A morning in the life of a 4th grader...

I wanted to do a day in the life but today was just too crazy so here's a snippet into our morning... :)

Check in for lunch.

Read the morning message.

Hang up your things and get yourself, "Ready to Learn."

Answer the morning question.

 Work on morning choice activities.

Our day was completely out of the ordinary: special at a different time, lunch/recess at a different time and over to Darby Creek all afternoon for a culture celebration so this morning, we used our little bit of time together to "get'er done," and get caught up on work. Make sure to ask your kids about the culture celebration because it was wonderful!

Crazy, crazy, day

Just when I thought our Thursdays weren't getting so bad... today was our craziest yet! We had our first vertical team get together this morning and had an amazing time practicing perseverance and origami. Then, we had our mindset special and once we returned, we worked on preparing for conferences and then finished Wonder! They clapped and cheered! :) In Math Workshop, we did some multiplication wrestling (ask them about our tag team matches!) and then practiced and practiced. Our day ended with music rehearsal. Crazy!

The basics

Our day began as usual with our morning procedures followed by i-time and gym. Mr. Nick and Miss Lauren hung out with the kids during gym today to try and get to know them better. In morning meeting, we shared our favorite sports to either play or watch and then played category challenge with sports as the category. Sarah won with 19!! (although jumping, catching and throwing aren't true sports...) Mr. Nick came in next with 17! We finished up with the Pledge of Allegiance. Before reading Wonder, we discussed that although we love reading digitally using Epic!, we need a balance of paper books too because the selection at the library and in our classroom is much better when it comes to quality of literature, then Epic! So, we read, The Children Who Loved Books to show how exciting paper books can be too. In Wonder, there was a big turning point! Auggie and Jack were cornered and bullied by a couple of 7th graders-Auggie especially. But, guess what?! Amos, Miles and Henry (Julian's best buds) came to his defense!! They "guarded" him and made sure he was safe. We should finish the book tomorrow or Friday and we're a little sad for it to end. After reading independently, we worked more with main idea and then worked to develop our characters in Writer's Workshop. We first used Auggie as our example and identified both external and internal characteristics for him. After lunch, recess and quiet time, we continued our work with timelines and practiced making one of some events from my life. We began our math workshop with a 5-minute basic multiplication facts test. After we found out how many we knew, we set a goal for ourselves for next week when we'll take it again. Ask your kiddo why it's important to know these facts. Then, we practiced to secure our understanding of multi-digit multiplication. We've discussed two different strategies: partial products and area model. Most kids like the area model best, I think.

Assessment Day

I was at school today but not in the classroom. I was right outside assessing students on reading and Mrs. Bowers (not the Art teacher!) was our substitute. Our morning question was, "Tell Me a Story Tuesday: Add 3 words to the story to keep it going." I put... Once upon a time, Mrs. L was absent... I think the kiddos weren't very happy with me because here's what they added:

They didn't stay mad for long. :) After morning procedures including morning choice, they went to music. While there, we got two new students!! Academy EDU students from the ILC, that is. There is a class for Juniors and Seniors that are interested in being teachers. They spend 3 days a week for 6 weeks (about an hour each day) in an elementary school then do the same in a middle school and again in a high school. Mr. Nick and Miss Lauren introduced themselves to the kiddos during meeting today and the students are already big fans! :) In read aloud, Mrs. Bowers read, Flight School about a penguin trying to fly. (I never have subs read our chapter book...) I noticed that our students are very good at talking about perseverance and growth mindset, however, when they were actually faced with a problem in math workshop, they did not apply these terms. Hopefully, their discussion today helped. They then read independently and then did some more work with main idea using a Guinness World Record and in Writer's Workshop focused on character traits. They had Social Studies after quiet time and worked on reading and creating timelines. In Math Workshop, Miss Hanlin taught them a couple of strategies for multiplication of multi-digit numbers and continued the work we began the day before.

another manic Monday??

I'm thinking this is the new norm for me! The class was ok-not great-but ok, but I was the one feeling chaotic. It doesn't help that my youngest injured her knee at softball and when she went to Sports Med today to get it checked out, has a sleeve fracture of her patella! Ugh!

