February 1, 2011

So, I did not expect that today would turn out like it did.
I had no idea that today was my half birthday but I guess I have your great students to remind me. Thank you to Cheryl Brown and Dawna Bentley for the yummy treats and ice cream. Really, I am so blessed to have such an awesome class with awesome parents.

Okay, now for what we did today:

We started our small groups talking about inferring to comprehend text. Then, we read more from our book club books. They also started their centers. The centers are as follows: Math--writing word problems, Writing/Grammar--find the meaning of words by looking at the root words, and Social Studies-- review of the southeast region.

Social Studies: Finished up on the War of 1812. We talked about how the British tried to take over Baltimore's Fort McHenry but, by some miracle, they were not able to defeat it and therefore won that battle. This was the inspiration behind Francis Scott Key's Star Spangled Banner. We then listen to that song and analyzed the meaning of the words.

Math: We review adding and subtracting fractions. They have a homework sheet on that.

During lunch, I taught some Korean to some of the students and gave a retake for chapter 7.

Science: Thanks to Mrs. Davey for coming in and helping out today. It was much appreciated. The students started their unit on volcanos with Mrs. Beach.

Writing: Students got their rough draft of their persuasive essays back. I read through them and gave some suggestions on how they could improve. I had them read through them and think of how they could improve. They have to rewrite it tonight for homework.

HW:
math: addition and subtraction practice (online called addition/subtraction review)
Writing: Rewrite their persuasive essays for peer edits tomorrow.
Spelling: week #19 study for Friday
Social Studies: study Mid-western states and capitals. Also, we have a test on Thursday on the War of 1812 and the Louisiana Purchase.