Happy Wednesday! The Question of the Day was: Will it snow today? After unpacking, the boys and girls returned to the writing assignment they started yesterday. They copied the introduction to the Historic Wagner Farm trip description we wrote together. Then, if needed, they wrote the first details describing what we learned or did during different parts of the farm experience. After this, the boys and girls gathered in their trip groups to write share and write more ideas. Finally, everyone colored, cut out, and attached a picture of a barn to the writing. We will add the final products to our field trip books soon.
During reading, we reflected on how we did with our wonderings when we worked on the Junior Great Book story about the lemon moon. Ask your child what he/she thinks he/she might do differently or better with the next story. We read the next story, Those Shoes, for the first time today. This included a picture walk of the opening illustration, pausing to note that we were wondering about things as we read, and finally writing down and sharing at least one of wonderings with our tablemates.
Today's math lesson centered on finding the sums of three addends by applying properties of addition. We took time to listen to each other explain our strategies for solving several problems before working independently in our math books.
During Quiet Time, the students received new homework packet envelopes to use for the second half of the school year. The specials class of the day was library. Just for fun, we read the short book The Cat That Broke the Rules after library.
In science, the boys and girls participated in their first rock investigation. They each received a set of three different types of rocks to observe. We thought about the kinds of observations written on the rock report homework assignment, but tried to be more specific and precise with our descriptions. We will return to these rocks to continue this process on Friday.
The final activity of the day was the introduction of Africa as our Continent of the Month. I gave the class a tour of the Africa exploration areas in our classroom. We also read a book of basic facts about African geography. While doing this, we looked at our two wall maps of the world. We noticed some differences when we looked at Africa on both maps. Ask your child about this! On a related note, I looked for a simple but current map of Africa to include in this week's homework packet. If you notice anything that is outdated, please let me know!
There were a couple misplaced pencils along the way today, but luckily helpful classmates found them. That means everyone is still part of the Great Pencil Challenge!
Finally, there will be a substitute teacher in the classroom tomorrow. I will be attending the Illinois Association of Gifted Children Conference with the other Options Department teachers.
During reading, we reflected on how we did with our wonderings when we worked on the Junior Great Book story about the lemon moon. Ask your child what he/she thinks he/she might do differently or better with the next story. We read the next story, Those Shoes, for the first time today. This included a picture walk of the opening illustration, pausing to note that we were wondering about things as we read, and finally writing down and sharing at least one of wonderings with our tablemates.
Today's math lesson centered on finding the sums of three addends by applying properties of addition. We took time to listen to each other explain our strategies for solving several problems before working independently in our math books.
During Quiet Time, the students received new homework packet envelopes to use for the second half of the school year. The specials class of the day was library. Just for fun, we read the short book The Cat That Broke the Rules after library.
In science, the boys and girls participated in their first rock investigation. They each received a set of three different types of rocks to observe. We thought about the kinds of observations written on the rock report homework assignment, but tried to be more specific and precise with our descriptions. We will return to these rocks to continue this process on Friday.
The final activity of the day was the introduction of Africa as our Continent of the Month. I gave the class a tour of the Africa exploration areas in our classroom. We also read a book of basic facts about African geography. While doing this, we looked at our two wall maps of the world. We noticed some differences when we looked at Africa on both maps. Ask your child about this! On a related note, I looked for a simple but current map of Africa to include in this week's homework packet. If you notice anything that is outdated, please let me know!
There were a couple misplaced pencils along the way today, but luckily helpful classmates found them. That means everyone is still part of the Great Pencil Challenge!
Finally, there will be a substitute teacher in the classroom tomorrow. I will be attending the Illinois Association of Gifted Children Conference with the other Options Department teachers.