We really got into learning about theme and the central message of the text this week. Last week we focused on "The Mixed Up Chameleon" as our anchor story This week it was two of my faves
I absolutely ADORE Miss Molly Lou - and my kiddos really connected with her. We started the week with a board game to work on asking and answering questions, then moved to identifying character traits and talking about how the character responds to challenges. Later we did some detective work and looked closely at the illustrations to see what new details we could find. We ended the week with a reading notebook entry about the main theme of "It is important to be yourself." I'm planning on getting all those lessons and activities together to share with you soon!
Look at these pictures - what do you see?
By golly, my version of Daily 5 for math actually worked! I'll let you in on a little secret - it's all about separation in my room. 18 kiddos working on the SAME activity = a headache for me.... 18 kiddos in small groups working on 4 or 5 DIFFERENT activities = SUCCESS! I even took small groups 2 days this week - and we actually got to review and practice without an issue..... can I have a Hallelujiah! My post on Daily 5 math really is coming soon - I just wanted to work out a few kinks before I shared with you all!
That leads me to #3 for the week - we got "Listening to Reading" going in full force in my room this week and it went beautifully! I had 3 kiddos using the listening center -
complete with WIRELESS headphones! The good news is there are no more cords to tangle up in... the bad news I have found, is that they are a HUGE drain on batteries.... ugh... I think I'm going to invest in rechargeable batteries.... I also have 2 students listening to a story on the ipad (you can read more about how I use my one ipad in my classroom HERE), and I'm in the process of getting some used donated ipods, as well. I am working to convert all my tapes (yes, tapes... many of them!) to mp3s - check out this blog post for a quick how to
We've added dots to our room! I saw these on pinterest and just HAD to see if they really worked. I never saved the pin I saw, so this links to the ones I bought on Amazon.
They are repositionable wipe-off circles... and they really do work! (excuse the glare - it was late in the day when I took the picture.) So far we've used them during small group times to practice sight word spelling, show how to solve word problems with a part-part-whole diagram and to list character traits in books we have read. I haven't moved them too much, but they do peel off. I am going CRAZY trying to get all the bubbles out of all four of them, though. I am very obsessive about that... I must have taken 20 minutes just to put them on. I know... let it go....
Ok - you've lasted through 4 for Friday and I saved the best for last!
It was my birthday this week and my sweet teammates gave me a little something. I thought I would return the favor and give YOU a little something to celebrate the big day, soooo.....
Click on the button to visit my store - it's growing all the time! This weekend (tonight through Sunday) everything will be 10% off - enjoy!
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