Mr. McDougall's Smarties: Tuesday in Room 401

Today went by so fast! This is always a good sign that you are busy and learning!

1st - Mr. Nunez was absent so the kids had a substitute in the classroom. After about 25 minutes of them silently reading, I sorta started slowly pulling students and eventually just asked the kids if they wanted to start class. They agreed and we started class about 20 minutes early. I told the sub she could head out and she thanks me and left. We started reading the beginning of two short narratives (KIRA-KIRA and My Superpowers). Our focus was just to look at the opening and to identify what type of HOOK they used.

Anecdote (tell a short story that connects to the topic)
Question (ask a question that connects to the topic)
Quote (provide a quote that connects to the topic)
Statement of Intrigue (provide a statement that is intriguing and connects to the topic)

Three different HOOKS!

After looking at the two stories and understanding the task of the hook, we talked about other key aspects of the introductory paragraph. We did this by looking directly at the performance based assessment task. When you do a comparison, you must include the name of the texts/articles/books you are referencing and what exactly you will be discussing (thesis statement). The students also noticed after we color coded them that the listing of the texts was always there... and the thesis statement was always there... just the way you hook the reader changed!
We spent the majority of periods 2 and 3 breaking down introductions, breaking down the task, and then letting students decide on three options:

If you are comfortable with the task, start writing.
If you need a little support, take the template that just has the shell
If you need more support, take the template that has key sections labeled and in some cases already provided.

Students were given 45 minutes of writing time in class, using any of the three options they needed. They will finish tonight so that tomorrow they will have 15-20 minutes to partner up, reread their PBA, make any changes (edit), and then rewrite their draft.
We spent math time reviewing what we have already covered:

Fraction Review So Far...
Then we decided to review equivalent fractions by getting out the fraction tiles and pairing up to play the "Trading" game. I give you this fraction, you give me back an equivalent fraction. By playing this game, the students were able to see that the equivalent fractions had denominators that were multiples. This lead to use reviewing how to mathematically do the algorithm to find common denominators using multiples (LCM).

Sean and Norberys working hard

Jadah and Kimberlyn

Adrianna and Tyron

Sarah and Maranda

Abigail and Briannie
We then went to lesson 6.7 and practiced making common denominators using common multiples to get the LCM and solve. We always try to go from concrete (hands on) to abstract (algorithm) so they have time to make the connection and can understand the process fully.
After lunch we reviewed the vocabulary from Chapter 4 in social studies and then started reading Chapter 4, Section 1.

Gold found in Jamestown,Virginia made this a profitable place to settle.
James Oglethorpe gave away land in Georgia to poor people who were willing to work hard to change their lives

Homework:

Writing: Use your notes and templates to finish writing your PBA that you started in class. This MUST be done tonight so we can edit and finalize tomorrow after MATH testing.
Math: Finish lesson 6.7 in the GoMath book pp 255-256