Friday in Room #401

Hey Everyone!!!

I want to apologize for the lack of blogging recently.  I have been fighting a very bad cold all week and I have to admit, it got the better of me.  I was too tired for much of anything once I got home, just trying to rest and get better.

I am feeling a little better, but not great!  I talked to my doctor and he said something is going around and it seems to be taking two weeks to run its course, so looks like I have another week of feeling like I am about to drop at any minute!

Today was a pretty good day all in all!  We are in the process of wrapping up units so we are reviewing and getting ready for tests and performance tasks.  Heads up that students will have to do a written performance task IN CLASS on Monday (just 45 minutes) to complete from start to finish.  We have done plenty of reviewing and pre-writing so they should ok.  This is GREAT practice for their essay writing for the state test, which is quickly rushing up on us!

• 1st - Test Prep ELA - we read a story about The Silver on the Hearth (a folktale) and then we broke it down paragraph by paragraph.  Then we looked at the written response question and talked about what exactly it needed and we wrote a RACE response together.  They have one problem from their packet to do for homework before collecting it on Monday.
• 2nd - Science with Ms. Galan.  I got a bad report on their behavior.  :-(
• 3rd - ReadyGen Lesson 3A.17 and 18 Combo.  The lessons centered on using the text to review information they have worked with over the course of the unit so we combined them and made a game out of it.  The students were really engaged and earned lots of Class Dojo points for correct answers.  We had two Team Talk sessions where they broke into teams and talked about the "big question" posed to the class.  They had to form an opinion as a group and support it with text details.  Again, we had great fun reviewing all four texts we have used in this A module and they got to start working on their performance task by thinking of how the texts were alike and different and which one had the most impact.  We ended by looking at the performance task in the book and talking about what they need to do on Monday - 5 paragraph essay!  They were told to review the two texts they want to use for their essay this weekend and make a list of how they are alike in one column, and how they are not alike in the other.  
• 4th - Math Review for sessions 7.6, 7.7 and 7.8.   Then the kids had a quiz where they had to work one problem from each section, solve it, and then explain their steps for solving the problem.  We finished by having our "switch" math where kids rotate through math stations to work on the skills they have covered this week.  We will be doing 7.9 on Monday and 7.10 on Tuesday, and take the Chapter 7 Test on Wednesday and the PBA on  Thursday on our half day!
• 5th - Friday Math Test Prep was quick.  Then we were supposed to Waggle , but the library was locked due to setting up the Book Fair so we broke into study buddies and the kids worked on their 13 colonies projects.  A few kids decided it was more important to go online to look at shoes on footlocker.  Again, I took pictures of their search history and will talk to those parents during parent conferences.  
• 6th - Lunch!   Congratulations to Jadah for getting the most Dojo points this week.  She racked up 21 points this week!  Sean, Briannie, Catalina, and Dilenny came in close seconds with 19 points.   We had our pizza party to celebrate while 7 of our classmates ate their school lunch on the other side of the classroom in silence for Lunch Detention.   When the pizza party group finished, they went across the hall to help the librarian set up the book fair!  They are such good helpers!  I stayed in the room with the lunch detention kids.  :-(
• 7th - We watched the PBS American Experience documentary "The Great San Francisco Earthquake" so the children could experience this unit in yet another outlet.  The documentary allowed them to see San Francisco in all its glory before the earthquake and then after.  The devastation was made even more real when these old people talked about being a kid during the time and hearing what it was like.. losing everything, even parents.  I heard the kids say a lot of "wow's" as we watched.... 

I will see my 13 kids tomorrow for Saturday Academy.  I will be bringing Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate frosted donuts again!  See you at 9AM!  Bring something to snack on because you will get hungry from all the learning we will be doing!

Homework:

• ELA and Math Test Prep Questions
• Writing:  Review the two texts you wish to use (out of the 4) for the Performance Task you will be working on on Monday.  After reviewing, make a list of how they are alike and different.  You will use these to write your paper on Monday!
• Reading:  Read 30-45 minutes so you can take AR Test!