As usual we start this week off with a bang! We are spending most of our Monday on our remnant writing. The kids were excited to have our remnant circle and have spent the rest of it in spelling and finishing up their writing.
This week is the end of our two-dimensional geometry unit. I am trying to figure out how to assess them on their learning without having them sit down and do a formal test. (Any ideas blog world?). Hopefully by the middle of the week we will be starting out three-dimensional geometry unit. I am thinking of having them create their own town using 3-D shapes. I am going to be sending a note out to parents to ask them to bring in any three-dimensional recycleables that we could use. Does anyone have an suggestions for activities to do during a 3-D geometry unit. The only thing I can remember from my days are building the shapes out of marshmellows and toothpicks.
This week I am also launching the persusasive writing unit. My AT did a diagnostic about a week and a half ago that didn't turn out very well. most kids needed help understanding what they were supposed to be doing. I have decided to start at the ground level. I am using the Pigeon books (i.e. Don't let the Pigeon drive the bus) to show them how to presuade. They are a great example of how someone tries to persuade someone of something. I am going to have them persuade the bus driver to not let the Pigeon drive the bus.
I will be introducing the OREO (Opinion, Reason, Explain and Opinion). I hope it will guide students in structuring their answers. I suspect that most students will have trouble with the explain part. In the original OREO template they use Example instead of Explain. WHen thinking about it, I had trouble coming up with examples for some of the reasons that I was using. I thought that explain might work better because students are always asked to explain themselves. Using the key word because might help them understand how to explain themselves.
Every day this week we have been reading a different pigeon book to learn about perusasive writing. They have been a huge hit. The students love the pigeon books and are engaged with every one. With each book the students have slowly improved with their explanations. They originally started not understanding how to explain their reasons. They were very disconnected. Slowly with practise they are starting to connect their reasons and explanations. All of the pigeon books are a huge hit. Any one of them could be used for persuasive writing. One activity I did was that I pretended to be the Pigeon and the students had to read me their persuasive writing piece and try to convince me to take a bath. The students really got involved and started critiquing each other reasons.
The primary pathway for this month is about persuasive writing. All of the primary teachers get together and discuss what they are doing for persuasive writing in their various classes. Together in the bookroom all the teachers created a data wall. It shows where all of the students are per class with a diagnostic writing piece and where their goals are for each student to reach by the end of unit. It also shows what each teacher is doing with their unit. There are different resources for the teachers like mentor texts, persuasive language worksheets and graphic organizers. It really helps each teacher stay on track and see what other teachers are doing.
This week is the end of our two-dimensional geometry unit. I am trying to figure out how to assess them on their learning without having them sit down and do a formal test. (Any ideas blog world?). Hopefully by the middle of the week we will be starting out three-dimensional geometry unit. I am thinking of having them create their own town using 3-D shapes. I am going to be sending a note out to parents to ask them to bring in any three-dimensional recycleables that we could use. Does anyone have an suggestions for activities to do during a 3-D geometry unit. The only thing I can remember from my days are building the shapes out of marshmellows and toothpicks.
This week I am also launching the persusasive writing unit. My AT did a diagnostic about a week and a half ago that didn't turn out very well. most kids needed help understanding what they were supposed to be doing. I have decided to start at the ground level. I am using the Pigeon books (i.e. Don't let the Pigeon drive the bus) to show them how to presuade. They are a great example of how someone tries to persuade someone of something. I am going to have them persuade the bus driver to not let the Pigeon drive the bus.
I will be introducing the OREO (Opinion, Reason, Explain and Opinion). I hope it will guide students in structuring their answers. I suspect that most students will have trouble with the explain part. In the original OREO template they use Example instead of Explain. WHen thinking about it, I had trouble coming up with examples for some of the reasons that I was using. I thought that explain might work better because students are always asked to explain themselves. Using the key word because might help them understand how to explain themselves.
Every day this week we have been reading a different pigeon book to learn about perusasive writing. They have been a huge hit. The students love the pigeon books and are engaged with every one. With each book the students have slowly improved with their explanations. They originally started not understanding how to explain their reasons. They were very disconnected. Slowly with practise they are starting to connect their reasons and explanations. All of the pigeon books are a huge hit. Any one of them could be used for persuasive writing. One activity I did was that I pretended to be the Pigeon and the students had to read me their persuasive writing piece and try to convince me to take a bath. The students really got involved and started critiquing each other reasons.
The primary pathway for this month is about persuasive writing. All of the primary teachers get together and discuss what they are doing for persuasive writing in their various classes. Together in the bookroom all the teachers created a data wall. It shows where all of the students are per class with a diagnostic writing piece and where their goals are for each student to reach by the end of unit. It also shows what each teacher is doing with their unit. There are different resources for the teachers like mentor texts, persuasive language worksheets and graphic organizers. It really helps each teacher stay on track and see what other teachers are doing.