Most of the class went to their younger buddy class for morning choice while the others had their choice of what to do. After music, in meeting, we shared about our weekend and then played a little bit of Just Like Me! followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. In Wonder, Auggie headed to the 5th grade Nature Retreat which he was very nervous about and so were we! Fortunately, so far, things are good. Next, we read independently, visited the library and conferenced with me. In Reader's Workshop, we practiced main idea by sorting cards and creating a title of the groups. In Writer's Workshop, we picked the small moment we want to write about and made sure we knew the beginning, middle and end, characters and setting. It was a sweltering recess (yes, I have recess duty and I very much recess...) and then after quiet time and cooling off, we completed a Number Talk and then I became the least liked person ever because I gave them "hard math!" (According to them.) However, they figured out what they needed to in order to be successful and even got to the point where they knew how to solve a problem like 26,987 x 7! It wasn't as hard as they thought and a LOT of kids gave up and stood in their own way when it came to trying to solve the problem. We ended our day with a collaboration and teamwork activity called, "Saving Sam." How did your kiddo do?

Buddies

Our day began with more than 1/2 of the kiddos heading down to kindergarten, first and second grade. We are introducing another choice for morning work next week: Leadership. So, I asked K-2 teachers if they needed any leaders and the answer was a resounding, "Yes!" I asked our kiddos and 20 of them volunteered! So, next week, they will begin going down to their buddies and helping them/mentoring them! I don't know who is more excited~the teachers, the 4th graders or their buddies... :)

In morning meeting, we shared our least favorite chore to do at home and played a few rounds of "Would You Rather?" In Wonder, Miranda shared her perspective. At first, we wondered why one of Via's friends, that she doesn't really talk to anymore was a section in the book, but after reading, it was clear that Auggie (and Via) has just another person in his corner. We read independently, visited the library and/or conferenced with me and then, continuing with our main idea/supporting details of informational text learning, we read an article on Newsela and commented on a post in Kidblog stating main idea and supporting details. (If you follow your child's blog, you can read and see how your kiddo did.) This took a lot longer than I had planned so we worked up until it was time for lunch. After lunch, recess and quiet time when we took our M4T assessment, we did a Number Talk (mental math strategies for solving basic operations) on subtraction with adding up and then completed a fun and yummy math lesson on representing multiplication. Hopefully, your child's made it home to share with you. We ended our day reviewing maps and globes and looking at Google Earth to secure our understanding of continents, oceans, our country, latitude and longitude.

Smile... :)

I love school picture day! The kids all look so beautiful/handsome!

This crazy Thursday didn't seem as crazy, even with adding getting our pictures taken to our day. We had an odds and ends kind of meeting. We read, Little Oh, a book about an origami doll. It was good but the real reason for reading it was because next Thursday, we're going to have our first get together with our vertical team and are all reading this book and then doing some origami! Then, our student council nominees read their "speeches" and we voted. In Wonder, Auggie and the family went to Via's play and were surprised to see Via as the lead role! (She was supposed to be the understudy.) Then, after our pictures, we created our own precepts: principles to live by. We only had time, then, to read independently and the library was unfortunately closed. After a sweltering recess and quiet time, I gave the Unit 1 post-tests back to the kids. We still need practice with rounding, subtraction and 10x more... so, as we work on multiplication and division, in our next unit, we'll continue to work on those skills. Please don't over worry about your child's score. We'll get there! Then, we started on multiplication and WHAT it is. They all wanted to give me the answer, however, I was focused on WHAT multiplication is. So, we looked at 8 x 3 and came up with 7 different ways to represent it. We also tried to do some on our own and then tried some application of basic facts in relation to donuts. :) Keep your kiddo practicing those facts! We ended our day with a Quizizz that Kyler made with basic facts.

SMART goals

Today, we set our first goals of the year! We read the book, There, and then discussed what There could be. Then, we talked about SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bound) goals and what each letter stands for and wrote our first daily/weekly goal. We will continue to work on goal-setting and keeping our goals SMART.

