Lady Bug Note Generators

 

Writing Prompts for Earth Day

• Spend at least half an hour outside. Record what you see, smell, hear, taste, and feel.
• Make a list of ten ways you can help keep the planet clean.  
• Make a list of ten ways you can conserve water.  
• Make a list of ten ways you can conserve energy.  
• Create a poster encouraging people to recycle.  
• Write a journal entry telling how you are celebrating Earth Day.  
• Keep a week-long “Earth Log.” Each day, do whatever you can to take care of the earth, and record your earth-friendly actions in your Earth Log.  
• Write a thank-you note expressing thanks for the many resources the earth provides.  
• Write a poem about nature.  
• What would our world be like if no one recycled? Write a story about such a world.  
• Imagine a world with no pollution. Write about it.  
• Write a persuasive essay encouraging people to recycle.  
• In recent years, Earth Day has become an international observance. But the observance started with one man who saw a problem and who wanted to be a part of solving that problem. What is the biggest problem you see with the world today? Write out an action plan for making a difference.  
• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper encouraging people to take care of the environment.  
• Interview a local leader, a school official, a business person, or a friend. Ask the person what he or she is doing to take care of the earth. Write a news article based on the interview.

Every day Reading Workshop in our class is so amazing. (and, no two days are ever alike) I group the kids according to what Reading Strategy or Skill they need to improve on. Sometimes they work in goups of like 6, sometimes they work with partners. The reading goals are not always grouped, sometimes they are individual. It all depends on what I observe while reading with them. I love to work in small groups, but I also love to conference with them individually. This video, is just a peak of what was happening yesterday… some people were working on finished projects, others were silent reading. I have a parent volunteer that comes to work with my Fluency Goal group. They work on Read Naturally out in the hall. The best part about Reading Workshop, is all the great Vocabulary terms that they use while reading, discussing and sharing. I am so proud of all my Can Do Kids!

This was one of my favorite Art Projects! You guys did a FabUlouS job!

We started talking about my other favorite trait “Word Choice” this week!   We read an amazing story in Read Aloud that portrayed great WORD CHOICE…the can do kids felt like they were on the RAFT the whole time!  The author wrote so well, that I did not even show them the pics…and they created VIVID mental images!  I really recommend this book!

Can Do Kids:

Here is a great link to use while looking up BORING words and wanting to come up with WOW words… there is a Thesaurus ready for you to use!!!

http://wordcentral.com/

We have talked about Reading Workshop before…for the past couple months the kids have been working on individual goals, while they READ to SELF.  The teacher would then walk around and conference with each child to make sure he or she is understanding their new goal and achieving success. 

This time, we are working on a Strategy Goal with a group.  In this group, the kids will be Reading, Writing, Thinking and/or Researching to complete their Goal.  I am so excited to watch the kids participate in this!  THey will work with a teacher, as well as in the group to acheive their goal.

We are going to try out our First INQUIRY Circle of the year (Synthesizing), our First Literature Circle (applying Reading Strategies while reading a chapter book, Author’s Purpose), we will be working on some Fluency Goals, and using Read Naturally and finally one group will work hard on Retelling a Fiction Text!  

(Basically, I am integrating all the ideas from my favorite prof. books presented in them and trying to create my own ADvenTurE in learning!) In case you are a teacher reading this and you have not read any of these books…below check them out! I wish I could teach every day, all day sometimes so I could follow all of their amazing suggestions!) (I am obsessed with Debbie Miller & Stephanie Harvey’s reading strategies, I love Harvey Daniels take on Literature Circles, my new WOW book is Inquiry Circles by Harvey & Daniels and I love the “SISTERS” take on assessment and centers!”

Pics and vids we be posted so that you can see how this process works!  I am so excited to see all of the THINKING and Reading going on in ROOM 305!

HI, I have so much to say…so here is one more post!  Today-  We talked about another fantastic Reading Strategy!  I modeled the strategy with the class and had them participate in the lesson!  It went really well!  I can tell that they are sooo excited to use it!  They had time to create their own MY FILE… also!  But, next week they will have the opportunity to dive into a good INFORMATIONAL text and try it out on their own~!

Here is a sneak peak with info on what a MY FILE is!  More POSTS will be coming soon with footage from our 2010-2011 Can Do Kid class!  This was from a couple years ago!  I called these two students, my MY FILE GALS because they just loved it so much!!! 

http://mrsslaugh.com/myfile.htm

Maybe you know who these girls are 🙂 They still go to our Fabulous School!!!

The latest reading strategy that we have been using in class in called inferring!  Inferring actually has 2 meanings.  We can INFER what is going to happen next…how the problem is solved…it is basically a smart guess or like a prediction!!! The other way that we infer…is when we come to a word that we do not know the meaning of the word… This happens alot to us 3rd Graders…we are great readers, but we always come to a new word that we can pronounce just fine, but we really do not know what the word MEANS…so instead of just skipping the word…we STOP AND THINK!  and follow these steps…to help us infer what that word means to help us better understand the text we are reading! Look at the picture, Reread the Sentence and Use your SCHEMA!  We practiced both of these strategies with 2 amazing books!

Ask your children to explain what INFERRING really means or have them sing your our song!!! Happy Inferring!!!

Here is a link that provides more information on Inferring!!!

 http://www.mrsslaugh.com/inferring.htm

If you have never read the book “One Smile,” by Cindy Mckinley…You must!  It is one of my absolute favorite stories!!!  Not only because I really love to see a child SMILE, (you can ask our class…it is a RULE to always SMILE) but also because it melts my heart to think that our wonderful CAN DO KID class could make a difference in the world by “Paying it Forward!” 

As a class, we have decided that our New Year’s Resolution for 2011 is to take the PAY IT FORWARD challenge! 

*Do something real good, kind, genorous… for three people.  Each.  An then when they ask how they can pay it back, simply say… PAY IT FORWARD, to 3 more people. (and on and on and on)! We retold our favorite story…if you would like to listen to it… it brings tears to our eyes everytime we read it!  Enjoy!  and PLEASE TAKE THE PAY IT FORWARD CHALLENGE!!!

Please leave a comment below, sharing your

 Pay it Forward experience!  We would love to hear about all

the wonderful things people are doing to change the world!!!

We started working on Equivalent Expressions today – We will be working on this for the rest of the year. We are mainly focussing on addition and subtraction expressions right now.

We started with the most amazing Picture Book! I love it! It is a great book to use when introducing this topic.

Here are amazing links to great games that will help your child practice this concept. Please follow the directions below!

http://www.thinkcentral.com Click on “Mathematics,” then on “Math Expressions” Select your state, district, and school: “Utah,” “Weber School District,” then select your school Enter User Name and Password (see below). Once logged in, click on “My Library” to begin

Username:grade3 Password:password

The two places we explored today in class were the iTools- under Algebra Mega Math– we went to Ice Station Exploration–Artic Algebra– A-Missing Addends and B-Equivalent Expressions The children should know how to play these, we did them in class with our Smart Board!

Happy Math to you all!