Hmm...what do you think all of these images have to do with our school week?
Image 1: The Iowa Core standards that we are currently focusing on. As the standards change I change our "I can" statements. If you've ever worked with or visited the Iowa Core (if not, check it out, it's very user friendly), then you know the standards aren't always written in the most common language. For that reason, I summarize the standard and put it in fifth grade friendly language.
Image 2: In ELA we have been working on analyzing and comparing texts and multimedia. This week we used the story "The Tortoise and the Hare;" we looked for similarities and differences between a short story, video (our favorite part was at minute:second 7:45), and book. We also discussed the visual images each form of the story created in our minds and the emotions/ideas that they evoked from within us.
Image 3: Right now we are actually studying long division, but our previous math standard was to master 3 digit by 2 digit multiplication. In fifth grade students must know the process of the standard algorithm, but they are also taught other strategies, such as decomposing.
Image 4: I'm sure many classes experience this same struggle...sometimes my students needed to be reminded of the cost of negative words and actions. "Paper" is one of my favorite activities to act out to my students. Basically, I put a paper person on the board and tear him down and crumple him up while I say not-so-nice things to him (you're a slow reader, no one wants to be on your team in P.E., your shoes are old and dirty, and etc.). I then ask students to say kind things to paper as they put him back together. We soon find out that once you've mistreated "Paper" he is never the same again. It's meant to be an analogy for the idea that once you mistreat another person they are never the same again.
Also in this image is the picture book The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey. I followed up the "Paper" activity with a story about teamwork. If you've never heard of "the 7 habits" it's definitely worth a look!
Image 5 & 6: Our coin jar was full! So we spent about one hour on Friday celebrating with a game day. As you can see most students brought electronic devices, but others played Risk (a game I extremely enjoy!). Sometimes it is great to just kick back and relax...especially when you've earned it.
Stay warm and watch out for the immense amount of snow we are expecting!
Yours truly,
Miss Grell
