December

The past 3 weeks have been so jammed packed!  It seemed fitting to put it all in one post!  Here is what we have been up to.

This month, we started talking about the "signposts" that you find in books.  Most chapter books have predictable signposts that direct a reader through a story.  When a reader finds these signposts in a book, they are important to notice and to stop and and think about.  The first signpost was "Contrasts and Contradictions."  When a character does or says something that is the opposite of what they have been saying or doing all along, we should stop and ask ourselves "Why is the character doing that."  Often this marks a turning point in a story where a character is changing or the plot is turning.  It allows the reader to following along with the journey that they character is going on.

We used this signpost when we read this book by Allen Say.

It helped us understand the main character's feeling and how they changed as they got older.


We also wrapped up the Portland history unit.  The kids did such a nice job learning about our city.
We put all of our artifacts in to one Portland book to share with our families.

 We also have been using our classroom chromebooks more.  I received 6 chromebooks as part of a grant from DonorsChoose.  The students are learning to use GoogleDocs to type stories and we will learn more about searching the internet after the new year.

Part of preparing students to take the new Smarter Balance standardized tests in the spring (the 3rd Graders will take them this year), the students are learning how to construct and write a short essay response to questions about books.  We are using the acronym A.C.E to make sure our answer have the all the information it needs.
A- Answer the question asked
C- Cite evidence from the story
E- Explain how the evidence supports your answer.

We are also working on writing letters.  We wrote letters to friends in the classroom.  We also are writing opinion letters expressing our point of view.  Here we are writing Mr. Jones to tell him we want longer recess.

The season has been full of art.  We made art for the hallway outside our classroom, art for the big bulletin board by the cafeteria, and a SECRET project for our families.

It has been a very good, very busy month!  I hope everyone has a wonderful, restful and peaceful winter break.