Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Mystery State

Mystery ~ Pen Pals
  • Students are finishing their Interest Inventory and will use the information to write a Friendly Letter. They are pretty excited to begin their writing!
  • Amelia Hits the Road - 9781883672836They are drawing a postcard of what kids in our community do on a weekend. Then writing a short paragraph of their adventure. The idea came from Jennifer Nu's story, A Weekend in Metlakatla and Amelias Road Trip. She wrote postcards to her friends.
  • They also wrote a letter  to the principal about their math history: I used to  (Second Grade); Now I (Third Grade) and What helped . . .

Monday, October 24, 2011

Technology Apps and Sites

IXL Math Site to Practice Math Facts
Math practice skills are aligned to state standards. Each grade level has its own themed game board, filled with awards and prizes, so practicing math is like one big treasure hunt.
Several students discovered that you can practice using a Kindle and the computer at home. Individual students shared that they practice IXL on the iPad.

Students are operating Notes.html

A student asked, "Can I use the iPad to write my story?" She is beginning her story, Last November Mom Dad  . . .




  • Space to do “scratch work”
  • Excellent problem generator
  • Saves their score of work completed.

Fill the Cup
  • Kids learn math concepts in an interesting way.
  • Rods in Addition/Subtraction
  • It shows how two numbers make up another one.
  • Balance is multiply 
A student shared, yesterday I figured out how to do multiplication on Fill the Cup. When I got to the home screen on Fill the Cup, I went to balance (Multiply) and I figured it out.


Voice Memo
  • Make a recording of your poem to build fluency

    The student reads text aloud by

    [3] 1.3.1 Reading orally with rhythm, flow and expression, showing understanding of punctuation and other conventions of print 

Saturday, October 22, 2011

What is Onomatopoeia?

  Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural sounds in a word form like in the following poem.
Onomatopoeia
by Eve Merriam

The rusty spigot
sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash
splatters
scatters
spurts
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.
Onomatopoeia click on speaker Students will view comic strips to identify examples of onomatopoeia. We have example of a jingle like the snap, crackle, pop jingle for Rice Krispies or the plop, plop, fizz, fizz for Alka Seltzer.
Front Cover Listen to Night Noises by Mem Fox and write down when you hear an onomatopoeia. Literature to support the Six Traits of Writing:Word Choice

Thursday, October 20, 2011

iNotes Introduction

Student's used the Notes App. (The notepad is set up to look like a yellow legal pad) to take notes from a on-line story. Raven Steals the Light.

Notes from the story:
An inky pitch blanketed the world making it very difficult for anyone to hunt or fish or gather berries for food.  The old man who had a box that contained a box that held many other boxes.  He  (Raven) instantly decided to steal the light.  The Raven transformed himself into a tiny hemlock needle and floated into the girl's bucket. She took a drink he slipped down her throat. He (Grandfather) caved in and gave the child the biggest box to play with.  Raven and snatching the light in his beak, flew through the smokehole and up into the sky. 
  • Next lesson, what underlined red means = incorrect spelling.
  • Another lesson Select, Select All, and Paste
The notes will be used to retell how the Raven steals the light. 

The student restates/summarizes information by

[3] 1.4.1 Retelling or dramatizing a story after reading it (L) 

Frencis said, "This day was fun! I love writing! I learned that Raven helped everyone in the village to get the sun."
Isaac shared, "This was really cool and it was fun and it was fun today. I had fun."
Avienda said, "This is really hard but I still had fun."
Douglas shared, "I felt good, I really wanted to do this."
Elijah said, "This was fun and hard. I like this because it's writing and it's easier than on a piece of paper and I want to do it again. And it is easier because I did this on my iPad." 
Joseph share, "It was hard."
Navin said, "I like doing this! Mrs. Brook's I like doing this because it's my first time doing this and it  is really fun! I like doing this because it could help you write! We could do this at home."
Jason shared, "I like it and it was fun. It was hard but I liked it.
Caleb said, "It was hard but good."
Sheriel shared, "I love it."
Tobin said, "I liked it and it was really easy because I do it on y iPod touch."
Cort shared, "This was very hard but it was better than with a pencil."

Mix-Up Poetry and Voice Memo

Using VoiceMemo in a quiet area, shh.
Typing their stanza and adding a VoiceMemo

Fun with Fluency. Fill in the lines to create your own stanza to this poem.
Sometimes my ____________ mixes me up.
____________
____________
____________
____________
That mixes me up.
  • Then type your poem on the voice memo pad and record your poem 3 times. Select your best one! (Delete 2)
Mix-Up
Sometimes my dad mixes me up.
“Stay up.”
“Go to bed.”
“Come here.”
“Wash your clothes.”
“Do your homework.”
“Never mind, don’t do your homework.”
“We have to go to the store.”
That mixes me up.
            By Avienda

Mix-Up
Sometimes my mom mixes me up.
“Go do the dishes.”
“Don’t do the dishes.”
“Never mind.”
“Go ahead do the dishes.”
“Okay, I will,” I said.
That mixes me up.
       By KayAna

Mix-Up
Sometimes my brother mixes me up.
“I want to play out.”
“Never mind.”
“I want to go home.”
“Actually I want to stay.”
That mixes me up.
         By Tobin
 
  ©Fluency Lessons for the Overhead: Grades 2-3 Scholastic Teaching Resource. p. 29

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Folk Tales

Text to Text 
This week's Reading Series title is, Harvest Birds and a connection with local folktale,
From the Pacific Northwest Coast

Raven by Gerald McDermott. Student's did a Text to Text comparison about the Zante and the Raven.

You can read folk tales from the  Raven Library

The student connects themes by

How the Raven Stole The Sun