We also had our first safety drill today. They did awesome and we earned a potato head piece for our excellent and safe procedure! (We also earned a potato head piece for our transition from i-time to special!)

In Wonder, Auggie found out about Via's play and there was a huge fight between mom, Via and Auggie, however, it was all overshadowed by the fact that Daisy (their dog) was very sick and didn't make it. It was a tough few chapters to read and listen to. After reading, we watched videos by the author, director of the upcoming movie and one of the actors, describing their personal precepts and what they mean to them. We read independently and/or visited the library and then in Writer's Workshop, we got into small groups and read small moment stories with the eyes of writers/authors to find what we need to make sure we do when we write our own narratives. After quiet time, we went over our M4T and then Aubrey shared her Roman Numerals project. In Math Workshop, we: finished our Unit 1 post-test, finished our Unit 2 pre-test, completed multiplication fact practice activities and/or worked on using the Sieve of Eratosthenes to find all the prime numbers to 100. We completed our day by working on our maps and globes booklet. They had a better understanding this time around!

Aaarrrggghh!

Today was Talk Like a Pirate Day! We read, Pirates Don't Change Diapers and then found our pirate names (I'm Red Boot Bess) and then Dante taught us how to fold paper to make pirate hats! (pics on Twitter and Facebook)

Another crazy thing was that we released a monarch butterfly! Mrs. Bowers, our Art teacher, somehow has all of these monarch chrysalis' that she brings in. Well, it was time to release one and we had Art first thing this morning so we were the lucky ones! I was a little weirded out at first but I overcame my discomfort and between Kyler and I, we got it out and it flew away! It was gorgeous! (video and pics on Facebook)

Other than those crazy out-of-the-ordinaries, our day was pretty normal. We worked on our morning choice activity and then after Art and releasing the butterfly, we did our pirate activities for morning meeting. In Wonder, we came back to August and today, he discussed having to get hearing aids. However, since he doesn't have much outer ear, he needed a headband to keep them in his ears. He really didn't want to wear them because he already felt different enough but once the doctor turned them on... wow! He described it as hearing brightly. We also have a kiddo that wears hearing aids and he chose to share with us a little bit about his experience with them. Thanks, Caleb! Next, we read independently or visited the library and then continued our work with main idea and supporting details using the Infographic in StoryWorks. We almost made it outside for recess but it began coming down while we were eating lunch. Unfortunately, we needed some reminders for indoor recess behaviors that are above and below the line. (It was only our 2nd indoor recess, though!) In Math Workshop, we: took our Unit 1 post-test, took the Unit 2 pre-test or worked on different activities for practicing our basic multiplication facts. It was a lot less chaotic~which means, we're getting the hang of it! We ended our day in the Media Center with Mrs. Dornburgh teaching us how to find some of the new features of the library, like Series books, Graphic Novels and Fiction.

🎶...manic Monday...🎶

🎶It's just another manic Monday...🎶 I'm aging myself but this song comes to mind today...

We got new morning choices for this week and learned of a new opportunity for morning choice--leadership. This is one that kiddos are able to sign up for, so, did your kiddo? After gym, in our meeting, we shared a little about our weekend and then played "Popl," a counting game before saying the Pledge. After adding marbles to our kindness jar, we read Wonder and more from Justin's point of view. Justin really enjoys being around Via's family and their overprotectiveness and loads of love and really wishes he had that at his own home. Then, we learned about our new challenge for the year. Have your children show you their ___ "book" challenge on Canvas. Their work is housed on their ipad but they can give you the general idea of the challenge. We read independently, visited the library or conferenced with me and read the Infographic in StoryWorks before moving on to Writer's Workshop. Today, we discussed small moments and how the small moments that happen in our lives can lead to amazing stories. We read, Fireflies! as a mentor text and read how R.J. Palacio used a small moment as inspiration for writing Wonder. We brainstormed some of our own small moments as inspiration. After lunch, recess and some quiet time, some students that worked on researching Roman Numerals last week, shared their creations. Then, came the chaos of Math Workshop. Robby didn't think it was chaos--which is good that it didn't seem chaotic--but when you have 30 kids doing 5 different things at the same time, it feels chaotic to me! It will get better. Some took the Unit 1 post-test, some took the Unit 2 pre-test, some practiced subtraction, others were working on independent math... Finally, we completed our day with what I thought would be a Maps and Globes review but ended up having to teach what country we live in and what it looks like on a map! We'll work more with this tomorrow!

