Today is the second to last day of March...I always feel like it is the longest month EVER, but wow, it really has flown by (as I said yesterday).
**"Abby-Lou" got to sit at my desk today, all day, as her reward for her "Earn and Reward" card's stars all getting colored in. "Peanut" earned his reward today and will be moving his desk anywhere he wishes tomorrow. Exciting things are happening with these cards and we are loving every bit of it!
**Tabitha presented her book report for reading today on a book she recently finished about Hurricane Katrina entitled,
I survived.
READING:
We went through our reading passage from our assessment and peer scored a neighbor's! This was so I could coach the students on how to use a scoring guide and rubric to score a '4' on an ORQ. After reading the passage, I modeled what a '4' should be using what was asked in the prompt and expected from the rubric. Then, each student was allowed to score a neighbor's response to offer good insight through compliments and constructive criticism. It is more for the scorer than the scoree because the scorer learns what to look for in an ORQ and what should be included. Therefore, on future ORQs, he/she can better plan out his/her response. Because over half of the class has not done this before with me, it took almost the entire class time.
HOMEWORK: complete ONE activity of choice from "think-tac-toe". Also, continue reading group's chapter book in order to finish by Friday!
MATH:
Have you ever started something and realized, "well, this didn't go as planned?!?" Well, that happened today in math. It actually didn't just go as planned, it was an almost trainwreck! Ahhhh! Thankfully, we were able to salvage what we needed from the activity and will re-do it tomorrow, especially now that students are clear on expectations and ready to listen and learn.
HOMEWORK: a quiz was sent home to complete. There are 8 multiple choice questions and an ORQ. Students: ROCK your parents' socks off with how well you are able to write an ORQ! Show them how you know EXACTLY what to do...teach them! Parents: the scoring guide is on the back of what is expected to score a '4'. Let you student explain to you what they know and show you how great they can complete these tasks!
PM activities:
Since Alyssa earned her reward from her 'Earn and Reward' card, she was able to have "teaching time" with the class! She taught us the 'Shark song' which was actually a great indoor activity for exercise!
Next, we only had a limited supply of computers so in order to get everyone time to work on our photobook (
http://www.walgreens.com/), AND do Science, we worked in shifts on the laptops while the remaining students watched a segment from the "Planet Earth" series about the importance of water around the Earth as we transition into studying the Water Cycle.
HOMEWORK: none.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Recently, I came across a resource used in another classroom here in Fayette County that I was really impressed with and I feel is a great incentive for students. It is called HOMEWORKOPOLY (www.homeworkopoly.com) and is played just like Monopoly, but is positive reinforcement for completing assignments and homework.
I personalized a board for use here in our classroom that has the street names to fit GSE and our community, as well as the chance and “community lunchbox” cards that are the actual rewards.
The gist of how it works:
**For each day the student brings back an assignment, he/she gets to roll a di and land on a space. They must go completely around the board once to begin earning the rewards (community lunchbox or chance), or do activities per the menu for each street name.
**If you’d like to view this GREAT incentive I'll be using or for further instructions, the site address again is www.homeworkopoly.com. It has everything you need (the board, instructions, etc…) to see how it works.
ALSO...
Mrs. Hawthorne got us started on a GREAT project where each student was sent home with a cabbage...ya know, you may have noticed the small green plant coming home with your child today?!? :)
Anyway, it is actually a Mega cabbage plant and is used as a fun and educational incentive for gardening season. Each student received one Mega cabbage to take home and grow in his/her own garden and a handout in the Wednesday folder called, "Bonnie's 3rd Grade Cabbage Program" which included instructions on how to best grow and care for the cabbage plant, along with directions for entering a contest to grow the biggest one (see www.bonnieplants.com for all the information you need if the info did not make it home in the folder). A $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to one winner in each state. The state winner is selected with the help of our State Department of Agriculture through a random drawing and we will select the winner from votes on our blog that will be sent to be judged. You must turn in a picture with the "giant head" of cabbage to be entered and then I will post it for people to vote on whose photo should be sent in. This is a great way to reinforce and practice the skills of the basic needs of an organism and keeping it nurtured in good health. If you have further questions, you can visit the site I mentioned above or email Mrs. Hawthorne or me (and I'll ask her and hopefully get the answers you need).
anyway...sorry about the long post, but thanks for sticking around if you've read it all!
Have a great night!
2 more days until Spring Break!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
P.S. My pictures (of Abby at my desk, Alyssa teaching, Tabitha's book report, and Daniel with the cabbage) are messed up for some reason today so I'll post them when I can get it figured out
