What’s Going on in Room 200?
Monday, September 21: We had a busy Monday. We started off with a quick video about Giant Pandas to learn more about their physical adaptations. We learned that the pandas have super strong jaws and a sixth “finger” on their front paws. Both these adaptations help them eat their favorite food — bamboo. During math class we looked at arrays of postage stamps and used different equations to figure out the total cost of different sheets of stamps. During Reading Workshop, we read a picture book about Justice Ginsburg. We also read an article in Time for Kids. We worked independently on chapter 6 of Year of the Panda. In the afternoon, the IU Biologists came and we reviewed what we learned about animal adaptations. During Writing Workshop, we looked over our photos and started planning our Bloomington stories.
Tuesday, September 22: We worked on finding the prices for different arrays of postage stamps again today in Math. In Reading Workshop, we discussed the character traits of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We made a bubble map, showing 3 different bits of evidence from her biography that shows she was a strong person. We also read about citizen’s rights and responsibilities in our Social Studies book. We released our 5th butterfly this morning.
Wednesday, September 23: It was a true Writer’s Wednesday today. During morning work, we drew self portraits of ourselves, turning into animals. Then we wrote about our point of view about what was happening. Then we moved on to our Bloomington stories. We planned our writing with Popplet and then began writing our drafts. During Math class, we looked at “seascapes” and estimated measurements of different sea creatures, using a model of a 4 inch clownfish as a point of comparison. In the afternoon, we went outside and had our literature circle discussions for Chapter 6 of Year of the Panda. Then we took our notebooks on a field trip and wrote for ten minutes. We had Read 2 Self time at the end of the day. Our sixth butterfly emerged from its chrysalis today.
Thursday, September 24: It was a fine day to be in Thirdland. We watched a video that Ms. Williams made called Six in Sixty about some book recommendations. Then the Thirdlanders used their iPads to reserve new library books. During math, we worked on fixing and finishing some pages in our yellow math book. Then we got to work with the Prodigy Math game for a bit. We had gym with Ms. Capik. During Reading Workshop, we watched a short DVD called Monarch and Milkweed. Then we went out to release our sixth monarch. We also worked under the big tent in the playground to discuss the Ruth Bader Ginsburg book, with partners. We read outside on the new tree stump classroom. Everyone was so focused and the weather was brilliant. We were able to squeeze in an extra ten minutes of recess. At the end of the day we worked on writing more of our Bloomington stories. A fabulous day.
Friday, September 25: We started the day with another Young Hoosier picture book read aloud, If Wendell Had a Walrus. We’ve read six now. Then we focused on our Wellness unit and worked to identify different levels of rights and responsibilities that citizens have, gathering information from a Citizen Me slideshare. During Reading Workshop, we talked more about the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biography and made bumper stickers to go with the book. We worked independently on the final chapter of Year of the Panda. We ended the day with some math work, using the Splash Math app. There were a few glitches with that app, but we’ll figure it out. It was a wonderful week!