Chocolate Scavenger Hunt

We just finished reading the book The Chocolate Touch so I set it up with Mrs. Harrington to have the kids engage in a chocolate scavenger hunt in the library. They had a blast and then they were able to take some online quizzes from the book and play some chocolate games.

A little stumped and can't seem to find the next clue!
Reading the clue very carefully.
Where do I go next?I can almost reach my final treat!
"Sweet" victory!
This is a very fun website with games and quizzes for just about every chocolate themed book out there!
The kids were very proud of themselves after taking various quizzes from the book.

Tomorrow we will start working on our "chocolate" book reports while we have our "chocolate" party. Stay tuned...

Prepping for the ELA

We are slowly starting to prepare the students for the big ELA given in May. You may be thinking that May is a long time away. You are very correct, but there is a lot of ground to cover for these tests. Today I started working with a small group of third graders on punctuation marks. We discussed the various marks and when to use them. Then we practiced this skill with a hands on approach. Check it out...

The girls had a lot of fun finding and inserting the correct punctuation marks in the sentences as well as after abbreviations.

Mrs. Lamon's group is reading Tales of 4th Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. In this book the main character Fudge can be quite a pest, so his older brother Peter decides that he needs to "Fudge Proof" his room so that his little brother doesn't ruin things in his room. I asked my students to tap into their creative sides and create their own "Fudge Proof Rooms". They did a great job!

Welcome 2010

We are back to school and hard at work for the new year! Here is a little glimpse into what we are up to this month...

9-9:30am (Donato/DeMay) Chassittie and Damian are currently reading The Chalk Box Kid. After each chapter we are engaging in activities that mirror questions from the NYS ELA that we are preparing for. They both seem to be enjoying the story of a very talented little boy.

9:30- 10am (Donato/DeMay) The group of boys have moved up to a Guided Reading level of K and we are reading all sorts of books at this level. This week we are reading Keep the Lights Burning Abbie. It is about a young girl who is left in charge of a lighthouse while her father travels to town.

10:15-10:45am (McCullouch/Diabo) The girls and I are reading The Canada Geese Quilt. It is a story about the relationship between a girl and her grandmother. It deals with growth and change and realizing how strong you can truly become when you put your mind to it.

10:50-11:20am (Lamon) Calie, Nick and Briana have just started the book Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing. We are definitely getting some laughs while reading this book. The two main characters are brothers who don't see eye to eye and who often get into trouble because of it.

11:30-12pm (Aubertine/Riddoch) My largest group of the day is currently reading and oldie but a goodie...The Chocolate Touch. We will engage in a ton of fun activities with this book and ultimately have a chocolate party at the end.

1-1:30pm (Dermady) Bella and Anthony have just started to read the book The Tiger Rising. This is an excellent book that deals with friendship, heart ache and forgiveness.

1:35-2:05pm (Peterson) The girls and I are reading an old book, but one that I have never done before...Mary Marony and the Chocolate Surprise. After reading it to myself I knew that these girls would love it. It is funny though, I was going to have a little chocolate party for this group as well, but Hailey is allergic to chocolate so I will have to come up with another plan.

2:15-2:45pm (Filiatrault/Folsom) My 5th grade group and I are currently reading my favorite book of ALL time...Because of Winn Dixie. I have created the best unit for this book full of fun activities and ultimately a Winn Dixie movie party at the end.

As you can see we have started out 2010 with a BANG! We are not letting any grass grow under our feet and we are having as much fun as possible in Reading class! Stay tuned for pictures and updates throughout this entire month!