Tower Power

Today's Jumpstart had us solving riddles with our one syllable rhyming hink pinks.  We also did a quick word building challenge looking at strategies for morphing the words we had already though of to build our list and persisting in our thinking even when we thought we had found all the possible words.  Today's high score was 16 words made out of the letters in AREA & PERIMETER.

We finished our chapter 2 area study with a check-up quiz.  Students showed off their abilities to define, estimate and calculate area of both regular and irregular shapes.

Next we used all six of the SPARK C's to complete the Castle Tower Challenge!  Students practiced collaboration to work in their group using pipe cleaners to build the tallest structure.  They used their content knowledge of castle building job and design features. They persisted in setbacks of one armed laborers, a loss of supplies and barriers to their communication. Their creative and critical thinking help them design these beauties!

We had fun with our first reader's theater experience.  We divvied up parts and read "How Does it Feel to Live Next Door to a Giraffe".  Students practiced fluency and oral expression as well as evaluating the script for themes and coming up with a zoo design to help the animals show more tolerance for one another.

Carpet Caper

Our morning Jumpstart today focused on homophone riddles.  See how well you do!

A penny perfume________  ________.

Forbidden group of musicians  ________  _________.

A stallion with a sore throat ________  _________.

A frog pulled by a chain ________  _________.

To compose correctly ________  _________.

A chess horse after dark ________  _________.

For math we brushed up on our area and perimeter skills with three station rotations. At station 1, students worked with me to measure and calculate the area of our classroom with our Carpet Caper.  At station 2, they played an area and perimeter quiz game and were able to self-check for accuracy.  At the third station, several computer activities helped them gain fluency in solving for perimeter and area.

Our mindset moment today involved reading the book Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg.  The book shows how spills, tears, and mistakes can be creatively turned into works of art.  Student got to try their own hand at using something that might look like a flaw and turning it into an original picture of their own.

For our project work today, we read about protecting the castle and learned new vocabulary to understand the parts and structures involved in caste defense.  Students then chose to make their own labeled castle diagrams or create a matching game using their new vocabulary.