Happy Halloween!

Students had another exciting week with our Halloween Parade and dance-off finale to the Kidzbop Shuffle.  Don't forget to check out our photo gallery!  We also did some art in class.  To create the texture of the lines and ridges of a pumpkin, students used glue to draw pumpkins on white paper.  We let that set and dry, then student explored with watercolor as they painted over it.  

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

​In Langauge Arts...

• Continuing our unit from last week, I modeled for students how to use their double-bubble maps and respond to the following constructive response:  How is The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Wolf, Wolf! by John Rocco the same and different?  Using Q.A.D.E. we went through the process together as a class.  As we did this, it was pointed out how in a compare and contrast response, it's almost like you're responding twice, once to point out similarities and again to point out differences.  In addition, text evidence needs to be provided.  For example, if you mention the setting is different or the endings are different, details and evidence are needed to support.  
• After taking the children through that process, students did some practice on their own!  They used the folktale The Three Little Pigs from Europe and the folktale The Three Geese from Italy to compare and contrast.  We talked about comparing key details.  Key details may be basic story elements such as characters, setting, and problem & solution or key details may also be more complex events that deal with the development of the story.  Something insignificant to the development of the story, would not be considered a key detail.  
• During RTI, each group got to practice more comparing and contrasting of stories.  Using the leveled readers and paired text, students practiced making double-bubble thinking maps.  We then had extensive discussions about how the stories were similar and different.  
• Students learned about the following suffixes: ly- means "in a way that is" and -ful means "full of."  We practiced using these suffixes to create new words and talked about how words change when adding them.  
• We have been reading the classic Bunnicula by James Howe.  We’ve gotten to the best part- the war is on!  Chester and Harold have decided that Bunnicula is a threat and to "fight" back, and the kids are loving the heightened conflict between Chester, Harold, and Bunnicula.  It gives us the perfect opportunity to discuss rising conflict and resolution.  

In math...

• Students created yard "sticks" out of paper.  They used 1 inch cubes to measure 36 inches and taped them together in one long strip.  But they did so alternating colors every 12 inches.  The reason for this scaffold was for students to more easily see the relationship between inches and feet.  For example if they measure something at 26 inches with their yard sticks it would be more clear that it could also be written as 2 ft and 2 inches.  
• Students learned the relationship between feet and inches.  They then measured various objects in the classroom that fell between two whole numbers of feet.  Most of the items they measured were a little more than 1 foot.  They learned ways to record this, such as 1 ft and 4 in.    
• Students than practiced measuring larger things such as the distance between one door to another, the width of the classroom, or the length of the whiteboard.  Students learned the appropriate unit of measure to use when measuring larger objects, would be yards.  
• Students decided which unit of measure was most appropriate when measuring various objects of all different sizes (inches, feet, yards).  

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

• Our Turkey Trot event will be held on November 21st.  Thank you for all your generous donations.  Our school uses the funds for many technology implementations.  Our students definitely deserve it!  
• CANDY CANDY OH MY!  I know with Halloween just ended, you have a lot of candy around the house.  Please reframe from sending candy with your child as a snack.  Let's encourage healthy choices!  We also want students to maintain their focus during instructional hours and candy will not help.