Today, the chicken group turned in the Pirates during spelling class! They reviewed each of the words, spelling them in pirate voices. Argh! They learned the special sounds "ea" in leaf, "ea" in thread and "ea" in steak today. These can be tricky but learning to recognize the sound will definitely help reading to be more fluid. As I check there at home assignments, I am seeing that many of them may need to slow down and follow directions. This is a good habit to get into! I will be encouraging them to work on their handwriting, and to read all directions thoroughly. If parents could also help me enforce these things at home we can really help them to develop some good study habits!
The Guinea Group reviewed their new spelling list, and then we began a study of William Blake. The class closed their eyes and listened as I read William Blake's poem Tiger, Tiger. We took this poem piece by piece, explaining the complicated words and the imagery. The class really enjoyed the beauty in the wording, and we talked about different techniques that Blake used. At the end of class, the students chose their own special animal to write about. They will be working on these at home tomorrow, and we are going to edit them in class.
In history, the class discussed the battle of Hastings. They reviewed chapter 15 on the Vikings and the first kings of England. As they have been studying this era of the Middle Ages, Mr. Jim taught them the game Fox and Geese. This game originated during the period of time that they have been learning so much about. It was definitely a hit!
The Horse Group has been reviewing linking verbs, helping verbs, state of being verbs, direct objects, and predicate nominatives. This is all very tricky and it is important to me that they mastered these before we move on! The goal is not to trudge through the lessons, but to truly understand each one!
The Cow Group reviewed the different types of verbs, as well as interjections. They are all so excited that they have memorized the list of pronouns, the helping verb list, and the state of being verb list! They're doing a great job, and these lessons and memorization is really going to help them next year when grammar gets more difficult. The kids learned how to use commas to separate words in a list. They each came up with a noun, and then wrote adjectives to describe their noun. Finally, they chose three of those adjectives to make into a sentence, showing their newly learned comma skills!
In science class, the student split up into two groups. Each group was given a different biome that they studied during their at home lessons. The grasslands group organized their thoughts and gave a short presentation, teaching us all about the biome. The temperate forest group also came up with a presentation to teach the class what they had learned. I think that everybody really enjoyed listening to each other teach! It's always good to mix things up and keep them interested. Plus, having them give these little presentations helps to teach them teamwork, organization, and public speaking skills.
As always, I continue to help the students work on self-improvement as it pertains to classroom behavior and their education. Today, we discussed some important guidelines for being in our little group. They agreed that we should always try our best, always be respectful and kind, and take personal responsibility for our assignments. We talked about how there is a time for play, a time for learning games, and a time to listen. It is still early in the year, and I am very proud of them for their hard work and their drive to be the best they can be!
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