We were back in the classroom last Thursday and Friday after Hurricane Isaac and I took these two days to have students share their experiences during the Hurricane. I began by reading a story titled Hurricane by David Wiesner to have students make connections with the characters in the story. They then organized their thoughts in a Flee Map, and then took their thoughts and constructed a two paragraph essay describing their experiences and feelings before, during and after the Hurricane. Friday, students published their stories on our class blog at Kidblog. Check them out!

This week we have been super busy getting back into the routine of things and continuing to practice routines and procedures. Monday I taught students how to make a quality comment on a blog post, using the following anchor chart. Then I randomly handed out student's Hurricane stories and had them practice making a comment using a sticky note. Once they made their comment they delivered the writing back to its owner. They really enjoyed learning how to make comments, as well as reading comments made by their peers. I must also thank Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Faust two teachers at my school, as well as Mrs. Howard the assistant principal and my student teacher Mrs. Ronquille for making additional comments on the student's first blog post. They were excited to know that their experience was shared with others outside of the classroom.

I am looking forward to hosting a Blog Commenting Party for my parents, where students will teach their parents how to log in their blogs and make a quality comment. The Blog Commenting Party is scheduled for Wednesday, September 26th.

Check them out making their comments! They did such an awesome job!

Our focus this week in Reading was identifying and describing the Plot in a text. I read aloud Sarah and the Freedom Quilt and created this Anchor chart with students to identify the Rising Actions, Problem, Climax, Falling Actions and Resolution.









We also practiced going to centers this week.

Here the students are going on a Louisiana Scavenger Hunt on the internet. My student teacher put together a packet for the students with links for the students to locate and use to find answers about their state such as state symbols, population, governor, and other facts.

Here is my student teacher facilitating a guided reading center. She is using the basal to review with students how to identify the plot in a story, and teaching them strategies such as re-reading when they can't determine the answer.

Students below are practicing on our state testing site LAPass. They are practicing Proofreading 1. Students were given two chances to complete the test and then recorded their best score.

Here students are utilizing Brainpop to review concepts we have learned this week such as landforms in  the US in Social Studies, Plot in Reading, and they are watching Harriet Tubman because the story Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt reminded them of Harriet Tubman.

Two other things I am super proud of this week check them out below!

Check out our class Goals. The Anchor chart in the middle is and idea I found on Pinterest and modified. I created Reading Goals for my students such as reading 40 books, reading 140 wpm, learning 150 new words and achieving 85% or higher on tests. I then passed out the color stars you see to students and had them write a goal they wanted to achieve. Some of their goals included changing their behavior, typing faster, passing their tests, making their mom and dad proud ( I loved this one!), doing all their homework, and reading for 20 minutes every night.

Finally, Check out my Super Improver Wall, which is going really well. Students began as a Fan (white star). You can see how many have already earned 10 stamps and have moved up to Rookie (orange star). These students received a free homework pass, as well as changing their star.

Looking forward to another great week!

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Mrs. Shepherd

For the past two weeks and continuing until the end of the year, my 4th grade "Shining Stars" and "Shooting Stars" will work collaboratively in groups on technology based learning projects and in guided groups with a teacher. My students will demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products using technology. They will also practice test taking strategies to prepare for the upcoming state test.

Here's a look at my 6 centers which students attend to for 2 rotations of 30 minutes.

At center 1, the Shining Stars work in a teacher led group facilitated by Mr. Martinez, the ELL teacher and Ms. DiFulco, the Special Education teacher facilitates the second class, to revise and edit a passage. They end the center with a Proofreading test on LouisianaPass and print out their results for a grade

At center 2, this week students determined the climax of the story by analyzing the plot. Here's a look at the anchor chart I used on the left and a chart I used to model how to determine the climax using the book Stone Soup. The activities for this lesson were taken from ReadWorks.



At center 3, students work in a teacher led group to analyze different resources, use process of elimination and learn to prove their answers by giving evidence to where their answer was located. This is a test prep center to prepare for Information Resources and is led by my student teacher.

At center 4, students interact, collaborate and publish their work with peers through Edmodo. Students take a Reading quiz, poll, and respond to a focus question on their chapter book. The Shining Stars are reading James and the Giant Peach and are collaborating with a 4th grade class from Kansas and Colorado. The Shooting Stars are reading Because of Winn Dixie. I am so excited I was able to get this book club together for the students through Twitter. Thanks to @JanWells and @Jmplus for their  and their students' participation.

At center 5, students expand their vocabulary by using a variety of tools such as tag board I created from Jasztalville's Blog, play www.freerice.com, www.spellingcity.com, and creating a Word Cloud using Spelling words on www.wordle.net The Wordles students created came out great. They are hanging outside of my classroom. Sorry I forgot to take a picture!

Finally center 6, students will make a choice post on their blogs using Kidblog. Students are expected to write at least a 100 words and include a hook, transitions, and a conclusion.

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Mrs. Shepherd