New Literature Discussion Groups

Today we began our new literature discussion groups.  Each group meets twice a week and I confer with them in between meetings to check on their understanding and look over their log responses.  We spent the first six weeks of school establishing the routine of a group as well as how to create a good response.  I took a lot of what I do from the Reader's Notebook and from Inside the Reading and Writing Classroom.  Both are excellent resources if you are wanting to launch a true Reader's & Writer's Workshop.
    The next series of  books the children chose for groups are Among the Hidden , Just Ella, Juliet Dove, Queen of Love, Blue Eyed Daisy, and Ida B. 

I am really excited about all of these books- they have chosen every thing from science fiction, to fairy tales! Over the next few posts I'll be sharing some of their work from literature dicussion, they are all truly gifted at sharing their thoughts about the author's craft .

Science Fair!

Today we begin our Science Fair projects.  This is my first year attempting to do a science fair in the classroom.  So far they are loving it.  Now whether it is because they get to use computers or the true joy of discovery in science I'm not too sure- I'm hoping it's the latter! I have found the most valuable resource to guide me and my students in this adventure- www.sciencebuddies.org.  A great resource for projects, it gives tips for teachers and allows the students to take a quick survey to guide them in their project choices.
    One thing we are working on in this project is to make sure we are not doing a demonstration (ie building a volcano) and focusing more on the process of an fair test in which only one variable is changed.  I can't wait to show you all what they are doing.  I can tell you that some will involve worms, catapults, and boats (not necessarily together :))