February's
full of fun and flying by! (say that 5 times fast)
#CubRAD…
Tomorrow we will host #CubRAD
and will be highlighting the sweet story Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch. We had
a little too much fun creating the book trailer for this
event!
We will be reading the
story and participating in a twitter chat using #CubRAD at 8, 9, & 10:00 tomorrow.
Classes will be able to make connections, comment, and ask questions. We will
then broadcast live at the end of the Friendship Parties to present the Tweeter
award to the winning class.
Presenting awards and
using Twitter is so much fun for the students. The main goal in preparing RAD
for our students is to get them to think and talk about text across classes and
grade levels. The teachers have been given Comprehension
Questions to guide their class discussions. I have also provided some Technology
Integration ideas for the teachers that want to find ways to integrate
technology and literature.
In 3rd grade...
Students concluded their
reading of the classic story Charlotte’s Web. They each chose a central character
to complete a character analysis. They created FAKEBOOK pages for each
character. They gave character descriptions, described relationships between characters,
and posted status updates from the character’s perspective in each chapter of
the story.
The students wanted to
make a book trailer to get other Christie students interested in reading
Charlotte’s Web. First, they createed a basic outline of the things
they wanted to show in the trailer. They went to work inputting the outline into
iMovie. The conversations about the plot line and debate about which events
needed to be included gave me a clear picture of their understanding of the
text. There were times we went back to re-read a section to fully understand
cause and effect relationships. The students are eager to begin shooting the
video clips for their trailer next week!
In 2nd grade...
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| Visualization Quick Draw |
Students have been working on visualizing a
story with no ending. They responded with a quick draw of the events leading up
to a cliff hanger. The students then wrote their own satisfying endings. We
summed up the experience by creating ChatterPix selfies and recording their
endings. The kids LOVED using the ipads to respond to text and were eager
to share their creations with their parents.
Students have been busy
using multiple comprehension strategies to respond to text and make
connections. They have recently been given opportunities to self-select
comprehension responses by competing in a game of tic-tac-toe.
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We have also focused on
fluency, specifically on reading with expression, using reader's theater and
classic stories like The Three Pigs.
5th Grade…
One of my reluctant
readers came in yesterday and asked if she could read the daily passage aloud.
This was a huge moment of celebration and we praise her willingness to try and
the effort she put forth. The other students were smiling as big as I was as
she slowly read each word. What she was reading didn't matter at that moment;
the fact is ...she was choosing to read!
Two of my 5th
grade groups researched chocolate and discussed supply and demand. We explored vocabulary
and read about chocolate in Europe in the 17th century. The students
discovered that pure cocoa and the chocolate they are used to consuming do not
taste the same! …I personally enjoyed this moment the most.
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| Cacao vs Milk Chocolate |
Then, they chose a book
they had previously read in class. They each chose a character from the book
and I had them act out a scene revolving around chocolate. The biggest challenge was to remain in character. At
first they thought this to be an easy and laughable task, but soon got serious
about how each character would play a role in the scene.
PLAYTIME:
I am forever a learner
and have enjoyed spending my lunch breaks exploring some of the gadgets in our
Learning Commons. We even created a GoSphero Maze for teachers
and students to utilize. Judging by the looks of this video, I think I need to
practice quite a bit before I will make the leader board!
February has already felt like it is flying by...
it's going FAST and is full of FUN!
