The V.I.P. is....

Introducing our very first VIP! Kylie!!  Kylie will be taking Andy home to begin their adventure! Stay tuned to hear all about Kylie and her experience next week when she will be our guest author on our blog!  She will be describing her experience as VIP.  I hope Andy doesn’t cause too much trouble for Kylie!  We can’t wait to learn all about her! 

What are we doing today?

Cooperative learning stations allow students to work in small groups and support one another in their learning. Some groups have teacher support, while others are student led. 

Today we are reviewing fact and opinion by working on a sort. By using the sentence frame, "I know that this statement is a ________ because ____________."

Our other stations are independent writing,  

working on grammar usage...

and independent reading.

It is so much more fun when we work together!

How exciting! Our first V.I.P. is...

you will have to stay tuned to find out! Our first student V.I.P. will be chosen tomorrow and they get to take the VIP bag home and start their adventure!  Who's it going to be??? Until then...here we are enjoying breakfast in the classroom and having our discussion of the day. Each morning, I post a discussion topic on the board. While enjoying breakfast, students are encouraged to share their thoughts with their group members. After we finish breakfast, the students summarize their discussion in their writing journal. Take a moment to ask your child about what they discussed!

The latest BUZZ from The Hive! This week's learning goals!

In Reading we will be reading various texts and evaluating the text to compare and contrast characters, events and settings in literary selections.  When you are reading at home think about the characters and question yourself on how they are similar and in what ways are they different.  You can even compare characters from other similar texts to one another.  This also goes for the events and settings in different texts.  Create a graphic organizer that will help you organize what you are comparing and contrasting.  By doing this, you will be able to understand the text and comprehend much better.  Make those connections!

Here is some practice passages you can read online! 

Compare/Contrast Online Practice!

Non-Fiction Compare/Contrast Online Practice!

Even more practice!

Key Reading Vocabulary for the week:

Compare:  finding what is similar (alike) between two or more objects or ideas

Contrast:  finding what is different between two or more objects or ideas

Events: the important events in the plot of the story

Characters:  the people/animals that are critical to the story

Settings:  the location or locations where the story takes place (can be more than one per story)

This week in Math, we will use our understanding of numbers to compose and decompose whole numbers using factors and multiples.  What is that? I knew you would ask that!  Think about what I ask you before we go into the classroom every morning, “What are the factors of 21?”  You need to know what numbers you can multiply together to get 21 right?  Well those are the FACTORS!  By understanding what makes a number, you can use that knowledge to start multiplying and dividing numbers much more efficiently.  When you “skip count” you are listing multiples of the number you are skip counting by.  So when I say skip count by 6 you would say: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42…and so on.  We will also be learning how to find the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) and the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of two numbers! Oh the fun we are going to have!  Practice at home!

Here is a fun game to play online that will help you practice and review factors and multiples! 

Factors and Multiples Online Practice!

Here's some more! Click here for a LOT of fun activiities!

Key Math Vocabulary for the week:

Compose: put together (in this week’s learning goal it refers to what numbers are made of)

Decompose: take apart (in what ways can you break apart numbers)

Whole numbers: values that are whole and not in fractions or decimals

Factors: the numbers you multiply together to get a product

Product: the result of 2 numbers multiplied together (the answer to a multiplication problem

Multiples: the product is the multiple of both factors multiplied together (what you say when you skip count by that given number)

Greatest Common Factor: when finding the factors of two numbers you find the factor that is COMMON (the same) and the GREATEST( the highest value) and there you have the GCF

Least Common Multiple: when you are listing the multiples of two numbers, you find the LEAST (lowest value) multiple that is COMMON (the same) in both lists.

In Writing, we will continue to work on how to develop a comprehensive and detailed plan. We will all be using a 5 paragraph plan format and focus on our transitions to help build SENTENCE FLUENCY.  Remember: the more time you spend on your plan, the less time you have to spend figuring out how to write your rough draft.  Revisit your plan and add or delete ideas as you go.  Your plan is a work in progress and it is there to help you stay on topic and focus on the main idea of your writing piece.  You will continue to work on your "free choice" writing that you started last week and again you should be referring back to your plan as you write.  

