Fig Pudding

 We completed our reading of the wonderful and heart warming holiday story Fig Pudding this week. The kids loved every minute of it and couldn't wait to get to class to see what would happen next. Since we only had a short window of opportunity to work on our book projects we kept them simple and created character posters. I was extremely impressed with the creativity and effort displayed in such a short amount of time. Way to go 5th graders.

 This was also an excellent opportunity to practice our public speaking skills with a microphone.

The next book on our agenda is The Homework Machine in January.

Happy Thanksgiving

We try to use the Smart Board whenever possible and the kids truly love it.

We have been very busy in all classes getting ready for conferences and now Thanksgiving vacation. Here are a few of the things we have been up to in the past few weeks.
3rd grade: Each group has been working on their oral reading fluency and writing skills along with various phonics activities and we have also worked on nouns. After vacation we will work on verbs.
4th grade: We just finished reading some folktales and we have now moved on to a unit on owls to go along with their science unit. When we return from vacation we will continue to owl unit. We are reading books such a All About Owls and Owl Moon.
5th grade: We just finished a wonderful book called Rules by Cynthia Rylant. It dealt with characters that faced challenges such a autism and being paralyzed. Students loved the book and were very happy with the ending. When we return we will start Fig Pudding to put us in the holiday spirit.

I'm not sure who is more excited about Thanksgiving vacation, the kids or myself?

Reader's Theatre

 We just finished reading a folktale in one of our 4th grade reading groups so we decided to have a little fun and read the play that went along with it. The students really enjoyed reading different characters and swapping parts. I even made them stand up while they read for the full effect.

What's up next...Common Core ELA Review. Doesn't that sound fun? I bet I can make it fun!

Rules

 We finished our reading of the book Schooled by Gordon Korman and as a book project we created Voki's. Each student chose their favorite character and then created a Voki character based upon it. They are located to the right side of this post for your viewing pleasure. The students had a great time writing their character drafts and then creating their Voki's using all of the new technology we are implementing in the district. We even travelled down to their classrooms to present our Voki's to the entire 5th grade. The kids had a blast reading and then using technology.

The next book on the agenda is Rules by Cynthia Lord. We will also be creating a technology based book project so stay tuned.

Cause & Effect

On Friday we reviewed the topic of Cause and Effect. We are realizing what an amazing tool The Smart Board is to reinforce skills and it can make learning interactive and fun too!

Read for the Record Day!

Students came ready to read Lady Bug Girl and the Bug Squad today! We are so thrilled that our friends at The Scoop in downtown Clayton purchased these wonderful books for our ENTIRE school.

Thank you a million, there will be many smiling children in the building today!

Working on our Vowel Sounds

 We utilized the Smart Board again this week to review our vowel sounds and some phonemic patterns. The kids are really enjoying the Smart Board and I am enjoying getting my feet wet by trying out new and different activities in class.

What will we do next??