One fine day in Room 240 again – here are the gory details…

After Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. Today we worked on the scrambled Eloise Greenfield poem from yesterday – most of the kids were able to finish a poem – really interesting to see what they came up with, and how it differs from what Eloise actually wrote. I also introduced another poem for our Author Study today – “Fun” – once again written by Eloise (at this point, she seems like an old friend and writing mentor for us!). The kids also traded books in the Just-Right Bookbags and had Independent and Buddy Reading time while some of them met with me in Reading Group.

After reading, we had a song – a nice little number called “Mr. Knaus Has Got a Pig on His Head.” Ask your child to sing it for you…

Then it was on to Writer’s Workshop. The kids used the page from a non-fiction book that they selected yesterday to start a “Found Poetry” poem. They crossed off all of the “non-poetic” words in the text, and then used the lovely words that remained as the basis for a poem. They are turning out quite nicely.

After writing, it was time for lunch and then (outdoor) recess. When we got back in and up to our room, we read another Poppleton book for Read Aloud (this was the first one in the series, called Poppleton). Then it was time to head on down the hall for Media with Mrs. Hennen.

When we got back to our room, it was Math Workshop. Today I reviewed all of the pairs of numbers that make ten (10 & 0, 9 & 1, 8 & 2, 7 & 3, etc.). Ten we talked about how to use the “make ten strategy” to add numbers that go past ten, such as 8+5. The kids then went off to apply the strategy to solve word problems in their workbooks.

After Math, it was on to Science Lab. We’re still studying electricity, and added a buzzer to the electrical system (they have already ‘discovered’ how to make alight bulb light, a small motor turn, and a switch to work). The problem that we left off with today was trying to get all of the devices to work at the same time, with the switch to turn them on and off. We’ll get back at that tomorrow.

After all of that, as usual, it was time to pack up and head home!