Reflecting on Last Week

Three of the high points of the week occurred on Friday. Students went to Jump Rope for Heart.  Those who went expressed pride for having raised money to help people affected by heart disease.  Meanwhile back at the ranch, so to speak, students participated in their math class.  Next they had seventy minutes to create a slide show about a topic of their choosing.  I suggested a slide show to accompany their persuasive essays but encouraged them to choose a topic they were interested in.  The only stipulation:  students could not choose a topic they'd already used many times (hockey comes to mind...)  This student centered, self directed project brought out the best in students.  They produced some of the best work they've done.  Soon I'll post their slide shows but first we need to learn about and create source lists.

In other writing news students have been working on their second persuasive essays.  We will use these ones to assess students ability to construct a well organized persuasive essay.  Students have used a graphic organizer to plan for these essays.  The topic is "My favorite Red Clover Book."

Fourth grade math students started a new unit this week on Geometry.  We used pattern blocks to problem solve measurements of different angles.  Our new vocabulary includes: right angles, acute angle, obtuse angle, straight angle and zero angles.  Third graders continue to work on measurement and calculations.  

Reading groups have continued to meet and we did plenty of SBAC preparations.  In grade level groups students met to take practice tests.  This week we had one session of collaborative work.  Students in grade four had discussions about what animals need to survive.  Third graders discussed ideas related to our solar system.  The following day each group entered the 'secure portal' to take a language arts test related to the topic of their age groups.  Student encountered nonfiction complex texts and were asked to answer questions about the texts.  Some were multiple choice while others were essay questions.  The tests are rigorous and interesting.  It is good that we have these practice sessions!