Dot Day

Today is International Dot Day! We "read" The Dot by Peter Reynolds and then we made our own "marks." We discussed precepts (from Wonder) and what we mean when we say our mark-what we leave behind. We made sure to sign our "marks" before hanging them around the room.

We finished up our last day at this morning choice and then went to Music. In our meeting, we shared our interest in safety patrol and then talked about student council and those interested took forms to fill out. Our election will be next Thursday. Then, we did our Dot Day activities and then started the section in Wonder from Justin's perspective (Via's boyfriend). We read independently, finished up our main idea StoryWorks paper and then did some free writing. After lunch and recess, in quiet time, we completed our M4T assessment and then the chaos of math workshop began. I think that every person needed me at the same time today... It was very stressful. I explained that with independence, they need to use common sense and some WWLD (What would Lambright do?) to decide if they can answer their own questions. For example, they don't need to ask me if they should go on to the next thing or if they should sharpen their pencil. :) In Math, some were taking their post-test, others were practicing, some were on Canvas, some were finishing their Roman Numerals project, others were trying to teach me about using different bases (other than our typical base-10 system)... We ended our day with our first celebration~Electronic party!

Wink ;)

A lot of our kids do not know how to wink! Today, I asked them to come give me a wink once they read the entire morning text message and although most, if not all, came out, a lot of them didn't know how to wink! At least they are reading the text message!

Today is crazy Thursday so we had our morning meeting before special. We shared what we ate for breakfast and then read, Juice Box Bully, a book about not being a bystander when it comes to bullying and how to stand up for others. Then, we played category challenge with the category of colors. Kyler won with 15! After our mindset special, we finished up Jack's section in Wonder. Julian has completely turned all the boys against Jack so he's feeling ostracized. Luckily, he and August have made up so he has Auggie and Summer to help him out. After read aloud, we read independently/visited the library, completed some main idea/supporting details work in StoryWorks and wrote using our 5 senses in Writer's Workshop. We made it outside for recess and then during quiet time, one of our kiddos fell and hit his head and ended up heading for stitches so, quiet time wasn't so quiet and relaxing. However, after settling down, we went over our M4T (Math 4 Today) and then worked on applying the skills/concepts we've been learning through real world problems. Some kiddos finished up their work with Ms. Hanlin, some finished their projects on Roman Numerals and others worked with me to better solidify their subtraction understanding. At the end of math, students "signed up" for when they would like to take their unit test. Here's what they feel:

No worries if they try to take it tomorrow and decide they need more practice or still aren't ready on Tuesday. The goal is for them to understand the information-no matter how long it takes. 

There were some auditions at the end of the day so that's kind of how we ended our day. It was very chaotic!

Call me butter...

First of all, I think I'm hilarious! Unfortunately, not all of the kids think so. :) I said today, "Call me butter, 'cause I'm on a roll!" One student said that now in addition to "Uncle Joe" jokes, there are "Mrs. Lambright" jokes. No worries, though because if they make me laugh, I'm happy!

I put a morning text message up on the screen every morning. Today, the last text said to come give me an "H" after they had read it to let me know they had read it. Only 2 kiddos came to me~Alex and Caleb! So, they received a special pencil and eraser. Maybe tomorrow, more will read their morning message... We answered our morning question and worked on our morning choice (the collaboration group worked with play-doh to make pastries, the problem-solving group played Set Game, most of the computer group played ST Math, the artistic expression group is doing different artsy things--some designing fashion, others made more 5-point stars or colored in the coloring books, and the game time group played Operation, Sorry and some other board games). After Art, in meeting, we shared what we like to do when we feel ____. I filled in the blank with anxious or chaotic. Others have a different word for the feeling when they get nervous, worried, scared, out of control... then, I shared my tub of fidget TOOLS (notice I didn't say toys!). Students used these all day to try them out so they can see what they like for those times they feel _____. In Wonder, we are still reading from Jack's point of view and today, Jack really redeemed himself as a true friend to August. Ask your kiddo why. Next, we read independently, visited the library and/or conferenced with me. In Reader's Workshop, we discussed the non-fiction story and two articles we read last week: how they are similar and different and then found the main idea of each. In our writer's notebooks, we made a list of things we wonder about. After lunch, recess and quiet time, we reviewed subtraction with regrouping using base-10 blocks and then practiced and practiced some more. Some others worked on a roman numerals project or with Miss Hanlin on different bases-not our base 10 system of numbers.

