January 12, 2012

In our classroom our reading groups are more of a book club, we call them literature discussion groups.  The students are asked to select from 4 different books the one they would most like to read. Here are some of the choices for this round:

 Before each meeting they are responsible for completing their assigned reading, and a thoughtful log response.  Contracts will be coming home with them today to expain their first job and what is expected of them. You will be asked to sign as well as all of them. 

In preparation for our discussions we have been delving deeper into what makes a successful discussion and literature response.  We have been reading books and writing our responses and then using them as a springboard for discussion.  Here are a few examples of anchor charts we have made, originally seen in Life in 4B another Dorn model school. ...

 This chart helps us to remember what is required in a successful log response.  The students have their own copy in their journal. 

We watched a literature discussion by two model teachers and sketched out the strenght of their ideas. You can see that in the strong model the ideas build on one another and begin to look like a constellation. 

Talk is the key to a successful literature discussion group!  We have been really working hard on making our conversations more meaningful.  I can honestly say that after this week of stregthening our responses and practicing purposeful talk we have made tremendous progress!!!

January 11, 2011

The kids also learned about the two forms of energy- kinetic and potential.  They were given various materials; ruler, craft sticks, clay, spoon, rubberbands, and marshmallows to create their own catapult. It was interesting to see all the different ways they came up with to build one.  Watch out for the flying marshmallows!!!

      Busy day here!  We have completed another experiment to help our understanding of friction as well as Newton's 1st Law (an object will stay at rest until acted upon by a force (push or pull)).  The kids made a hypothesis about whether a marble would roll further on a hard surface, like our floor, or a rough surface, like our rugs.  They then tested their hyposthesis by creating a ramp and rolling a marble to measure on which surface created the most friction causing the marble to stop.  They discovered that the rugs, by far had more friction.  This is one of the many things we will be doing in our inquiry into forces and motion.  Our final project...{drum roll please} will be to create a roller coaster!! They are super excited about that one!  But to be sure we can create the best roller coaster out there we really need to understand how forces and motion work together.   Sorry those pics are crooked...

Revisiting a Thoughtful Log Entry

Now that break is over it is back to the grind!  We are reviewing the expectations in our literature discussion groups. These groups are a time when students gather and have purposeful talk about their chosen book.  We are practicing what a well thought out journal entry would look like.  The students listened to a short story I read called Camp Fat and responded to their thinking (flag spot) in their new response logs.  A good response will meet the following expectations:
        1. Indented paragraphs
        2. Complete sentences
        3. Appropriate Punctuation
        4. Evidence!!!
        5. Reread to be sure it all makes sense.
They then got with a partner and used a self assessment checklist to see how well they thought out and planned their responses.  Here are few pictures of some of them working through their entries. 

Welcome!

  I have decided to start a blog of our daily, most likely weekly, happenings within our room.  I just can't find enough space  on facebook to really explain all the activity that happens in our room daily. I will link this to our facebook page but you can also become a follower through your account.