More Robert Munsch, Geometry, and reading mini-lessons

Ok, so yesterday when I told you how CRAZY this week had been? It's much better now. I had to call about FIVE parents yesterday to let them know their kids were BEYOND crazy! And I was LOVING today. I actually wrote a lot of "Love Notes" to their parents today letting them know that they had a MUCH better day. It's amazing how excited kids get over love notes like that.

I had one kid standing in line to get his "Thursday" folder that saw a kid in front of him getting a note in his folder. Then it was his turn. "Hey, I want a note too!" Wellll.... when you stop faking that you're sick and actually do the work I give you to do, then I'll write you one too!

Yeah... I THINK that might have done the trick. He got this big ole smile on his face. we will see how he is tomorrow. But I have hope.


This week, we are wrapping up my Robert Munsch unit. I love doing Robert Munsch, because I don't actually have to read. I do all the listening to the stories on his website. He is a PHENOMENAL reader! By the second time that we read a book, the kids are saying the words like he does - it is hysterical! And when they talk for the rest of the day, they'll try to sound like him. I LOVE it! Click the pic to check out his site.

Last week, we did Aaron's Hair.

This week, we've been focusing on Alligator Baby. Super cute story!

So they did a SWBSF...on their own this time!

I did go over with them after they wrote out the planning sheet, we conferenced one-on-one.

Then, they wrote it out in a paragraph...again, on their own. BUT, I did conference with them - because tomorrow is their test and they have to be able to do it ON THEIR OWN without any help from me. The motivator to get their centers finished this week was so that they could do Jessica's Alligator craft (from her Animals A to Z pack - LOVE it!). I think they turned out SUPER cute!

(The story summarizer is mine though)

In math, it was a shift in gears today... 

Geometry!

I noticed I don't really have anything to "share" with you in geometry (YET - lol), BUT, the kids LOVE when we bust out the geoboards!

Today, it was all about QUADRILATERALS.

I wanted them to see that a quadrilateral was ANY 4-sided shape...as long as the sides were straight. They tried making fun shapes and curves and such. Nope. Sorry. Straight Lines are the only ones invited to our party. lol

Look at them going to town!

And then they headed off to do their math centers. This one is the Money Pot

And the measurement is from the Pot O' Gold Math centers. 

They did both customary and non-standard, to get practice with both.

And, I wanted to show you one of my favorite ways to teach grammar...aside from my sentence imitation writings. Book searches during silent reading time.

Do you do a daily silent reading time? We do. EVERY day, they read for 15 minutes. Same time, every day. Right after lunch (we have recess in the morning between reading and math). And no, I don't do the Daily 5. I don't like them to read silently in a center...because I can't keep my eye on them and with the commotion of the other centers, how could they focus!? SO, we just ALL do it every day at the same time. I LOVE it.

I give them a "skill" to be looking for while they are reading. After their time is up, I'll call on a few kids to share. Today I had a few kids that wanted to give me words that ended with -ed but weren't really suffixes. But I'm glad that they tried to give me those, because then I was able to do a quick mini lesson. AND we talked about doubling consonants (forgetting) and dropping e's to add -ing (sharing), so the lesson sometimes leads to other lessons, ALL without having a workbook page! woo! (did that sound like a paid-for commercial...lol)

Tomorrow is Friday, my friends! Hope it's a good one!

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Our week in picture summary

Here are just a few pictures of what we've been up to - this week... I've been trying to get better at taking pictures again.

We finished our bear writing! We used my Bear Snores On Pack and they used the organizer in the pack to help plan out their thoughts (forgot to take that picture), and then wrote out the sloppy copy, and after I conferred with them they wrote their neat copy. 

But what I really love about these writings is HOW they did the bears. I just put some paint on the paper and they painted the paper. Then they took a plastic knife (I would've preferred a fork, but I didn't have one of those..lol) and they scraped the paint to make the hair.

After is dried, they traced the bear and cut it out and glued it down on paper with their writing.

We also started my Robert Munsch activities. We listened to Aaron's Hair on Robert Munsch's website.

Then, they did problem and solution in their learning journal.

Then, they did a SWBSF and summarized the story. I LOVE SWBSF because there are many different waits to write it out. But it also makes them think if they can take that thought all the way to the end. I asked one kid who the "somebody" should be and he started with Aaron's Hair...everyone thought he was wrong, but I asked him if he could take it all the way to the end...

"Aaron's Hair, WANTED to be liked, BUT no one did, SO he kept running away. FINALLY Aaron caught up with him and told him he liked him and he went back to Aaron."

See??? Most people would've started with Aaron. That's why I like it. 

And I wanted to show you a little trick....you know I use cards a lot to teach math.

WELL...the only technology I have in my room is a doc cam. Which I'm totally thankful for, but it's no smart board or iPad or anything....ha!

WELL - you know the perfect little cards to put on the doc cam???

TRAVEL size! 

Look how TINY these are! 

(Teeny - these are perfect for you! ha!)

Here are a few more things we've been doing in math - that come from my Deck of Cards pack.

and also, we've been TRYING to finish our pen pal letters...omgosh these kids take FOREVER writing letters our friends in Japan...but I just want to show you Suzy, they ARE writing them!!

And, you know how I tell you in my visual plans that we use the phonics poems book for fluency throughout the week?? Just wanted to show you a little snippet of what we do with them. 

I retype them so they can't see the bold-faced words (the book bold-types the phonics words). We do a series of fluency and partner reads and choral reads and such through out the week. They circle words that follow the phonics rule. Then they illustrate it. 

Whew! ok - so that's a summary of our week.

On my FB page, I shared the cover to my evidence log I have to do for my evaluation

I got a few requests to show what's in my binder. I took a few pictures today. So I'll post about it tomorrow for you. 

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