Weeks of March 28th & April 1st

Happy April!  Due to the short week last week, this week's blog will include information from last week and this week.  We covered a lot of ground!  Here are some of the highlights:

Last week, I, Miss Rapke, introduced a new mini-unit to practice working on groupwork.  On our first day of the unit, the students learned about different roles that they may be assigned in a group so that everyone has a special purpose.  The roles included facilitator, harmonizer, recorder, reporter, and materials manager. Some of the class was familiar with these roles as last year's student teacher did some similar groupwork activities.  The students were given a chance to use these roles in an activity on Tuesday as they worked in groups to decide what 4 out of 8 possible items they would choose to take with them on a trip to the moon.  The students also practiced working in groups with an activity called broken circles.  Each group of four students was given four envelopes, each containing different pieces of circles.  The students had to share their pieces with members of their group in order to complete four full circles.  The final groupwork activity was called Master Designer.  In this activity, one student made a design out of pattern blocks and had to use words only to describe how to make the pattern to the rest of his/her group.  Each of these activities was begun with a new groupwork norm, such as "No one of us is as smart as all of us together," that the class would be focusing on that day.  These norms and roles will be helpful next week as we do a series of groupwork rotations.

In social studies, we have been continuing our cultural geography unit.  Last week, the classes read about celebrations in other cultures around the world and used a Venn diagram to compare the traditions of those cultures to their own.  This week, the students used Hyperstudio in the computer labs to create a slide of a tradition that is followed in the culture of their families. 

As a spin-off to this unit, the class has also begun a unit on the culture of Mexico this week.  On Monday, we had an online scavenger hunt that we completed as a class to introduce some traditions and information about Mexico.  On Tuesday, we worked on mapping out culturally significant places in Mexico using information from the read aloud, Let's Go Traveling in Mexico!  In guided reading groups, the students have also started a new story on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  We also had a math lesson on converting dollars to pesos and a lesson on Cinco de Mayo!  Students will use their new knowledge of Mexican culture in the groupwork rotations next week.

In writing last week and this week, we have been working on fairy tales.  Students are working on finishing their first fairy tales and beginning new ones.  They are practicing revising their work using a checklist, like we did with opinion writing. 

On Wednesday, we had some tasty fun courtesy of the FEED program!  In the cafeteria, the students were given a chance to taste test several different spices on pears and apples.  The students grated fresh ginger and nutmeg, peeled cardamom seeds, and ground cinnamon sticks.  The products from their work will be combined by the kitchen to create pear compote for every student to enjoy!

Enjoy the springy (hopefully warm!) weather this weekend!

Taylor & Nancy