It's a great day for a football game.  Hope the Patriots can get a win today.

                                                                        #Bookaday

We are reading an assortment of books in class.  Each one is delivering a powerful message, either about being kind, being different, and even about accepting others for who they are.  I try to do an activity with each one and sometimes we do a writing piece that goes along with it.

The children love taking part in the various activities. The M&Ms were a hit. Depending on the color they chose, they had to answer the question related to the color of the M&M.  

 For example if they had red they had to share their favorite food, if it was blue, they had to talk about their pets. 

Question of the day:

Each morning I put up a question for the children to answer once they come in and get settled.  I love watching the children go up to the easel and excitedly write their answer.  Great conversations are taking place during circling up.  We share what our answers are.  Many love to share, others, are still not too comfortable but that's ok. 

Overall, we had a great week.  The children are getting along, working together in groups and reading novels.  We are also working on Personal Narratives in Writing Workshop.

Welcome Autumn

 

 

 Each day I put up a message on the chart paper and the children come up and answer the question or write their comment.  We discuss it during circling up.  The students love to share their responses.

This is one of the activities that the students worked on for their parents.  This activity came from a link I saw on Pinterest.  Many of the activities we do in class, are inspired by Pinterest.

 

 One of my 4th grade classes is reading The BFG.  I had them think about where they see themselves in 15-20 years and tell me what their dreams were.

 Our Open House was a success.  I set up various stations throughout the room and the parents are free to walk around and take part in the activities.  This year I prepared a slide presentation for the parents to view.  I have to admit, I like the way it turned out.

 On Dot day, this was one of the activities that the students worked on. They received a paper with just one dot on it and made it part of their drawing.  It was yet another display at Open House.

 Our 5th graders are embarking on Summit Learning this year.  They are using videos, text and other resources to learn.  This week we are learning about note taking and creating flashcards. 

 The children are engaged at all times and are moving right along.  I am eager to see them grow and discover the wonderful things they will create. 

Making their Marks!!!

Lots of fun things are happening in 4Z:

The children have begun Writer's Workshop.  They are working on Personal Narratives for this trimester.  We discussed hooks this week and will bait their readers with a great one so that the writer captures the reader's attention.  

                                Friday we celebrated Dot day.  I read the book, The Dot, by Peter Reynolds and even listened to the song.  They created structures using candy dots and toothpicks only.  There was a lot of cooperative/team work involved and the children were very engaged.  They also were given a blank sheet of paper with just a dot on it and they created a picture.

Every child was asked to make their mark on chart paper.

Every day I read a book to them and we discuss the message in each one.  Sometimes we do an activity, other times we have great conversations about the book.  We will have 180 books read by the end of the school year.  

Good Morning,
I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. This is my first official post on my new blog and I am so excited.  School is back in session and we have been adjusting nicely to 4th grade.  Our first few days have been spent around activities for getting to know one another and building positive relationships.  We are incorporating circling up and discussions have been going great.  The themes of the past few weeks have been kindness and positivity.  We have been going over routines and the children are doing nicely with the rotating of classes.  This year I have also incorporated #bookaday, which involves me reading a short book and discussing the powerful message it is teaching us, everyday.  So far, the children have been enthralled with these books.I have such a wonderful class and am looking forward to having a fantastic year filled with learning and lots of fun activities.  
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.    

Welcome

Welcome to a new school year and a new blog to keep you updated with the happenings going on in my 4th and 5th Grade ELA/English class.  
I have been thinking about starting a blog and now here it is.  My intentions for this blog are to keep parents informed, give tips for reading and writing, and sharing my love of teaching.  
I hope to update the blog weekly and keep you up to date with the learning and teaching that is going on in my classroom.