STAR assessments

We took the Reading and Math STAR assessments today. These are computer assessments given multiple times throughout the year to monitor student understanding and to be sure that progress is being made. They are more for me than anything and are just another piece of the puzzle.

In our morning meeting, we shared our favorite color and then played, "Who am I?" Disney edition. In Wonder, Jack is still clueless as to why August is mad at him. He also describes an incident he had with August when he was younger. The kiddos haven't decided if they like Jack yet or not... Then, we took the STAR assessment in Reading, read independently, visited the library or finished our letter to Ian and did some free writing in our newly mod podged personalized notebooks. After lunch and recess, we took the Math STAR assessment and then had some quiet time before Math Workshop. In Math, we practiced subtraction with regrouping by playing a game and/or just practicing problems using base-10 blocks.

Patriot Day

It's so hard to discuss Patriot Day with kiddos that weren't alive even during the events of September 11. However, we watched a kid-friendly video that explained that Patriot Day is about one country coming together to help those in need and to celebrate our nation. Then, we made 5-point stars and hung them around the room! (I tweeted some pics but will post more on Facebook later.) Did you know that George Washington's original plan for the US flag had 6-point stars because those are easier to make but Betsy Ross showed him how to fold and cut to make 5-point stars and now there are 5-point stars on the flag! We also had a school community meeting this morning to discuss Patriot Day as well as our school focus of "Press Pause" and "Get your mind right!"

In the classroom, students are working on a semi-assigned morning choice this week. They filled out a survey on google forms with their preference and then I placed them based on their choices. After all of the out-of-the-ordinaries this morning, we also read, We're All Wonders, by RJ Palacio-a children's book about accepting differences. We introduced our kindness jar which will be filled with marbles-1 per act of kindness that is witnessed by me or each other. In Wonder, we continued reading from Summer's point of view and Auggie told Summer about what he overheard Jack say and although she promised Auggie she wouldn't tell, she did give Jack a hint. We had a few minutes to read independently, visit the library or continue writing our letters to Ian. Oh, and we earned our final potato head piece after Music! Now we need to decide on a celebration... After lunch and recess, we had quiet time to settle and prepare for the afternoon and then switched things up with our schedule for Science and then Math Workshop. In Science, we drew pictures of scientists doing science. The majority of the pictures were men, resembling Albert Einstein, in a lab coat blowing something up. We discussed how we are ALL scientists! In Math, we split up as usual and some were working with Ms. Hanlin, some worked on the 1.2 pre-test (addition and subtraction with regrouping), some learned addition and subtraction with regrouping with me, some started an independent project with roman numerals and everyone practiced addition and subtraction at some point.

Doing great

We are doing great things here! It's even a crazy schedule day and we're on top of things. I see wonderful things in our future!

As always, our day began with our morning procedures, answering our morning question and working on our morning choice work. We also used this longer morning time to get caught up on things like our writing, StoryWorks vocabulary and t-shirt idea for Wonder. In meeting, we tried out some secret handshakes and shared one thing we could tell our parents that we'll be learning in 4th grade since last night was curriculum night. Then, we played Coseeki. I think they discussed their "why?" in their Mindset special today, but you'll have to ask. Lucky came out to read with us during read aloud and in Wonder, Via shared that she feels kind of forgotten about because of Auggie and it doesn't feel very good when she actually needs her mom for some friend issues. During Reader's Workshop, we read independently or visited the library and worked on our StoryWorks story and vocabulary. In Writer's Workshop, we continued working on our letters to Ian that we began yesterday. After lunch and recess, we completed our Math 4 Today practice during quiet time and then went over our practice problems. Then, in Math Workshop, we practiced rounding to the nearest and then moved on to either patterns or pre-testing addition and subtraction. We ended our day working on our Ohio placemats.

