Olivia, our super hero, is always looking for ways she can help. Whether it is changing the breakfast clips, emptying recycling, or picking up the floor, she is always on the lookout! Way to go Olivia! And, thanks!
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I've loved seeing the kids get into our holiday spirit week. We certainly have some very spirited kids! Here are some pictures of hat day.
Students have been turning in their sticky notes that they write as they read their books. I tell the students that I can't see their thinking. I wish I could get into those amazing brains of theirs, but I can't, so I need them to make their thinking visible to me through writing. Many sticky notes were donated at the beginning of the year with other school supplies and this is the reason why! Students will be leaving tracks of their thinking through their books by using sticky notes. So far this year, they have just had simple responses like a smiley face, and "uh-oh" or a "ha ha!" but now they are expected to write deeper thoughts on their sticky notes. To help with this, we looked at different levels of sticky notes and examples of each level from our read alouds. I then read some sticky notes that had been turned in and students held up a 1,2,or a 3 for what level they thought the sticky notes were. Next students went back to their own seats and their own books and found or created examples of sticky notes for each level. Students had to explain why a sticky note was a particular level. Most students did awesome! As you can see, level ones are very basic and show little thinking. Level two sticky notes go a little deeper and show some thinking, but often if the word "because" is added and the students adds after that, it can be a level 3.
Super Josh could be spotted wearing his cape around the classroom and halls. He did a wonderful job of presenting his poster and was very color coordinated.
Emalee really knows what it means to be a super hero. She is always responsible, respectful and safe. Way to go Emalee!
We had a wonderful day celebrating Miss Walley and sending her off with a filled bucket. She has a great start to her classroom library, thanks to your generosity. We also got her a 31 bag with her married name on it. She is getting married in August. And, we filled the pockets with goodies and teacher supplies. We feasted on ice cream sandwiches and watched Because of Winn Dixie. I am so glad she promised to visit. It makes it easier to say good bye.
We also got a group shot of her with both classes. I can't post the full group picture because of parent requests not to have their children's picture on our website, but here are some close up ones that I can post! This has been a wonderful year so far, and Miss Walley has a lot to do with that. It is crazy for me to think that when the students entered our classroom on the first day of school, I had no idea that there would be a student teacher in our classroom in a couple of days. Most student teachers get to start the year with their class, but Miss Walley's first placement fell through and she needed a place to go. I took a risk by welcoming her into our room. You just never know who you are going to get! I am so very glad I did though, Not only did she provide another set of eyes to watch and help the kids, but she had so many refreshing ideas and taught great lessons. There are always benefits to having another adult in the room who cares about kids. We are going to be so sad to watch her go. She is off to Reeths-Puffer High School to teach geometry in a special education setting. Most importantly, she promises to visit us. We made some things for her to send her on our way and to ensure that she does not forget about us and what an impact she made. I got this idea off of Pinterest. All I had to do was show Mrs. Denhof, purchase the canvas and stamps, and Mrs. Denhof made it happen. I LOVE how it turned out and I think Miss Walley will love having it! The kids stamped their fingerprints and Mrs. Denhof turned them into birds. Students also wrote letters of recommendations stating why Miss Walley should be hired. We then bound them into a book for her. This was great! I love to hear why Miss Walley should be hired from from their perspectives. We even wrote the letters on Montague Letterhead.
Students had some advice to give Miss Walley too. . . .
During our character unit, we have been making connections with the characters in our books. Just like in our writing unit, we discuss internal and external characteristics. When we read though, we try to go deeper when we make connections to our characters by making connections with their internal traits, like hard-working, polite, lonely,etc. By just making connections with our character's external traits, like boy, brown hair, tall, etc, we aren't having to think as deeply about our characters or about what we are reading. Our goal is to really be thinking deeply about our characters and what is happening in our books. Here are a few examples of a quick check I did with the kids. They wrote a sticky note making a connection with the character in the book that they are reading during reader's workshop. The first two examples didn't quite hit the target. They made connections, but ones that didn't have to take much thinking because they were external traits. The bottom two examples hit the target. They made a connection with their characters using internal traits. After your child reads at home, as him/her to make a connection with the character in the book ans see if it is an internal or external connection. The sticky notes will come home on this paper, so that the kids can immediatly see if they hit the target or not.
This year students are again participating in the Doodle for Google contest. For more information about this cool contest, go here. We received some wonderful entries so far!
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Mrs. Ellis's Class
Learning & laughing our way through third grade. Archives
June 2020
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