Reading Week is in the Books

This week we celebrated Reading Week.  Our theme this year was: Remember the Power of Words.  Mrs. Bello, our reading specialist, along with our literacy team, planned a number of different activities for the students and faculty to take part in.  The children were introduced to the book, Mr. Peabody's Apples, by Madonna, on Monday.    Everyday revolved around a special activity.  It was a week filled with reading, guest readers, dressing up, and so much more.

In reading Mr. Peabody's Apples, the students were made aware of how spreading rumors, affected someone's reputation.  We created a board with positive words to use around the school and at home.  This book had a very powerful message. 

 On Tuesday it was dress as your favorite book character.  Some of the teachers dressed up as crayons, based on the book, The Day the Crayons Quit.

We had a blast!!  After reading the book to the class, the children had to choose their favorite color and write an opinion piece based on why they thought that was the best color.

 There was also a book swap held on Tuesday.  Children were able to come down and view the books.  If they brought in books from home, they were able to swap them out with some that they were interested in. 








Guest readers also came in from the High School to read to the classes.  It was another fun filled day.

 RACE is being used in the school as a way to respond to text.  There has been a lot of practice for RICAS and this is one strategy that we have adopted for written responses.  The children worked in groups.  They were given a piece to read and answered the question using the RACE acronym to respond.  It is catching on and allowing for the students to give more elaborate answers.

You can really see how focused the students are as they are responding.  Group work is also part of our routine as we continue to practice for the RICAS testing that is coming up this week for the 4th and 5th graders. 

  
                                             The students are on task and participating in their groups.

 On Wednesday, the children shared their poems from their pocket.  Some were original poems that the students wrote and others were just favorites.  It was great to see many of them sharing out. Our librarian even held a book tasting in each classroom.  The children were able to sample books in 3 courses- appetizers, main entree and dessert.

 Thursday was dress as your favorite fairy tale character.  The students really dressed the part.  We had Rapunzel, Dumbo, Superheroes and Little Red Riding Hood, to name a few.

 Friday the students came in dressed as particular words for vocabulary day.  

Third and fourth graders also had a writing celebration.  They shared out with each other the informational pieces that they created during the 2nd trimester. 

The fifth graders are continuing to work on the Wax Museum project.  This week they brought in their poster boards and put them together.  It is such an exciting time at SOS, and each week there is more and more going on.  We are going to finish the year off very strong!

 This year we have discussed and read many books about being kind, friendly and empathetic.  The children created a kindness quilt.  They chose a kindness quote, wrote it in the center of their square and decorated it.  We have put all the squares together to create this beautiful piece that is hanging in the hallway to remind everyone that we need to be kind to each other. 

Happy Spring

It's Springtime, finally!  I love to see the sun shine brightly and hear the birds chirping away!!

Fourth Grade:
Our students have also caught Spring fever but we are still doing so much in class.

 We have presented our commercials for the New Cereal on the Shelf project.  We have some very talented students in 4th grade.  The children enjoyed watching the "ads" both live and on video.  They really rocked this assignment.

 We are continuing with Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.
The children are reading it and discussing sections of the book
with one another. 


We are also practicing for our RICAS testing coming up next month.  This week we divided the class into 2 groups and had a Kahoot tournament. 

They love to see the questions pop up and then decide on the answer as a team.  The discussions around this review are amazing.  They analyze, predict, rule out answers that don't make sense and make decisions as a team.  I enjoy seeing the collaboration that happens within the groups. 




We have also begun talking about Opinion writing.  The third trimester will be dedicated to this. 


Fifth Grade:

 The fifth graders are also practicing for RICAS.  This week we played two interactive games, one was Kahoot and the other was like a quiz game show.  The children were put into groups, and decided together, as a team, what the correct answer was.  Once they decided, they held up the letter and received points every time they answered correctly.  The competition among them was great to watch.  It also was great to see the collaboration among them.


Here they are playing Kahoot, competing against each other. There was a lot of healthy competition and it was amazing to see how they would react.

 

Coming up this week is Reading Week!!  Another one of my favorites.  We have many amazing activities planned out:  here's a sneak peak.......

Can you guess what this is for???

Happenings in ELA

4th Grade News:

Our Book a Day is something we all look forward to after lunchtime.  The children come in and get into a circle.  I will generally read aloud to them, but this past week, the children have been taking turns reading out to their classmates.  We are having discussions around these various books and incorporating themes and lessons from the book into our everyday writing and activities.

 I am positive that we will display 180 book covers before the end of the school year.

This display is growing every day and the children love to see how it is filling up.

 We celebrated Pi Day on Thursday.  The families participated at night with a Math Night that was planned out.  There were so many fun math games and activities  and the children were able to take home a pie at the end of the night.

                              

I am so impressed with the New Cereal on the Shelf that the students created for their 2nd book project of the year.  We have started to present the commercials in class, and I am so proud of the final products.  Here is a sample of what the children brought in:

 

             

The children also created informational books this week and are ready to present to the visiting classes in the upcoming week.  They have worked so hard in preparing all of these wonderful projects.  The children showed great effort in their work and should be proud of their accomplishments. 

As part of their day, the children read a daily quote that is displayed on the board and reflect on it.  They write about what it means to them, if they make a connection to it or write examples of how the quote relates to them.  They love to share out what they wrote.  Lots of positive vibes taking place.

5th Grade News:

Our fifth graders have been very busy also.  They are working on the Live Wax Museum projects in class, along with doing some RICAS practice in preparation for the state testing that will be coming up.

 

I enjoy seeing them work together to get through some of the practice questions that they are given.  The discussions taking place involve some thought and problem solving.  These strategies will help them along during the testing sessions.  

I have also brought back Word of the Day.  We are expanding our vocabulary and hope to see more of these words in their writing. 

Have a great week!!