Awesome!

Today was just an awesome day! We followed our schedule and were even ahead of schedule! :) We earned a potato head piece for gym and walking in the hallway, too!

We completed our morning procedures, answered our morning question and then got to work on our morning choice activity. After gym, in our morning meeting, we learned about an "H" greeting, shared what we had for dinner last night and then played "laughing handkerchief" before saying the Pledge and getting ready for read aloud. Before reading, we "met" our WONDERful pen pal, Ian! Like Auggie, he also has a cranio-facial abnormality. In Wonder, we began seeing Auggie through Via's eyes (his sister). We read independently or visited the library and then continued reading/working with StoryWorks and the vocabulary used in the non-fiction story. In Writer's Workshop, we finished (hopefully!), our Important Paragraphs and began our letters to Ian. After lunch and recess and a little quiet time, we got to work on a complicated math problem about juice pouches that just made some ask why does this person have so many anyway?! Then, we completed an exit slip over place and value and expanded form and then began working on rounding. Finally, we ended our day working on our Ohio placemats.

We're getting there...

We stayed pretty true to our schedule today! I felt rushed and so did the kiddos but we did it... it will take a little bit of time to feel less rushed as we transition but we'll keep getting better. We're still chatting during transitions so once we get that taken care of, some won't feel so behind. After completing our morning procedures, students had morning choice. What choice did your kiddo make? Today was Music and unfortunately, we were too chatty in the hallway to earn a potato head piece. I love that they like each other but there's a time and place for being chatty. In meeting, we learned different ways to say hello and then shared about our weekend, followed a few rounds of "Would you rather?" and then we said the Pledge of Allegiance. In Wonder, it was Halloween-Auggie's favorite because everyone wears masks and looks weird! However, he was crushed when he overheard his friend, Jack, saying mean things about him...I wonder how this is going to pan out... We read independently and some FINALLY got to go to the library! Then, we re-read or listened to the non-fiction story in StoryWorks and completed a vocabulary worksheet about the story. The story is actually about the Louisiana flood of 2016-very fitting with what is going on in Houston right now. (**By the way, we were matched with a 3rd grade classroom in Houston! I'll send an email home once we get more information about their needs.) Then, in Writer's Workshop, we completed our Important Paragraphs. After writing in our planners, we headed down to lunch and recess. Once inside, we had a bit of quiet time and then had a place value engineering challenge in Math Workshop. After practicing how to airplay and share our creations, we ordered big numbers in small groups and then buddied up with another group to order even more numbers. Our day ended by discussing what we know about Ohio, what we want to learn about Ohio and working to learn Ohio's state symbols with a coloring activity.

Always behind...

All day, I felt like we were a few minutes behind...our morning choice was Game Time so we played games after completing our morning procedures. After we returned from Art, in meeting, we shared our "worries." Some had worries about spiders and storms...we read, Wilma Jean, the Worry Machine and then organized our worries into things we can and can't control and what they can "give" to me. Then, in Wonder, the students in Auggie's school, finally got "used" to his face and he started to feel a little more ordinary. We read independently and then got our first StoryWorks magazine! They love these and so do I! We got comfortable with understanding the magazine and read our first story, the non-fiction piece about the 2016 flood. I also showed them how to access the stories online to see extras and have some stories read to them. In Writer's Workshop, we continued working on our Important paragraphs about ourselves. Lunch and a chilly recess was next and then after quiet time, we worked on our first Math 4 Today assessment. Each day, we work on a few math problems from all aspects of math-not just what we are currently working on. Then, on Fridays, we take a mini-assessment to make sure we are keeping up all math skills. In Math Workshop, we continued to practice and worked on patterns. We ended our day with our final day working with our Rubik's Cubes. (I'm so close to completing mine!!)