A Peek At My Week [1.27.14]

It's Sunday so that means time to pack the school bag and prepare for lunches and dinners for the upcoming week.  I certainly didn't get all that I wanted to accomplished at home this weekend, but we did get a lot done.  My husband and I finished registering for the baby (holy craziness, batman!!)  I had no clue there were so many things you could get for a baby!  Since that took up most of the time this weekend, I'll have to put some cleaning on the agenda for during the week. Since it is Sunday, that means that I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for her weekly linky party called 'A Peek at my Week.'

Personally, this polar vortex seems to be putting a damper on this week's plans, I blame the fact that I accidentally did my plans for the next two weeks in pen instead of pencil for the possibility that I might be staying home at some point this week.

I understand it's for safety, but it just feels like we've missed so many days!  With the year being half done it's hard to imagine not having enough time to get everything done.  I'm especially worried because I will be going on maternity leave this spring.  I want to get everything in that I can!!! So here's what I will be up to this week...and here's to hoping that they are wrong about the weather and I will have 5 days of school to fit it all in!




Math-  We're starting our new unit in math this week.  It is on addition strategies.  It seems weird for me to be going from multiplication to addition because in years past we've done it the other way around.  This week's focus will be on making place value drawings to show numbers being added together and then rounding.  We will also be using secret code cards from the series to build numbers and talk about their place value. My goal is to use many different types of manipulatives to show all of the different ways to go about adding. The thing with kiddos in third grade is they think they understand addition because they've been taught how to add things for several years now, however they still really struggle with the concept of why and how.  We'll be spending a lot time doing that this week!  Wish me luck!  On a side note, we're using math expressions for the first time this year.  I was wondering if any of you have used this for longer than the few months that I have?  Any suggestions or comments on the series?? I would love to hear what you think.

Reading-  Our reading focus this week is going to be on the beginning of our poetry unit. I'm very excited to start this unit and begin some great discussion with students, especially on figurative language.  We'll begin this week with exploring different types of poems and also telling what we know about poetry. I like to bring out all of my poetry books and just let them explore!  I always like to share the website giggle poetry with students as well.  We then will use a district resource that is full of small poems to teach various poem structure with.  We'll learn things this week like refrain, stanza, free verse, italics, and bold words.  Once I discuss with students our first couple of days I then make more of a plan according to what they show interest in and also what they already know about poetry.  I'll share more next week in terms of lesson plans and resources.


Writing- We will continue with our writing groups and my teaming up with our amazingly wonderful ESL teacher.  Last week was our first week giving some struggling students the opportunity to get a double dose (some even a triple) of guided groups that incorporate both writing and reading.  This week something that I'm throwing in is a sticker story for some free writing.  I'm trying to bring out all of the stops, as this weather has us all feeling a little blue....so here's a little something that I put together to get their creative juices flowing.

I literally stick one or two random stickers on a page. I wait until fun or different/3D type stickers go on clearance and then stock up on them.  I don't bring these out often, but when I do I have a wide variety to choose from.  They must complete a picture around it and then write a story.  Our lines on this paper are a bit larger than usual, but we're just putting all of our cursive together, so the extra room helps out!

And just like that the call came in for a snow/cold day tomorrow.  Looks like this will all be put on hold.  At least I have it ready to go, right????   I'm off to go cuddle with my puppy love! She's got the right idea, and has cuddled right into my electric blanket!  Stay warm everyone who is being hit with this crazy winter weather!