Thursday Spotlight

1. First period we looked at our daily agenda and talked about what we needed to accomplish today.  We also talked about how many students are coming to school late and decided that starting in February - if you come late, you get lunch detention.  :-(    We then moved to the reading center and read Chapter 10 of The Indian in the Cupboard.  Our focus of the day was chronological order, so we talked about what came first, next, then, and last.
2. Second period we started with our 5 minute editing piece.  The students come up to the smartboard and have edit the sentences.  They are getting better at spotting the flaws, but I am still waiting for them to transfer this skill to their writing.  We then did an independent reading of our new ReadyGen book Midwest (pp. 11-14)  (lesson 2b.15) that talked about the animals of the area.  Our group guided reading session (pp. 15-23) was again focusing on chronological order.  After answering our comprehension questions using text evidence, we talked about our writing using opinions (claims) and how to defend our claim with text evidence.  They have a writing assignment tonight that will be used for a grade.  
3. As we were transitioning from ReadyGen to GoMath, we had a visitor come in to watch our class (Ms. Landin). Today we built on what we have learned using our fraction kits to make equivalent fractions.  Today was taking it from concrete (hands on) to abstract (mental) thinking.  The big "get" out of today's lesson was you can make an equivalent fraction by multiplying both the numerator and denominator by the same number.  2/3 = 4/6  (multiplied the numerator and denominator by 2).  After going over homework, doing the mini-lesson, and some sample problems, the kids who were ready were released to do their independent work while I met at the breakout table for students who wanted more help.
4. Computer Lab - students went to the computer lab to take their STAR Math assessment.  When they completed, they were allowed to work on Math Waggle or Math AR 2.0.
5. Gym - the students got another bad report from the gym teacher because of talking.   Parents - I need you to talk to your children and reinforce that there are times and places to talk, but during class instruction isn't the time.  Your child's education is at risk!  
6. Lunch
7. After lunch we returned to the room and did our number talk for the day.  Then we got ready to go home before passing out our Science Non-fiction reading section for the day.  

Homework:

• Writing:  RACE writing prompt
• Math:  GoMath Practice Page 6.2 (multiply the numerator and denominator by the same #)
• Math: Kumon Division Practice #14 (MUST SHOW WORK)