Weekly Update November 18-22
Where has the time gone? We are almost halfway though the school year!
By now you have (hopefully) heard about an exciting new part of our classroom....MONEY! Last week students began earning (and sometimes losing....) money as part of our classroom economy. Since the beginning of the year students have had weekly jobs and responsibilities. Now they are being paid for their jobs ($50/day) and fined for not meeting certain expectations. So far there are a few ways they can spend the money they earn, such as 1 writing homework pass/week, a day off from their recess lap, etc. As they start to build up more and more money they will have more options for spending it.One reward I would like to offer is a small classroom store- I would love to have items donated such as mechanical pencils, individual pencil sharpeners, or other 'school supply' type items. We still have supplies from the beginning of the year available to everyone, but those with extra money could buy nicer items. :) And now you are wondering how they can lose money, right? Together we compiled a list of behaviors and actions that would result in fines and we created categories of $1, $5, $10, and $15 fines. Things like talking, disrupting others, etc result in a $5 fine, forgetting homework is $10, disrespect toward classmates of teachers is $15. Students can also earn bonuses, last week the entire class earned an extra $1 when Mrs. Workman complimented their straight, quiet line.
This week in math we will look at adding and subtracting mixed numbers. So far this has been relatively simple but as we move into subtracting with borrowing it becomes more complex. For many of them writing neatly and large enough makes a difference in their ability to solve correctly and find their own mistakes if necessary. We have talked about and practiced NOT squishing a fraction into one line of the paper and leaving space between problems to help avoid careless errors.
In reading we are wrapping up our historical fiction book clubs focused on the Holocaust and working on a small group project about theme. At the conclusion of their book I want them to think deeply about what the story was really about....not details like the setting, or character traits, but broad ideas like survival and hope.
In writing we have crafted thesis statements about Holocaust survivors and are now stretching them into essays. This is the longest, most intense writing project we have done this year, but we have slowly been building up to it and I think they are ready! We are hoping to have rough drafts mostly complete by the end of this week and crossing our fingers that next week they can type them on their brand new laptops!
We are wrapping up our weather unit and will probably begin our social studies unit on government this Wednesday. I think they have really enjoyed becoming little meteorologists. We will revisit weather for a review in the spring before the science EOG, in the meantime watching/listening to weather forecasts on the news is a great way to reinforce the vocabulary and concepts we have focused on.
A few other things....
At this time of year our school helps out 2 groups in our community. Over the next 2 weeks we will be collecting items for the Orange County Animal Shelter and the food bank at OCIM. All donations are appreciated!
**Be on the lookout for info about a celebration/activity we will do on the last day of this 9 weeks, 12-13-13. We will be learning about how Christmas is celebrated differently in different countries and sampling foods from different parts of the world.**
