Monday, October 29, 2007

Co-writing with 4th Grade

Today, the sixth graders were the teachers in Writing Workshop. Mrs. Wolfe's fourth grade language arts class came up to our room to co-write a response to the book, Mountain Magic, written by Alice Boggs Lentz. The question was: How does the main character feel about growing up in the mountains? Use examples from the book to support your answers.

Mrs. Wolfe read the book aloud. The book is the story of a family's journeys home to their grandmother's home in the mountains. The visits are filled with "magic" memories. The sixth grade students did an excellent job as "teachers." They helped their students formulate responses that started with topic sentences, and supported their answer with details from the book.


Tomorrow we will finish answers, revise for content, edit for mistakes, and then publish a final draft on the computers.

Monday, October 22, 2007

1st Nine Weeks Ending

We are back from break and students are working hard to finish up writing projects before the end of the 1st nine weeks. Projects due include: Letter about SSR book, Journal-If I was the Teacher, Describe the Character worksheet, and any assignments not completed due to absences.

Students, as always, can check their grades on Engrade to see how they stand.

Opportunities for extra credit are winding down, but here is a chance:

What is the shortest sentence possible?

An answer showing effort is worth 1 point. The correct answer is worth 3 points.

Go for it!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Pumpkin Show


The Pumpkin Show,
The Pumpkin Show,
My oh my, I love it so,
So take my hand and off we'll go
Let's all go to the Pumpkin Show

Ted Lewis wrote this song many years ago and we have reached that point in our school year. It is time for our fall break. Many will be headed to Circleville for the Pumpkin Show. Sixth grade students should be commended for a job well done, so far this year. Students have been working hard, and making good progress. Discipline/behavior problems have been minimal. SSSoooooo--enjoy your break sixth graders!

I am not saying I am going to enjoy it but-take a look at me. I am headed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with my beagles for 5 days.

Congrats to our latest Study Island Students of the Day, Haley, Collin, Dillon, and Cody.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Committees For Writing Workshop

In Writing Workshop, we are improving through the use of committees. Each class has a Revision Committee and an Editing Committee. As students move through the writing process, the committee members help improve writing, peer tutor, and assist with grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

The process includes:

Step 1 Thinking, Prewriting, First Draft
Students can either write out the first draft or type it on a computer. If they write it out, they type it before going to step 2.

Step 2 Revision Committee
A member of the Revision Committee reads the first draft and writes down any questions he/she has as they read.

Step 3 Revise Content
Students use the questions to revise and improve the content.

Step 4 Editing Committee
Once students have checked their writing for mistakes, they go over it with a member of the Editing Committee checking for errors in spelling, sentencing, punctuation, and capitalization.
Students clean up mistakes, and print out a clean copy. Students then meet with a different member of the Editing Committee for a final look, checking for any mistakes.

Step 5 Correct Mistakes, Final Draft
Students correct any remaining mistakes, and give their essay a final look.
Students then print a final draft and turn in to be graded.






6-B Revision Committee



6-A Revision Committee







6-B Editing Committee






6-A Editing Committee






Peer Tutoring at Work






Congratulations to our Study Island Students of the Day, Catherine and Scotty!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Calendar of Events

FYI

October 12 Picture Day
October 15-29 PTO Fall Fundraiser
October 17-19 No School Pumpkin Show break
October 26 End of 1st nine weeks
October 31 Halloween Parade @ 1:30
November 2 Grade Cards
November 5 Awards Assembly Grades 4-6 @10:00
November 14 Schoolwide Achievement Night 5:30
November 20 Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:30
November 21-26 Thanksgiving Break
November 28-29 Author Sandra Philipson Visits

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Study Island

Students work daily in reading and math with the online learning program from Study Island. This program is based on the Ohio State Standards. It has lessons that help teach each topic and remediates when students do not pass a topic. Students can do sessions anywhere they have internet access. adjusts

Each day a Study Island Student of the Day is chosen from each class. The winners receive an award certificate, a piece of candy,


AND THEY GET THE CHAIR FOR THE DAY!


You can tell by the look on Shayna's face, that when a student gets "The Chair"
They spend a day in class living in luxury!






Congratulations to today's Study Island Students of the Day--Cail J., Seth R., Molly V., and Chris T.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Reward Recess

Some students got to go outside for 20 minutes of special reward recess today. Students who had 0 or 1 write-ups in the behavior notebook for the month of September received this reward. They got to go out on the playground, enjoy a special snack, and get out of class. Great job to these hard workers!