In Social Studies, we will continue to be looking at our new materials and as we read the Non-Fiction textbooks, you will use our Fact/Question/Response graphic organizers as you read.  Remember:  reading Non-Fiction text is going to prepare you for all those textbooks and articles you will be reading in high school and in COLLEGE!  That will get you ready to get those jobs you wrote and illustrated in your Success Trackers!  You need to be PREPARED!  What better way than by learning about our great state of Arizona and understanding the history through texts and articles!  

Let's have another great week in The Hive!!!  We have a lot to BUZZ about! 

Introducing our weekly V.I.P...VERY IMPORTANT PERSON!!!

This year we will be spotlighting all of our students by choosing a Very Important Person (V.I.P.) every week! This very important person will get to have an entire week devoted to them.  We will select a new V.I.P. every Thursday and they will get to take home the V.I.P. tote bag.  In this tote bag will be the instructions and schedule for the following week, the "Me Sack", our class pet, Andy, and the Adventures With Andy Notebook.

Monday: The V.I.P. will share their About Me page that they created the first week of school.

Tuesday: The V.I.P. will bring the V.I.P. tote to school and share what is in their "Me Sack". (The V.I.P. will select TWO items **only ONE toy allowed* from home that means something to them)

Wednesday:  The V.I.P. will bring their favorite book as a child to class and read it to the class. (please make sure it is a short book/picture book
)
Thursday: The V.I.P. will share their Adventures with Andy story (See below for a description of "Adventures With Andy)

Friday: The V.I.P. will get to have lunch with their parent(s) in the cafeteria. (Mom and Dad can bring a special lunch in for their child)

Adventures with Andy:  Our class pet Andy gets lonely over the weekend if he stays in the classroom.  We decided that the V.I.P. should take Andy home over the weekend and take care of him!  Andy will go everywhere with the V.I.P.  In the AWA notebook, your child will document his/her adventures with Andy and will share their story with the class on Thursday!  

On Friday, the V.I.P. will also be our guest author on this BLOG and report how their week as V.I.P. went along with any fun happenings and learnings that occurred in The Hive!


Next week, I will be the first V.I.P. to model how it works so that there are no questions from the kiddos!  I can't wait to see who our very first student V.I.P. is!


**The idea for V.I.P. was taken from the "What a Teacher Wants" blog.  Thank you for the idea!***

What are we buzzing about this week?

This week in THE HIVE, we are learning all about Math and Reading! Our main focus in Math is on patterns in numbers. For example:  If you see the following set of numbers, 2, 5, 8, 11, _____  What number goes in the blank?  What is the rule I used to create that pattern?  Can YOU create your own pattern?

 You can find some games to play at home here at IXL. <----click there! :-)

In Reading, we are looking at conflict in a story plot.  What is the main problem that the characters are facing? What type of conflict is it? Man vs. Man? Man vs. Nature? Man vs. self?  How do you know? What evidence in the text helped you figure that out?

While you are reading at home, use this Graphic Organizer to help you figure out the problem and solution in the text.  Go further and evaluate some possible causes, effects and solutions!

See you tomorrow!

Test Anxiety? Meh...it's no big deal! We have what it takes!

Testing week is once again upon us! Yes, you read that correctly and yes it is just the first full week of school, however these are PRE-tests.  These tests give me as the teacher and my students a wealth of information needed to set goals for the year.  I do not expect my students to exceed standards on this test.  It is full of content that they have not been exposed to.  The results will show me what they already know and how I can build that understanding as well as what they need to be exposed to.  We will find fun ways to teach and learn from one another.  In this classroom, I do not see myself as the "Almighty Teacher", I see myself as a facilitator of learning.  Each of us in this room has the power to reach any goal set before us! Can't wait!

What's in YOUR future?

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A doctor? A lawyer? A professional soccer play? Maybe even a chef? How is what we do at school everyday preparing us for our future?  Ponder that...

A new year brings new challenges!

Summer is officially over! Bring on a new class and new learnings!  

WELCOME!!!  I hope you enjoy keeping up with our class this year via Blogger and a classroom website we hope to have up soon.  

In room 31, we are always up to something.  Whether it be studying the history of Arizona, researching and writing about historical figures, or even challenging one another on Math facts, we are having FUN!  Please visit often as it will not be only me posting.  Students will have the opportunity to be our "Roving Reporter" and have the chance to author posts on our site and blog!  

If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know!