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!

Read more »

Mrs. Shepherd

This coming Tuesday should be the 4th week of school, however, it will be the third due to Hurricane Isaac's appearance. I am looking forward to getting back to work and into the routine of things on Tuesday. I can't wait to hear students tell their stories about their experiences and will definitely have them do a writing describing their experience through Hurricane Isaac to share with all of my followers. Eventually we will post them on Kidblog. So, stay tuned for some wonderful stories!

Everyone here in southern Louisiana is beginning to get power back after 5+ days without electricity, but there are a lot still without power and the temperature here is extremely hot. My parents are one of the many without power and are staying with us at night.

We had very little damage due to the Hurricane unlike many whose homes flooded in southern Louisiana. We lost a few shingles on the roof, our fence is missing a few boards and leaning, and the trampoline and play set has been destroyed. Not too bad for 75+ miles per hour winds.

As I said before, I am really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. This coming week, students will identify and describe the Plot in the story. I will use the short film "Oktapodi" to introduce and model how to identify and describe the Plot. I am planning to re-create an anchor chart found on Pinterest when modeling. Wednesday and Thursday, I will do a read-aloud using the text Sarah and the Freedom Quilt a historical fiction selection to review and guide students through discussion on identifying and describing the plot. Independently students will read one of the leveled readers from the basal and they will identify and describe the Plot making a foldable I found on Pinterest. I will post pictures next week from this activity.

In Social Studies, students will identify and describe features on a physical map. I found some really great apps that I plan to use with students in collaborative groups. After modeling the different types of features found in the US I plan for students to use the app Educreations.  Educreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. Students will use the web to locate a physical map of the US and then take turns using the app to identify the features and their locations to teach the other members of their group. They will select one member's presentation to send to me via email.

We will also discuss how Louisiana is the only state in the US with parishes and how it consists of 64 political parishes. Students will also create a foldable showing their street, city, parish, state, country and continent and discuss and record the population of each. Love this foldable I found from Pinterest from Clutter Free Classroom.

Also, love this one from Sunny Days in Second Grade! Love how the students are holding up the world.

Here are a few more Social Studies apps I am planning on students exploring next week.

Check this one out for a fun way to learn the names of the continents and oceans!

This app is a great way to get students familiar with the US states.

This app is great to use to help with identifying and describing the features of the US. 

Read more »

Mrs. Shepherd

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 story. When I approached the middle of the story, during the read-aloud, I stopped, and students turned and talked discussing what the character was doing and how the setting impacted her actions and feelings. When the book was finished we summarized the story using the SWBS strategy (Somebody, Wanted, But, So) and finally recorded the character's feelings at the end and discussed how they changed from the beginning to the end. Can I say this was a wonderful read-aloud! We will definitely read again for future lessons such as: theme, sequencing, and cause and effect. This book would also make a great read-aloud to compare and contrast cultures.



Here is the anchor chart found on Pinterest that I used with students to introduce how to summarize the plot.

Add caption

Finally and most importantly this week, we have been working on building our stamina. After our read-aloud, students grabbed their "Just Right Book" and silently read. Our goal for this past week was 6 minutes, which we accomplished. We are moving to 7 minutes next week! Our goal is 20 minutes by December. On Mondays and Tuesdays students only silently read and on Wednesdays students respond to their thinking using the graphic organizer for the week based on the skills taught in Reading.

Next, week's Reading focus in on PLOT if Tropical Storm ISAAC stays away from southern Louisiana. Although, it doesn't look too good for us here.

Read more »

Mrs. Shepherd