PA and TD for the Week of 1-14

There will not be PA or TD on Monday or Tuesday this week because of CBM testing with K and 1.

KTD Math will meet on Wednesday to do a few fun activities with shapes and finding shapes within other shapes.

KTD Literacy will meet with me on Friday to play a game using dictionaries, searching for different words. 

1 and 2TD groups will meet with me on Wednesday and Friday.  Both groups will be learning about the protagonist and antagonist in stories.  Kids will all have books in their hands looking for characteristics of both types of characters and comparing what they find with a partner who read a different story.  

3PA only got through 15 minutes of the documentary about the Pyramids last week because they were taking so many notes!  It was so much fun to see the kids so engaged in this new unit. Our journey back 5,000 years ago to Giza will continue this week.

4PA did a fantastic job sifting through the poetry of Langston Hughes last week.  It was so fun discussing his writing and listening to what the students had to say.  This week, we will be exploring Harlem in the 1940's using a website that is listed under "Student Resources" called Drop me off in Harlem.  The kids can explore artists, musicians, dancers, and other writers who were a part of the Harlem Renaissance.   

5PA will be having a Socratic Seminar, using questions they wrote, about the positives and negatives of genetically modified organisms in the human food chain.  The students all read the same three articles and annotated them last week, and then did some independent research once they had formed an opinion on which side of the debate they were on.  We will also have one day for Capstone work.  

Welcome Back!

K-2 TD groups will not be meeting this week, instead, I've invited every K-2 class to come to my classroom for a "Best of 2018" read aloud celebrating some of my favorite books of the year.  I'm looking forward to welcoming back all of our younger kids for a fun celebration of stories.

3PA will begin our exploration of Ancient Egypt today.  The class will be watching a documentary film that explains the complexity of how and why the Great Pyramid of Giza was created.  We will learn about the Pharaoh Khufu and his significance in the pyramids.  The film is based on a book titled Pyramid by David Macaulay, and when we finish the film, the kids will all get a copy of the book to begin reading. 

  

4PA will meet Langston Hughes this week as we begin a short unit on The Harlem Renaissance.  The class will spend most of the week using a poetry analysis process called SIFT (symbols, images, figurative language, and tone and theme).  The class will be reading "Freedom's Plow", "Harlem", and "I, Too Sing America" and discussing the poems at length.  We might have time to begin writing a poem inspired by "Harlem" later in the week. 

5PA will get back to work researching the pros and cons of using GMO's in our crops.  We will also be discussing the Capstone and moving into the next part of this journey, developing practical solutions of how to fix the problem they are researching.  

PA and TD for the Week of 12-17

Thank you all so much for the donations you made for the generous gift card I got last week.  It was very kind and I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness.

KTD Math will be decomposing numbers with me this week.  The numbers will be challenging, 37 and 42, so strategies of knowing 5 and 10 facts will not be the only strategy to rely on.  The group will be creating different ways to show the numbers.

KTD Literacy will be reading and discussing the picture book Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner.  This is a fun read about what Snowmen do at night.  The kids and I will develop theories of our own during our time together. 

1TD gathered a lot of great research on a topic of their choice last week.  This week, the class will be creating an info graphic, a poster with a combination of pictures and information, about their topics to share with their classmates.

2TD and 3PA will spend the final week of 2018 with the most detailed picture book in my collection, The 11th Hour by Graeme Base.  This book is a mystery about who ate the feast at a birthday party.  There are over a thousand clues in the picture and text to show who the culprit was.  I have 15 copies of the text and it will take all week to figure out who ate the feast. 

4PA will present, assess, and discuss their Newbery projects this week.

5PA will finish their Crossover and Brown Girl Dreaming slide shows this week and continue to assess each other's projects.  

How Do Snowflakes Form?

PA and TD for the Week of 12-10

KTD Math will continue to work on multi-step addition story problems this week.  I was impressed by the stamina I saw last week as the kids tackled some challenging tasks. 

KTD Literacy will read the picture book Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing this week and create their own page to add to the story. 

1TD did a wonderful job last week reading articles about influential people.  This will come in handy in their homerooms during third quarter as this is a topic they will be focused on.  This week, we will be researching a topic of their choice using the website https://www.dkfindout.com/us/  This too will help 3rd quarter as the whole first grade will be researching topics and the TD kids can help out their peers. 

2TD will meet Wilson Bentley this week in the Caldecott winning picture book about his life, Snowflake Bentley.  He was the first person to photograph snowflakes. The kids and I will learn about snowflake geometry and structure and create a few snowflakes as well. 

  

3PA will be reading the short story "The Green Man" by Gail E. Haley this week.  discussing topics will include why we believe in things we cannot see, protection, change, and the kids will be writing a few literature responses during our time together.  

4PA will finish their projects on Call it Courage and the Newbery book of their choice this week and present their Google Slides to the class.  The students will be assessing each other using the Newbery Medal criteria.  We will also have a Socratic Seminar about the quality of children's literature.  later in the week, if time allows, we will begin a unit on the poetry of Langston Hughes and The Harlem Renaissance. 

5PA will be presenting their team projects comparing two novels this week on Tuesday.  The kids will be assessing each other using the four standards that guided this whole project.  The class will work on Capstone projects on Thursday, and we will begin reading background information on the pros and cons of GMO's in the human food chain.