She had the kids warm up their bodies, their mouths, their minds, and their creativity by doing a a number of activities and games. They had a lot of fun
Today, Cassandra from the Compass Creative Dramatics came into our classroom and taught kids the importance of warming up for theater. She is from Chicago, but is in town for the production of The Wizard of Oz at the Howmet Theater. The show is tomorrow at 2 and 5, I think. The kids who are in it had to try out for a part and then only had 5 days to learn their lines and their part. Wow!
She had the kids warm up their bodies, their mouths, their minds, and their creativity by doing a a number of activities and games. They had a lot of fun
1 Comment
This week we discussed at how when we use strong, descriptive verbs in our writing, our readers can picture our story better. For example, instead of the verb eat, maybe use devour, gobble, scarf to help our readers picture our story better. We looked at what some publish authors have done in their writing and then we searched our own writing for weak verbs that we could make stronger.
Students then made their Action Heroes. For homework this week, students had to bring in a favorite book to share with a small group. It was so exciting to see the students' faces light up as they talked about their books. First, we talked about what it means to have a SUPER conversation- sitting so everyone can see everyone, giving the speaker eye contact, having one person talk at a time, and listening well enough to respond and ask questions. Students did a great job listening to each other. We still need to work on having those deeper conversations we can get into by responding to what others say and by asking questions.
We did it! We made our book order goal of ordering at least $300 worth of books, so that means our class gets 10,000 bonus points to spend on books and we received $30 in free book selections. I love getting new books for our classroom library! It is so exciting and kids get so into trying new books and series and talking to each other about which books are good and not so good. I love how opening up that scholastic box makes the whole room rumble with excitement. Thank you to all who ordered! It is greatly appreciated. Our books should be here within two weeks.
Super Abbi to the rescue! You could see Abbi with her cape billowing behind her. She did a great job presenting her poster and being our super hero of the week. Thank you, Abbi!
Last week, Chloe was our class's first super hero! She did a wonderful job presenting her poster and wearing her cape proudly. Thanks, Chloe!
You can order online at www.scholastic.com. Our online code is FLZP8. That will get us bonus points to get free books for our classroom. You can always send in the order form with your child with a check made out to Scholastic Reading Club. Thanks for considering ordering books for your child. Let me know if they are gifts, and we can arrange a pick up.
Writing can be such a struggle for some kids. They sit there and stare at an empty paper and try to think of something, anything to write down. Other kids, it seems, can't focus long enough on a blank piece of paper to think of an idea. They get distracted and their minds start to wander. And then there are those who have to think about what story to begin with because they have so many ideas and could write pages. We have been discussing some strategies for those that are really trying, but just can't think of anything to write. Often we generate ideas by making lists. So we listed important people in our lives and moments we have spent with them. We also thought of important places in our lives and moments we have spent there. Then we pick off of our list and try to get our stories down. At first, we don't think about spelling, paragraphs, or punctuation. We focus on getting our ideas down. We are trying to get a few stories in our notebooks before we choose one to work with for a bit. Today, we went back and reread our stories, no matter how far we got, and added details about our setting. There are sadly still some students who are staring at blank pages. If you think of it, ask your child what he/she wrote about. Maybe even brainstorm important people and moments spent with that person. Remind your child that we write about small moments, not HUGE events. It doesn't have to be something big. Stories are all around us. They fill our day. We just have to pay attention to them. During writing time in our classroom, soft music plays while the students write. They may spread out, get settled and then they write, and write and write. If they finish a story, then they begin another one. There is no talking, no sharpening pencils, no wandering around the room or getting a drink. It is precious writing time. I can't wait to see what the final pieces will be! I can generate ideas for a personal narrative.
We have been working on creating a list of ideas for writing personal narratives. Some students have no trouble thinking of moments from their lives. Other students need some strategies to help them generate ideas. One strategy is to think of an important person in your life and write about a small moment you've shared with that person. Another strategy is to think of an important or special place and write about a moment you've had in that place. As another strategy, students brainstormed all the people, places, and things that hold a special place in their hearts. They then created a heart map where they drew and labeled the special parts of their hearts. |
Mrs. Ellis's Class
Learning & laughing our way through third grade. Archives
June 2020
Categories |