Mrs. Randall and I are overwhelmed with the generosity of our Weatherbee families! We want to thank you for sending in all of these supplies for our classrooms! :-)
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Friday, June 16, 2017
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Wrapping up our Reading Units
Our final reading unit is a focus on historical fiction. Linking previous units (weather and poetry) I have been reading aloud a book called Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. The historical time period is the Dust Bowl of the 1930s in Oklahoma. Students are feeling the raw emotion and tragedy the main character, Billie Jo Kelby experiences as she shares diary style poems.
Students are currently reading a variety of historical fiction in book clubs. They are setting their own reading assignments and reading then discussing the books together. Our target: to actively listen and share during historical book club meetings. I have been so impressed, while spectating their discussions as they are noticing, agreeing and politely disagreeing with each others thoughts and ideas, and even helping each other figure out what the author real means when having a character do or say something.
As a culminating activity, I hope to help each group create a "book trailer" about the book's characters, the time period their historical fiction novel took place, and the theme.
One student, as an independent reading project, was willing to create a model book trailer to use as a sample. I couldn't wait to share it! Just click on the link below :)
https://youtu.be/z7sqjhxWNdI
Students are currently reading a variety of historical fiction in book clubs. They are setting their own reading assignments and reading then discussing the books together. Our target: to actively listen and share during historical book club meetings. I have been so impressed, while spectating their discussions as they are noticing, agreeing and politely disagreeing with each others thoughts and ideas, and even helping each other figure out what the author real means when having a character do or say something.
As a culminating activity, I hope to help each group create a "book trailer" about the book's characters, the time period their historical fiction novel took place, and the theme.
One student, as an independent reading project, was willing to create a model book trailer to use as a sample. I couldn't wait to share it! Just click on the link below :)
https://youtu.be/z7sqjhxWNdI
Friday, May 5, 2017
Mystery Skype
Have you heard your child talking about our Mystery Skype sessions? If not, be sure to ask them. This week each class skyped with another class somewhere in the United States. Students used google maps, atlases, and paper maps to help them locate where the mystery class was located. Students took turns asking questions to narrow down where the other class lived. Some examples: Do you border an ocean? Do you get snow? Are you near the Mississippi River? Do you live in the Southern part of our country?
We were able to figure out each state in every class and narrow it down to the closest city. My homeroom skyped with San Diego, California. Mrs. Randall's class got Austin, Texas and Mrs. Felice's class had Dunedin, Florida.
The kids had a blast! Someone from each homeroom told me they wished we could do this EVERY day in social studies😊
Have you heard your child talking about our Mystery Skype sessions? If not, be sure to ask them. This week each class skyped with another class somewhere in the United States. Students used google maps, atlases, and paper maps to help them locate where the mystery class was located. Students took turns asking questions to narrow down where the other class lived. Some examples: Do you border an ocean? Do you get snow? Are you near the Mississippi River? Do you live in the Southern part of our country?
We were able to figure out each state in every class and narrow it down to the closest city. My homeroom skyped with San Diego, California. Mrs. Randall's class got Austin, Texas and Mrs. Felice's class had Dunedin, Florida.
The kids had a blast! Someone from each homeroom told me they wished we could do this EVERY day in social studies😊
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Author Skype Sessions
Mrs. Oberholtzer organized author Skype sessions for each of our classes. We were able to spend about 25 minutes interacting with three different authors. Some shared their published books, talked about their process for writing, inspiration and some great personal stories.
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| Jane Wood talked about her series and how she gets her ideas from her love of places and history. http://www.janewoodbooks.com/ |
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| Tara Lazar read her book Little Red Gliding Hood. She talked about when writing this fractured fairy tale, it started with just one word "gliding". This led to changing the setting to winter and plot to including a need for new ice skates to visit Grandma. Ms. Lazar had a great sense of humor and we loved the voices she gave her characters in her story. She even showed us she was working in her pajamas! https://taralazar.com/taras-books/
Suzanne Dewitt Hall read us her book called Rumplepimple. The character is based on her own dog who we got to say hello to during our Skype session. (I forgot to take a picture during this session, rats!)
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