What a fantastic week!!!!

We had an amazing week in school.  We are starting Literature
Circles in 4th grade, our #bookaday is growing and the children love answering the question of the day. 

The children have chosen the book they want to read and have been grouped for literature circles.  They will be working in their group to complete various tasks and collaborating with each other about the book they are reading.

 These are the books that the children were able to choose from.  It's about giving the children voice and choice when it comes to learning.

 I thoroughly enjoy reading books to the children.  You are never too old to listen to a read aloud.  The children love to discuss the themes of the books and even make connections with them.  These books  open up nice discussions during our circling up time.  Children have so much to share.  Hearing them make real life connections or text to text connections reassures me that these books have powerful lessons.

 On Friday, our entire school participated in National Day of Writing.  As an ELA teacher, this was one of my favorite days.  The students were able to rotate to various classrooms and participated in activities that our Literacy Team put together.  The children were very engaged and involved in each of the rooms. The children wanted to continue writing even after leaving a particular room. 










Everyone was in the zone and were very engaged
in what they were writing.  It was so exciting to see
the children writing and discussing their pieces to
one another.

 Their faces lit up when they entered classrooms and found out what they had to do.  Writing took them places and it showed. 

 Our very own principal, Ms. Napolitano, ran one of the workshops.  The children were so thrilled and it shows in their faces.  We are so glad that the children had the opportunity to take part in the writing marathon, 

 Look at how enthralled the students' faces were.  Whether it was individual or group writing, we could see it taking place.

Our very own Mrs. Imondi and her mom were presenters, as well.  Did you know that her mom is an author and Mrs. Imondi is the illustrator of the book The Magic Ceiling? It was amazing to hear her story of how this book came about.  The book will be on the shelves soon! 

One of the many
Spooky stories written

Look at those happy faces

Our 5th Graders Summit Progress

 The 5th graders have spent the last few weeks, reading, taking notes, comparing and contrasting stories, diving into story elements, setting and themes of the stories in preparation of their final product.  They were able to choose from creating a poster, essay, google slides or a video to present their project to the class. 

They have really been putting in great effort and details into their creation.  This week they will continue with the process and finalize the project.  I am looking forward to hearing them present it and reflecting on this piece.

They will shine as they always do!!!!

It takes teamwork to put together so many wonderful activities and our SOS family is always up for the challenge.  I can't wait to see what next week will bring.  Stay tuned.....

                                                             A Week of Learning

The week was filled with many activities and learning.  We are developing a growth mindset.  We are learning of new ways to learn and do things that we are not familiar with.  We all make mistakes and learn from them.  We can improve by working harder.  We never give up.  We are determined to do our best. We self reflect in order to succeed.  We overcome challenges with effort and we train our brain.  These are the components of a growth mindset.

We have been working on Personal Narratives for the past few weeks and students are now publishing them in order to share out with their classmates.  The children have put lots of effort into their work and are adding great details as they write.  They have "hooked" their readers with great beginnings and have told their story in vivid and descriptive language.  We are still working on how to add more into the stories, but the children are enjoying the writing that they are doing during "sacred writing time." We put aside time during the day to focus just on writing.  This is part of our Units of Study.  The children find a place to write without being disturbed or without any distractions.  After giving a small mini-lesson the children are sent off to let their writing blossom.  I put on music and they know that it's time to let the pencil do the talking.

On Friday we will be celebrating National Day of Writing.  Many of the teachers have planned wonderful activities all revolving around writing.  Many stations will be set up in which the children will take part in.  

 We are continuing to read wonderful novels in the 4th grade.
Our next ones will run differently.  I am planning on setting up literature
circles and Socratic Seminar.  Children will get a choice of which novel
they would like to read and decide how they will share it out. 
Also, the children in 4th grade should be working on their book projects at home.  These are due on November 28th.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, the 4th and 5th grade teachers went to a conference at the RI Convention Center.  We spent 2 days going over Summit and discovering many new and different ways to add it into the curriculum. We looked at data and attended a number of various workshops that will help us as we progress along with this platform.  We are always learning and willing to try new things.  Having the right mindset will help us achieve these goals.  

Fall is in the air

The days are getting crisper and shorter but there is still a lot going in on 4Z.  The students are working on Parts of Speech and writing personal narratives.  We do writing workshop with units of study by Lucy Calkins.  The children are working on great hooks to capture the readers' attentions.  I love watching them write as I put on the focus music in the background to help them concentrate.  

The stories include best trips, favorite memories spent with families, prize possessions and pets.  We call this sacred writing time.  No one walks or talks, just write and express themselves in words. 


Our # bookaday is going well, also.  The children enjoy listening as I read a book each day.  Many of the books create wonderful conversations with many lessons like, being kind, being different, being yourself, and never giving up to name just a few.

You can see some of the books that we have read, and there are more to come.



The student made collages of nouns, verbs, and adjectives.










This past week we began to incorporate art and literacy.  We read The Best Part of Me and took pictures of the students' best part.  They will continue this week by drawing the parts that were photographed and do a writing piece to go along with it.  Can't wait until the finished product is completed.







Our 5th graders continue to work on the Summit Platform and are doing projects about comparing and contrasting stories from the same genre.  We see a lot of collaboration and team work.  The process is running smoothly and they are personalizing their learning by making choices on what resources to use and which project they will do. 

There is always something going on in our ELA class.  The children are engaged and on task, reading, writing and practicing on IXL both in math and ELA. 

One of our #bookaday.  The children love hearing the story read aloud and I usually have an activity to go along with it.  We have discussions about each of the books and questions that arise.  These conversations sometimes lead us to circling up.  

Our week week was full of activities.  We started to discuss parts of speech in ELA and the children created collages.  They were very engaged in their work and even collaborated with each other.  It takes team work to get it done.

The students went through magazines finding pictures and words of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. 

Each morning as the children enter the room they settle themselves and go over to our easel and answer the question of the day.  This gives me an idea of how they are doing.  Many of our circling up discussions are based on these questions.  The children love to share what they have written. 

 Our students in 5th grade are progressing nicely on the Summit Platform.  Many of them are familiar with the computers and are doing various activities from Summit.  They are personalizing their learning and using many wonderful resources that are provided to them. This week we worked on genres.  They students have a great understanding of what they are and will choose 2 short stories to compare and contrast. 


The students are very engaged and on task.  They use their chrome books but also do group work and whole group instruction to get the task complete. 

 As you can see, the children are always engaged and learning throughout their day.  Great conversations are happening and the children are helping one another.  My days at school are filled with discovery, aha moments and great collaboration with a wonderful staff and great students.