Thursday, May 18, 2017
Medieval Times Showcase
What a finale it was! Thank you to all who were able to attend! Students did a great job presenting their scripts and showing off their knowledge of medieval times. We enjoyed a classic castle feast and I know students loved facing off against their parents in chess. Thank you for all your support this year. I will miss this great bunch!
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Finishing Touches
Today was our last official day of instruction in SPARK. We are still looking forward to our Medieval Times Showcase next week after testing! To celebrate today, we did a Breakout Review Game where students had to use their acquired knowledge from Jumpstarts, Measurement, Medieval Times, the 6 C's and chess to follow a series of clues, unlock codes, and discover the identity of the Vial Varlet who laid siege to their castle projects.
We also smoothed out wrinkles and put the finishing touches on our castle lap books, rehearsed our final reader's theater scripts, and reviewed some of our chess strategies. It has been a great year! I am so proud of all that this group has accomplished!
We also smoothed out wrinkles and put the finishing touches on our castle lap books, rehearsed our final reader's theater scripts, and reviewed some of our chess strategies. It has been a great year! I am so proud of all that this group has accomplished!
Friday, April 28, 2017
You're Invited!
Today students spent our Jumpstart time reviewing word play activities with several online games. They can continue to play at home if they choose to! They then took a short assessment showing their knowledge of analogies, homophones, and Greek and Latin word roots.
Prefixes
We also closed out and assessed our math measurement unit. Students showed their learning on both our capacity study and volume of rectangular prisms.
We enjoyed a visit from author, Jane Wood, who took us through her writing process and shared some of the history she weaves into her stories. This was perfect as the bulk of our day was spend finishing our medieval times scripts and beginning the editing process.
We are working frantically to finish as our time is getting short. We will be excited to share our work with families on May 18th in our project showcase. We hope you can join us!
Prefixes
We also closed out and assessed our math measurement unit. Students showed their learning on both our capacity study and volume of rectangular prisms.
We enjoyed a visit from author, Jane Wood, who took us through her writing process and shared some of the history she weaves into her stories. This was perfect as the bulk of our day was spend finishing our medieval times scripts and beginning the editing process.
We are working frantically to finish as our time is getting short. We will be excited to share our work with families on May 18th in our project showcase. We hope you can join us!
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Come one and all to our first ever SPARK Medieval Times Project Showcase.
Students will display and share the castle lap books they have created throughout our research process and present their original reader’s theater scripts.
Where: Bookman Road Elementary,
Room C102
When: May 18, 2017 at 1:00 P.M.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Pentomino Puzzlers
Today's Jumpstart wrapped up our second rotation of word play. Students built vocabulary by looking at common Greek and Latin suffixes.
In math, students rotated through stations to review finding the volume of rectangular prisms. I have been really impressed with their work in measurement for this unit.
We began our original reader's theater scripts today. Students chose their format, groups, and topics and began to write. I think we are one our way to having some informative and entertaining shows!
Our mindset moment had students trying different strategies to configure their 12 pentomino pieces into a 6 x 10 grid. I am hearing more and more positive talk as we practice responding to challenges and enjoying the processes and not just the products of learning. They enjoyed it so much, the only groans came from the call to clean up! For more pentomino puzzles at home they can use this link.
We wrapped up with time to work on our medieval times projects. Students are finishing their final bits of research and completing work for their castle lap books. I am hoping to have 12 complete books by next week!
In math, students rotated through stations to review finding the volume of rectangular prisms. I have been really impressed with their work in measurement for this unit.
We began our original reader's theater scripts today. Students chose their format, groups, and topics and began to write. I think we are one our way to having some informative and entertaining shows!
Our mindset moment had students trying different strategies to configure their 12 pentomino pieces into a 6 x 10 grid. I am hearing more and more positive talk as we practice responding to challenges and enjoying the processes and not just the products of learning. They enjoyed it so much, the only groans came from the call to clean up! For more pentomino puzzles at home they can use this link.
We wrapped up with time to work on our medieval times projects. Students are finishing their final bits of research and completing work for their castle lap books. I am hoping to have 12 complete books by next week!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Volume of Rectangular Prisms
Our Jumpstart today had students building vocabulary with Greek and Latin root work. We focused on these stems:
Root
|
Meaning
|
graph
|
write
|
act
|
to do or have
|
aud
|
hear
|
bio
|
life
|
bene
|
good
|
vac
|
empty
|
In reading students read and presented scripts detailing visits to other places in time. They will use this format as an option when creating their own reader's theater scripts to accompany our medieval times project.
Math we were back at measurement, with today's topic being volume of rectangular solids. They looked at the reasoning behind the formula V= L x W x H and built their own prisms to cube count, deconstruct, and measure. We also focused on proper units with 3-dimensional measurements.
For our mindset moment, students were asked to participate in some metacognition as they considered their own learning progress and struggles so far this year in our classroom.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Monolouges
Today's Jumpstart had us back at studying Greek prefixes as a tool for decoding and extending vocabulary. Students looked at the prefixes sub, mono, pre, tri, and re.
In math we enjoyed this cute video to get us in the mood for customary capacity conversion. Students then worked in groups on our party planning challenge problem. With the prompt of serving two cups of lemonade to each of their 36 guests, they came up with as many ways as possible to show 72 cups with different combinations of units. They used the actual tools to measure and pour, proving their answers to the class.
Monologues was the theme of the day for reading. Students continued with their Reader's Theater practice and focused on solo performances using expression to highlight the feelings of their character. We took a trip to the library for students to choose a short read aloud to practice for the class. A monologue from the perspective of a medieval character will be one of their choices when creating their own scripts for our projects in the coming weeks.
We wrapped up our series on "the Dip" with persisting through some critical thinking toothpick puzzles.
In math we enjoyed this cute video to get us in the mood for customary capacity conversion. Students then worked in groups on our party planning challenge problem. With the prompt of serving two cups of lemonade to each of their 36 guests, they came up with as many ways as possible to show 72 cups with different combinations of units. They used the actual tools to measure and pour, proving their answers to the class.
Monologues was the theme of the day for reading. Students continued with their Reader's Theater practice and focused on solo performances using expression to highlight the feelings of their character. We took a trip to the library for students to choose a short read aloud to practice for the class. A monologue from the perspective of a medieval character will be one of their choices when creating their own scripts for our projects in the coming weeks.
We wrapped up our series on "the Dip" with persisting through some critical thinking toothpick puzzles.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Coat of Arms
Our Jumpstart today was a classic word scramble. Students used their prior knowledge together with some decoding skills to uncover our mystery vegetables.
Our time was short, but we were hard at work on our medieval times projects. Students continued their investigation of knights, armor, and weapons. They then chose symbols of heraldry to represent themselves on the battlefield. They also choose between writing their own minstrel song or creating an advertisement for the medieval equipment they studied.
We watched the video "Austin's Butterfly" and looked at how feedback and drafting can be a great way to make improvements on work. Check out our progress from the first to final drafts!
Our time was short, but we were hard at work on our medieval times projects. Students continued their investigation of knights, armor, and weapons. They then chose symbols of heraldry to represent themselves on the battlefield. They also choose between writing their own minstrel song or creating an advertisement for the medieval equipment they studied.
We watched the video "Austin's Butterfly" and looked at how feedback and drafting can be a great way to make improvements on work. Check out our progress from the first to final drafts!
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