Writing Stride.

The amount of positive reinforcement that this class gives to each other is just amazing.  Without even realizing it, the kids go through phases together.  Phases of being completely obsessed with music class, practicing on the table tops, humming the pieces during other classes, and helping each other when a classmate expresses trouble they are having with a particular song.  Right now, the group has shown an increased interest in writing, which is amazing for this group who didn't particularly like to write only a short time ago.  

In art class, we have been working on story quilts.  The students could write a creative story about any topic they chose.  One student chose to write, and write, and write... about an intergalactic robot battle that captured the rest of the class's attention.  I'm not sure if it was this event that helped to spark the enthusiasm for writing, but something recently has flipped a switch.  Today, a little writing assignment on Hamlet grew and grew into an ongoing writing project.  The kids wrote... and wrote... and then one of them asked if they could PLEASE write a separate story, as well.  Needless to say, we squeezed the schedule around in order to foster this newfound passion for writing.  It's moments like these that make me know, without a doubt, that this little classroom in the country is EXACTLY where we need to be learning!

Spanish- It was another fun day in Spanish! Ms. Joanne brought in items that we use when we take a bath: towel, washcloth, shampoo, soap. The students took turns pretending to use these items, describing what they were doing in Spanish. They have really been studying their lists!

Spelling- On this beautiful, sunny day, we hit the tennis court for spelling class. The class lined up and did “spelling sprints”. Each time one of them spelled a word correctly, they could run to the fence and back. In the end, we all spelled the hardest words together for one big RUN!

Poetry- We have been working on our illustrations for “Hide and Seek”. At home, we will be working on one of these tomorrow and Monday. I can't wait to put the pictures and the audio together for an awesome recitation video!

Grammar- Although today was meant to be new material, it was a review for the class. Contractions are nothing new to them! We did look at the formulas that different contractions use. For instance, “are” contractions such as “they are” and “we are” drop the “a” and replace it with an apostrophe. We looked at all of the different contraction groups: would, will, have, and so on.

Reading- We began reading our Macbeth for Kids book today! First of all, I love the kids' passion for these books. They did not let me stop reading where I planned.... I had to read on! After we finished our group reading and discussion, we started our in-class writing assignment. The students each wrote a summary of what happened in Macbeth today, in their own words. As a matter of fact, many of the kids even made theirs rhyme! Each day, after we read more in the story, they will add to their own versions... and at the end, they will have told the complete tale, in their own words!

Math- Today was all about geometry. The class used Popsicle sticks to learn about intersecting lines, parallel lines, and angles. Then, we learned the differences between a parallelogram, rectangle, square, and rhombus. Believe me, this was not an easy lesson. We are so used to problems that have only one answer... but the idea that a rhombus, a square, and a rectangle are also parallelograms and that a square is just a specialized rectangle was a bit hard to grasp! We topped off this vocabulary-packed math day with a discussion of isosceles, scalene, equilateral, and right triangles. Again, we had to absorb that a right triangle can be an isosceles but never an equilateral triangle. Don't be surprised if they sleep well tonight... they worked hard!

Social Studies- The students read the beginning of the Declaration of Independence today. Further, Mr. Dennis taught the class about inalienable rights, rights given to us by God. 

In addition to our Hamlet writing assignment, we also wrote a lot in Social Studies. The students took their understanding of the term “inalienable rights” and began writing a persuasive paper. Their purpose is to argue whether or not they believe recess should be considered an inalienable right. Although they are not finished, I can tell that their responses weren't what you would expect!