Week in Review - February 3rd-7th

I can't believe it is already February!

Here is a glimpse at what we worked on this week:

Special Guest Reader: MC came across some amazing informational books and really wanted to share them with the class. It was great!

The students worked on their 2nd Quarter Reflection Videos. Parents should be receiving an email this week with a password to access these amazing videos. This quarter, they were completely kid planned, directed, recorded, edited and shared. 

One of our groups practiced and performed a fun Reader's Theater titled, Blackout!

A few of our groups also practiced a "draw through the text" activity. This is where we take one small section or paragraph from a text and draw something to represent each sentence. This helps students learn the fine art of summarizing in their own words.

We started with a next about elephant trunks.

My Movie 9 from LBright on Vimeo.

While I am meeting with groups, most of Room 222 is learning in "Outer Space". 

Here is a group of ladies working on sharing books, reading aloud, talking about texts and discussing characters.

In this photo you can see students working on the computer, collaboratively writing together, writing independently, listening to stories, reading independently and participating in our observation station.

Room 222 participated in a Non-Fiction Read Around. A read around is almost like "hot potato" with books. The only difference is that when the music stops, you pass your book to the next person. They have anywhere from 15 seconds to 1 minute with each book.  This is a great way to expose the students to multiple books and features in a very short amount of time.

This was a big week for us in writing! We moved onto our next Lucy Culkins writing book. We are moving on from being Story Tellers (writing personal narratives) to becoming Teachers (writing informational texts).

So this week we started writing about what we know. 

Some students began by sketching through their story.

A few students are playing with the idea of different types of beginnings. 

Jovani used motion lines to make his informational illustration more useful to the reader.

Many students practiced using "fun facts" as a way to add more interesting information to their pages.

Several students researched their topics before beginning or when they had writer's block by using the computer, ipads or mentor texts. 

This coming week will sure prove busy with the 100th day of school and Valentine's Day. There is never a dull moment in Room 222.