Week 13

Friday
ELA:  Peer Review day!! Students were placed into pairs and swapped stories. They were given time to read to story twice, make edits as they saw fit and to fill out a peer evaluation sheet shown below. The students then were given time to collaborate and share edits and positive feedback. On Monday, students will self revise and learn how to write a strong conclusion!

SS
Students were put into their explorer groups to finished researching together.  The following websites were given to guide the research:

biography.com
history.com
encyclopedia.com
britannica.com
allaboutexplorers.com

Thursday
ELA: Descriptive words was the topic today! We learned how to turn flat words into juicy ones! The students were given a descriptive words sheet shown below and a thesaurus so they could change flat words in their narrative stories. Tomorrow, they will be reading, editing and providing positive feedback for each others' rough drafts! We are nearing the end... I cannot wait to read the final drafts!

B2T: We finished the novel today!! The students applauded at the end, I took a bow and we reflected upon the predictions we made before reading and how they changed after finishing. Tomorrow, we will watch the remaining clip of the movie and the students will be given time to rewrite the ending of the book in any way they wish! Yay, creative writing! :) <3

SS: Students chose a European Explorer to research today! They were given a graphic organizer and a list of credible websites to guide their research. Little did they know, whoever chose the same explorer would actually be working together tomorrow! I formed their groups based on explorer. The final product will include a "life size" representation of the explorer, the flag of the country they sailed for and a scroll that has significant information about the explorer's life, accomplishments and impact. They will be done with their final projects and present next week! All finished projects will be displayed in the library! I will post pictures as soon as they are all finished!

Wednesday
ELA: We talked about the importance of including transitions in our writing today. Words like first, next, last, finally, one day...etc can make our writing flow much better. Most students started on their rough draft and our plan is to have the draft done by Friday, so we can peer and self edit early next week.

SS: Since today is Veteran's Day, we talked about why and who we celebrate on Veteran's Day. They watched a moving video that touched on the different wars our soldiers have fought in and how many casualties there were. It did mention, however, that there are 24.5 million surviving veterans! They got to write a letter to a veteran and we are mailing them off to an organization that distributes them to US soldiers. They did a great job of writing them and showing their appreciation!

Tuesday
ELA: We are continuing our narrative writing pieces and explored how to use our senses in our writing to make it even more interested to the reader! We practiced this concept by examining popcorn! We wrote details explaining how it smells, looks, feels, sounds (as it's popping) and, of course, how it tastes! A pic is below with the activity sheet and the delicious popcorn.

The kids did a great job of using descriptive words instead of boring ones like yellow, pop, buttery. 

B2T: We started reading chapter 12. 

SS: Students continued their Tasks in the scavenger hunt. They focused on a T/F section and drawing scenes depicting what two explorers accomplished. 

Monday

ELA:
We have launched our narrative writing today! Students created booklets for the 6 different types of hook sentences to help them with starting their story. For instructions on how to make the booklet click here. After we explored each type, they chose which hook they wanted to use and wrote their hook for their small moment topic! The kids did a great job of writing their hooks. I was very impressed! I can't wait to read the final copies and to see how they progress in their writing from this mini unit.

B2T: Today, the students watch a 15 minute clip of the movie and wrote down evidence as to what was similar and different from the book in chapters 10 and 11.

I created a new, library rotation schedule for the students to reference for when they are allowed to go to the library during silent reading time. This should clear up the confusion and mix up of days! I am definitely learning as I go with some procedures this year! :) Woo year 2!

SS:

Today, the students did a European Explorers Scavenger Hunt. There were 10 explorer cards taped in different spots of the pack area with information on them for an explorer. The students use graphic organizers to fill in answers about the different explorers. We will finish the activity tomorrow. Based on what they learned, the students will be able to choose which explorer they want to research for their end of unit project!