Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Week of November 9

This week I am taking over more of the class than last week. I am now working with small groups in maths. In maths the group that I have been working with have been working on times tables, multiplication, mental math, time, and using calculators. I really enjoy working with these small groups because I feel it gives me an opportunity to get to know the students personalities a little more. I am able to pick up a little easier on strengths and weaker areas in their learning because of this.

On Monday I continued with my literacy unit. We began to write stories about an everyday event (such as walking home from school) and turning it into a fiction story. Last week we had talked about science fiction, historical fiction, mystery, and fantasy genres to scaffold this writing. I asked the students to map out their thinking prior to writing the story. To do this I handed out a basic story mapping sheet that included things like characters included, setting, the beginning, the events in the plot, and the end. After they finished their story maps they were able to begin writing.

Tuesday the students continued writing. I asked all the students to bring their story over at after they had finished their first event so I could look it over. And they continued to write. As the students finished their stories I asked them to spend the remainder of the class drawing a picture they felt showcased their story. Some of the students still were not done and I want to provide ample time for writing.

Two boys in the class have dyslexia and have a very difficult time writing. I had them narrate the parts of the story map to me and I wrote it for them so they had a basic framework to use during their story. I then had them draw their story in different frames. I required they did have some writing in each picture whether it was a post-it with a summary or conversation bubble to show what the characters were saying. I think this has worked well, they seemed to really enjoy the activity.

Today I led the science lesson that is scheduled to take two hours. We began the first hour by reviewing the vocabulary from last week (gravity, forcemeter, force, push, pull, weight, and Newton). Then we used the forcemeters to weigh different objects in the classroom. I had the students record the data (Newtons and grams) on a table that I had premade for them. After their break for the final hour the students weighed the same objects but in water. They recorded that data as well and after they were finished we talked about why the data may be different.

Tomorrow I will have the students finish their stories. Then we are going to talk more about historical fiction stories this activity will carry over to Friday's lesson. We are going to read a short historical fiction story and discuss the different aspects of it (a review of last week). Then we will be working on a story map of that same story as a class.

I am continuing to work with groups in maths and tomorrow I will take a small group in the history lesson when we will discuss Tudors and the exploration that happened during that time.

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