Tuesday, December 02, 2008

We worked on our number quilts today. First, each table was assigned a number. Everyone had to think of as many ways to make that number as they could. Then each person got a white piece of paper and colored squares to make the different combinations. Darren thought the most challenging part was figuring out how to make the numbers. Carly thought it was easy gluing the squares on the paper.

During Reader’s Workshop, we read for 23 minutes! In September, we started by reading for only 5 minutes a day. Lots of children feel like the time goes by really quickly. Some students are moving into new book bins. Ms. Stern has us change levels when we read smoothly, stay on task, and are able to understand and discuss the books that we read.

In music, we talked about typewriters from long ago. We did the hand motions pretending to be typing along with music. When we heard a bell, we “cut” the paper. Next time, we’re going to use drums to make the typing sounds.

During technology, we used the program called Buggles to help us with our reading. We got to learn a few more games. Mia liked the game where she could make cookies and also sweaters. Nolan also liked the game where he made cookies by matching words with the pictures.

We did Writer’s Workshop earlier in the day because of technology. We continued working on stories that we picked from our journals and planted like seeds on our writing paper. Everyone used their writing plan to help the story to grow. The writing plan keeps our minds on track and helps us tell stories by writing a strong lead (by telling when, who, and where). Next, we include the “what”s and give details to help the reader understand what happened. Finally, we think about where we included our feelings and explain “why.” Isabella said her hand was sweating because it was so excited to write!