We finally had a somewhat normal comm arts class today! At the beginning of the week we had WKCE testing, and then we continued working on our dream houses. Today during 8th hour we had a normal comm arts class! We did some journaling, we had DEAR time, reviewed our sight words....it was fabulous!
Tomorrow we will have our sight words test to see how much better we have gotten since the beginning of the year! We will also practice our sentence of the week skills to review everything!
No homework! Happy Halloween!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Dream House Spec Sheet: Oct 28, 2013
Today in comm arts class we worked on our dream house spec sheets. We went over examples of actual real estate sheets and ones we created. We also reviewed step up to writing and how this could help us write our paragraphs.
As we discussed in class, the paragraphs on your spec sheets should persuade your buyer to want to buy your dream house so you need to use really good powerful words! Your paragraph is non-fiction though so you want to make sure that you are only including facts!
We will continue working on these tomorrow!
As we discussed in class, the paragraphs on your spec sheets should persuade your buyer to want to buy your dream house so you need to use really good powerful words! Your paragraph is non-fiction though so you want to make sure that you are only including facts!
We will continue working on these tomorrow!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Oct 22, 2013 Dream Homes Continued
We continued working on our dream homes today! Yesterday during 8th hour everyone went outside and drew one room from their house to scale using chalk! This was especially helpful to some students who had a hard time picturing how big a meter was. Some needed to make their rooms smaller (a dog house shouldn't be the same size as a garage!) and some needed to make them much larger! (You do want to be able to fit a bed in your bedroom!) Here we are below...
Monday, October 21, 2013
Oct 21, 2013: Build your dream house!
Today we started a cross curricular project that promises to be awesome! The project we are working on is called "Dream House". This project focuses on combining aspects of math, science, and comm arts to create a real world experience.
Students will be building their "dream house" using a list of required items and land space that we have given them on a checklist (see dream home folder on homework doc). Obviously we are encouraging students to go above and beyond the required checklist...hint hint! But don't bite off more than you chew! Make sure to get all of the required items in your house before adding more!
Today we introduced the project with everyone in the auditorium.....
After going through the rules, expectations, ideas, and rubric behind the project, students went into the cafeteria to get started!!
We also did a walk through of what was happening, check out the kids hard at work!
Students will be building their "dream house" using a list of required items and land space that we have given them on a checklist (see dream home folder on homework doc). Obviously we are encouraging students to go above and beyond the required checklist...hint hint! But don't bite off more than you chew! Make sure to get all of the required items in your house before adding more!
Today we introduced the project with everyone in the auditorium.....
After going through the rules, expectations, ideas, and rubric behind the project, students went into the cafeteria to get started!!
We also did a walk through of what was happening, check out the kids hard at work!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Visualization Practice: Oct 9, 2013
We started class with sight word practice and journaling. After these two activities we practiced our sentence of the week skill by correcting sentences. You guys are starting to get this down! We will have a quiz on this skill on Friday.
After this we went through a visualization activity. I gave students a very non-descriptive sentence and had them draw a picture. Basically every persons picture was completely different because there was no description to the sentence. I continued to reread the same sentence but each time I would add more descriptive words. Gradually everyone's pictures started to look more and more similar, until everyone had nearly identical pictures. The purpose of this activity was to show the value in descriptive writing. It tied in perfectly with what is going on in social studies as well. We will continue to practice this tomorrow.
Look for descriptive words in your reading and practice using it in your own writing!
After this we went through a visualization activity. I gave students a very non-descriptive sentence and had them draw a picture. Basically every persons picture was completely different because there was no description to the sentence. I continued to reread the same sentence but each time I would add more descriptive words. Gradually everyone's pictures started to look more and more similar, until everyone had nearly identical pictures. The purpose of this activity was to show the value in descriptive writing. It tied in perfectly with what is going on in social studies as well. We will continue to practice this tomorrow.
Look for descriptive words in your reading and practice using it in your own writing!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Welcome to the class! Oct 7, 2013
Homework: Sentence of the Week, finish Latin root/prefix story if you have not done so yet
So today we welcomed some new students to the class. We spent class today getting everyone acquainted to our normal classroom routines, getting notebooks set up, and making sure everyone was on the same page! Notebooks should have four sections in them: Notes, Vocab, S.O.W., and Sight Words.
After reviewing sight words, we had DEAR time and then learned a new Sentence of the Week skill. The skill this week was deciphering when to capitalize mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc. We learned that if you can replace mom or dad with a persons name and it makes sense, you capitalize it. If it doesn't make sense, leave it lowercase. Here is our sentence of the week. Your four new sentences are due tomorrow! Two sentences should show them with capital letters, and two should show them with lowercase letters.
Tomorrow students will teach each other any sentence of the week skills that the students in other classes have not yet learned so we can all be caught up with each other!
So today we welcomed some new students to the class. We spent class today getting everyone acquainted to our normal classroom routines, getting notebooks set up, and making sure everyone was on the same page! Notebooks should have four sections in them: Notes, Vocab, S.O.W., and Sight Words.
After reviewing sight words, we had DEAR time and then learned a new Sentence of the Week skill. The skill this week was deciphering when to capitalize mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc. We learned that if you can replace mom or dad with a persons name and it makes sense, you capitalize it. If it doesn't make sense, leave it lowercase. Here is our sentence of the week. Your four new sentences are due tomorrow! Two sentences should show them with capital letters, and two should show them with lowercase letters.
Tomorrow students will teach each other any sentence of the week skills that the students in other classes have not yet learned so we can all be caught up with each other!
Friday, October 4, 2013
Quiz Day: Oct 4, 2013
We started class by taking two quizzes! Not to worry, you all survived....First we took our sight words quiz. We did this a little bit differently. Since everyone has different words that they are working on we had students speak their words into a voice recording app on the ipods and then use their headphones to give themselves their own quiz. After recording themselves speaking their words, they use the ipods to go through the words one by one and write them down. Here they are in action....
After the quizzes we worked on our root and prefix stories. Students need to take the list of prefixes and root words that we have been working on and learning and incorporate all of them into a story. This will show us that they not only know what the prefix means but that they can also use the words in context. I have been VERY impressed with what I've been seeing so far!
There is no homework, have a great weekend!
After the quizzes we worked on our root and prefix stories. Students need to take the list of prefixes and root words that we have been working on and learning and incorporate all of them into a story. This will show us that they not only know what the prefix means but that they can also use the words in context. I have been VERY impressed with what I've been seeing so far!
There is no homework, have a great weekend!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Root Word and Prefix Practice! Oct 2, 2013
Today in class we started with our usuals, sight words and DEAR time. During DEAR students needed to keep track of any "visual" words they came across while reading, and jot them down in their readers response journals. We had some great examples!
After this everyone reviewed their prefix and root words flashcards. You guys are rockstars! I am amazed at how well you all know all of your prefixes and root words!! Go you! We played a game where everyone was split up into groups. We would put a prefix and root on the board. After showing us what it meant on a mini whiteboard, the teams had to come up with sentences where they used the prefix or root word corretly and in context. Check it out....
We also talked about this fun reading challenge called read across America! Each state features a book that takes place in that state. Have fun and try to get through all 50!
After this everyone reviewed their prefix and root words flashcards. You guys are rockstars! I am amazed at how well you all know all of your prefixes and root words!! Go you! We played a game where everyone was split up into groups. We would put a prefix and root on the board. After showing us what it meant on a mini whiteboard, the teams had to come up with sentences where they used the prefix or root word corretly and in context. Check it out....
We also talked about this fun reading challenge called read across America! Each state features a book that takes place in that state. Have fun and try to get through all 50!
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