A Peek at My Week [1-19-13]

I'm linking up for the first time today with my coworker Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings to share a peek at my week. This is my first real post as well, and wouldn't you know I left my flash drive at school this weekend---- so I have a lot to share, but no pictures to go along with them.  Let's blame that one on pregnancy brain!  :)

The quarter ended on Friday, so I'm going to tie up a few loose ends this week and also begin to move forward.  Here are the big highlights....

Math- We're finishing up a measurement unit and are ready to test, however I still have a few things to wrap up. This unit covered measurement with rulers, liquid, telling time and also graphing which is a huge variety. Throw winter break in there which was extended by almost a whole week because of snow/cold days and I can't even remember what we did! To finish our unit there are several graphing lessons, so I thought I would make it different than the usual routine, especially if it's going to be cold again this week making indoor recess inevitable.  To make this more interesting every student in the class will come up with a survey question to ask.  We will type them up and pass out the survey.  Students will then take the data from the question that they asked to either put it into a tally chart, a frequency table or a line plot.  Based off of that information they will then make a bar graph or pictograph to share their results.

Reading- I run my classroom with work stations/ literacy centers.  Call it what you want, there are so many names for what it is. Right now I'm actually a part of a book study on this topic.  The book that we're working on is Jan Richardson's "The Next Step in Guided Reading."  I'm revamping a lot of what I do this year due to her work. My team is only through chapter 3, but I will share more as the book gets more involved.  Right now we're focused on the different assessments that will be used to group students.  We've been doing many of them to make sure our groups are running smoothly.

I meet with several guided reading groups each day as students cycle through a variety of centers/stations/rounds to reinforce skills, strategies and concepts in an independent way.  This week we are finishing up our work on fables.  I have several picked out at different levels for groups to work on.  The goal is for them to read and analyze the fable to share it with the rest of the class.  We will then do a retelling writing project where students will have the opportunity to retell one of the fables that was taught to them. This will be a great way for us to work on what information we share when trying to tell someone about a story that they haven't read.  This will cycle back our unit on story elements that we worked on at the beginning of the year.  It will also give others the opportunity to work on their communication skills to share information with others.  This is something that we've been working on a lot this year.  Lastly it will tie in with being able to write the information in a way that others will be able to understand that we know the stories. Also being able to understand the difference between a retell and a summary.  

Writing- I've been working very closely with our ESL teacher to teach writing together.  This year has been up and down when it comes to what we've been able to accomplish.  We've worked very well together and had a lot of success but don't feel that students are where they need to be. We've decided to change things up this quarter and incorporate more reading and writing together.  Several students are still struggling with both areas academically so giving a double dose will hopefully help to reinforce this.  I plan to continue with my usual groups during my reading block, and then when she comes in she will do another round of guided reading/writing with students needing more help.  At that time I'm going to work with several students who are showing success with what we've worked on already this year and take them to the next level. We're going to incorporate other activities as the weeks goes on, but want to see how the new routine goes first.  I'll keep you posted.


Have a great week!