism (breathing, eating, needing water, being alive, growing, and dying). Then each of the kids made a picture of their favorite organism.
After all of that, it was time to pack up and head home!
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