Remember Me?

Hello, I am your child's teacher. Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I am going to fix that starting...NOW. Things have been busy. I guess that's my excuse. In all honesty, though, we've been working hard to get ready for Exhibitions as well as get all the rest of our work done.

It's hard to believe it's almost Exhibition week. Stay tuned for more updates. I'll do a better job from now on!

Out From Under

I know all the faithful readers have been wondering what happened to their regular Room 302 blog updates. It seems I've found myself behind in every area. Coming home today with your child will be a huge pile of papers that I finally got around to grading last night. Sorry about that. I guess I got caught up in other things and the paperwork started piling up. Luckily, I'm climbing out from under that pile and am ready to finish the week and eager to start a new one on Monday.

I've been keeping pretty close track on everything we've been doing these first 6 weeks. I was looking back the other day and I realized..."Wow! We've been busy!" Here's just a short rundown of what we've accomplished...we have:

• read and discussed 24 poems together
• written five different kinds of poems
• completed a class podcast
• created 2 class picture books
• read and discussed 12 fabulous picture books
• completed the first 5 chapters of our American History text and (almost) a project
• completed nearly 2 units of our math curriculum
• written four Slice of Life Stories
• solved four Problems of the Week
• launched a collaborative, all-village writing project
• started an international online book club
• successfully launched our Reading Workshop, complete with Guided Reading
• started our spelling program (a.k.a. "Buddy Study" or "Word Study")

I'm sure I've left something out...but that seems pretty impressive to me. No wonder I'm behind in paperwork! Be sure to take a moment this long weekend to thank your child for their hard work this year so far. I know you're proud of them. I am, too.

Room 302 Goes Global

I am excited to announce a new project that our class will be participating in...an Online Book Club.

Certainly you are wondering, "What's an Online Book Club?" Well, the answer is pretty simple. It's just like a regular book club, where people meet to discuss a common book. EXCEPT, in this case all of our meetings will take place online.

I'll be reading a book aloud to our class during the next month: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. Several other classes will be doing the same thing. A couple of them are from our school; a couple from our Mark Murray campus; three classes in West Columbia, South Carolina; and one class in Bangkok, Thailand!

Then, students will visit a specially designed website where they can post their thoughts, respond to questions, and make comments about this common book. I'm not completely sure on all the details, but we'll try to come up with some sort of final project and maybe even add some video conferencing between classes, if possible.

Hopefully, after we complete this book, we'll continue reading others. Not only will this be fun, but it should be yet another way to help students develop reading skills and (just as importantly) a love of reading and discussing books.

I'll keep you posted as we go along. If you'd like to see the webpage and follow our progress, here it is:

http://bookclub21.wikispaces.com

Update for the Week

Just a few pieces of news to pass along...

• Unit 1 Math tests will come home today. Please go over them together. Overall, I thought we did well.
• Homework Alerts will be sent home today, as well. Every student will get one. Please sign and return.
• Milestone 1 is due Thursday. This is simply a list of 6 books and/or websites that could be used for gathering information for the interest project. Students who turn their list in Thursday morning will get to participate in "Fun Friday." Fun Friday is an afternoon of fun activities that serves as a reward for finishing the milestone.
• Scholastic book orders went home yesterday. They are due back Thursday, October 15. After school today, I'll be setting up online ordering, which is an easy, secure option. Use the link in the sidebar of the blog to learn how to order online.
• MEAP testing begins next week. More info on this to come.

Poems Experiment Follow-Up

Our experiment with "found poetry" went incredibly well. The students showed they have keen eyes for vivid, poetic language, even when it's hidden in unexpected places.

Just a reminder--the assignment was to find one or two sentences from a magazine or newspaper or book and rewrite it into a poem. They had to use the exact words in the exact order. I thought everyone did a terrific job. I find it fun to watch them experiment with words and lines.

Choosing four to share was, again, difficult, so I will try to feature a few different poets than I did last time...

Found Poem #18 from National Geographic

Arranged by Joshua Jewell

Take me fishing,

so we can

be together

just you

and me.

Take me fishing,

and we'll call

it a date.

Take me fishing,

and we'll have

the boat all to

ourselves.

Take me fishing

and make

me feel

sixteen

Again!!!

------------------

Found Poem #III from National Geographic

Arranged by Alexander Moore

Today I visited an official

"Sculpture Studio"

where I found

Saddam Hussein

riding a horse straight

out of Arabian Nights.

-------------------

Omarion from The Book of Chris Brown

Arranged by Troi Sparks

Our boy Omarion

May be a superstar

But he does not mind

Sharing the stage with

Other

Superstars. As you know

He just toure and did the

Face off CD. We can't wait

To see whatcha do next, Big O!

------------------

The Real Story from National Geographic

Arranged by Noah Ward

Discovery of a

rare diamond in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo sparked

high-

level intrigue.

Then the stone

vanished,

only to resurface

in New York City.

Tracking the gem revealed

the world of diamonds--

a labyrinth

linking multi-million dollar

mines, bloody

wars, and timeless beauty

Count Day and More

• Count Day is tomorrow! Please be in school and on time. Thanks so much!!!
• Milestone 1 is due October 8. For this milestone, students must turn in a list of 6 resources that they plan to use for their interest project. I have a form that I'll send home this week, but if it's just a list of websites and/or books written on a sheet of paper, that's fine, too.
• Book in a Bag turn-in rate isn't what I'd like it to be yet. All of the students have books. Please make sure that they are reading every night, filling out the form, and returning the form to school every Monday.
• Speaking of less than 100 percent return rate...Slice of Life stories are due every Monday, too. Please don't forget.
• We took a unit test in math today. Look for the graded paper to come home by the end of the week.
• Thanks to all who took the time out of their days for Learning Team Meetings. I felt like they were a great success and that we've got some terrific, individualized learning plans in place. If you haven't met with me yet, please give a call or send an email ASAP.
• Remember if you haven't checked out our first podcast yet, give it a listen HERE.

Guided Reading

Guided Reading groups will start tomorrow. What's a guided reading group? It's a small group of 3-5 students with similar reading abilities. These groups meet with me 3 or more times per week to be guided through a book that's at their "Instructional Level."

Books at their instructional level are books that are just a little too hard for them to comprehend on their own. During our group meetings, I help them prior to reading by providing background information, defining and pronouncing words and names, etc. Then, after reading a short selection, we discuss what we read. That's when I ask comprehension questions to check for understanding.

This is just a summary of what goes on during guided reading. Teachers at UPA have spent MANY valuable hours being trained to teach reading workshop. The framework/program we use is very highly regarded and widely used in districts across the country.

Guided reading is one of my favorite parts of the day. I've never been the reading workshop teacher for any of my students, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I think it will become one of their favorite parts of the day, too.

Be sure to let me know if you have any questions about Reading Workshop or any of our other academic programs. And speaking of reading, don't forget Book-in-a-Bag worksheets are due this and every Monday!!!