3

Character Study Continued & Building Stamina

10:49:00 AM

This past week we continued with our Character Study. Our focus last week was on how the setting impacts the character's traits, actions and motives. Monday I read aloud The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi and modeled how the setting impacted the character in the beginning of the ...

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Mrs. Shepherd

What a busy week it was!

The first full week back to school was filled with lots of learning from a Character Study, to a sample writing prompt, review of punctuation, and ending with a "Yarning" the Globe activity.

      Our focus in Reading for the first nine weeks is on Elements of Fiction. So, I kicked it off with a lesson focusing on Character Traits. The student's learning goal was to identify and describe the protagonist in the story by paying attention to what the character said, did and thought throughout the text. Monday, I did lots of modeling with the students using the mentor text Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest charting my Think-Alouds and having the students turn and talk with their partner. Tuesday and Wednesday I used the story "Astronaut and the Onion" from our basal. Also on Wednesday, students worked independently reading the first chapter in their "Just Right" books and responded to their reading paying attention to what the character said, did and thought. Here's a pic of the Anchor Chart Pinterest inspired that  I created from Fabulous Fourth Grade.

Thursday we practiced how to take a 4th grade Reading Comprehension test using the UNERD strategy. 

Underline the Title

Number the Paragraphs

Evaluate the Questions

Read the Passage

Determine the Answers

Friday they took their assessment.

Students also did a writing sample this week, which took place on Monday and Tuesday. Students were given the prompt on Monday, and they brainstormed and wrote their rough draft. On Tuesday, a former student's essay was projected and students chose two good things about the essay and two things that needed improvement. Then students were given a slip of paper to find two good things and two things that they needed to improve on in their paper, and they did the same with their partner's paper. Finally, students were given time to write their final draft.

Students will focus on Map Skills for the first nine weeks, so we began with teaching parts of the globe. I found an awesome hands on lesson called "Yarning the Globe" that students enjoyed. Here are a couple of pictures of the students laying out the latitude and longitude lines.

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Mrs. Shepherd

5

Back to School

8:37:00 AM

The first two days Back to School have been filled with rules/expectations procedures team building activities text to self connections picking a Just Right book Getting to know you activities exploring technology in the classroom Students really did a great job of becoming acclimated ...

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Mrs. Shepherd

2

August Currently

4:56:00 PM

I can't believe we are already into August and school is about to begin for the 2012-2013th school year!     I am linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade and hope you will too! 271 people have linked up so far, which is AMAZING! ...

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Mrs. Shepherd

5

A Snapshot of First Day Activities

9:28:00 AM

The first day of school for students is soon approaching! I begin on Monday & Tuesday with Professional Development and Wednesday is Classroom Set-up Day. The students begin on Thursday. So, as I await their arrival my brain is overwhelmed with ideas and activities to do with ...

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Mrs. Shepherd

5

Last Day of Summer!

7:43:00 PM

Tomorrow is my last day of summer vacation! I begin back at work on Monday and the students return on Thursday. My room is done, lesson plans for the first week of school are done, and I have completed the ELA scope and sequence for the first nine weeks. Now it is time to relax ...

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Mrs. Shepherd