Tuesday, 5/16/17

On Thursday, the class began a unit on geography.  They are learning about different types of landforms, and we have integrated this lesson into writing class.  At home, each of the different groups wrote a description of their own made-up continent.  This continent had to include different landforms from their geography unit.  In class, the children illustrated this continent, creating a poster for their creation!  Continents included Pugland, PupPeru, W-Land, Guinealand, & Kitland.  Based on the descriptions of some of these places, I would definitely want to visit!

This week, we are wrapping up our history class by giving them an opportunity to break into groups and create a visual representation of a certain time period.  They were so excited to sprawl out and work together on the floor!  Through this activity, the students were motivated, on their own, to open up their binders and flip back through each lesson.  They pulled out pictures they had colored, worksheets they remembered completing, and unit reviews that they could use as they worked.  I absolutely loved this project, not for the finished project, but for the enthusiastic, self-motivated review from its creation!

The Guinea Group finished up The One and Only Ivan today.  We discussed that this was a work of fiction, but based on the true story of Ivan the gorilla.  Tomorrow, they will be visiting the Atlanta Zoo website to learn about the real Ivan, his history, and his life at the Atlanta Zoo.

The Chicken Group has completed their phonics lessons!  They have really come a long with the fluency of their reading and the accuracy of their spelling.  As the year progressed, we phased out of marking vowels and special sounds.  They were able to apply the special sounds to difficult words quickly, as they read.  I am very proud of them for their hard work this year!

The class recorded the audio to their very last poetry recitation project.  They each illustrated their portion of the poem, and I will have them compiled into the last poetry video of the year!

At the end of the day, the class had a brief review of invertebrates and vertebrates.  We discussed cold and warm blooded animals, and they did a great job recalling the information from their at-home assignments!  Afterward, we had a lesson on when to use a dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and encyclopedia.  I know that most of the time we look things up on our computers.  But, it is very important to know how to find information, and how to use guide words at the top of the page to locate the information that you need.  We practiced looking up different words in each of these resources.  They were so excited to learn that there was an entire book just for synonyms!  They had no idea that a thesaurus could help them find just the right word to use when they are writing!

Our monarch caterpillars have formed their cocoons and are getting ready for their great transformation!  We are very excited to see them spread their wings!

Thursday will be our last day here, and I honestly cannot believe it.  This year has flown by!  Time truly flies when you're having fun, and teaching this group has been an absolute

pleasure!