Classroom Needs 2016-17

Hello Lovely People! 

School is right around the corner! As it has returned many of you have asked if there is anything I need for my classroom and the answer is yes! Now that I have my first year under my belt, I'm now aware of what runs out quickly. So here are a few things that we will need if you are looking to donate to my soon to be 4th graders! 

• chart paper 

• pencil sharpener 

• stapler 

• pencils 

• erasers 

• highlighters 

• crayons

• markers 

• pencil pouches 

• glue 

• scissors 

• germ-x

• Kleenex 

• construction paper 

• print paper 

Thank You for blessing my students! Our classroom theme is Finding Dory and you can also donate to the classroom Snack Shack! 

End of Day Wrap Up

I so enjoy free time... I tend to operate better in the flow of things. Today we had extra time due to testing in the middle of our daily schedule. So today, to wrap up our day, we made anchor charts of all the things we had discussed throughout the day and students had three minutes to throw down what they recalled through the day's lessons. They thoroughly enjoyed it. 

New Centers

Christmas Amazon money is the best! With mine, I purchased some new centers for our classroom. Yes, technology is great but, my students desperately need to learn to communicate with one another and work to solve problems especially when they disagree. Playing IPad games doesn't give that opportunity. Here's one of our new centers called Cadoo and oh my, do the kids love this game! I also purchased Cranium which they have also enjoyed. I was excited to see that even with iPads and computers in the room, students DO want opportunities to play games with their peers and not be isolated playing an IPad during center time.

Researching Writing Topics

This week we are diving into the Organization Trait for the Writing Curriculum 6 Traits of Writing. Here, we are learning how to create a strong lead for our writing. Students' prompt is "The Most Fascinating Creature of All". Students broke up into groups and chose a mythological creature (Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti, the Kongamato, or the Mokele-Membembe) and researched information on their topic. Throughout next week students will be developing their writing beyond their opening leading sentence. Students will be presenting their writing with the mindset of persuading others to consider these creatures to be real or to be just a myth. 

Vocabulary Study

This past week we finished The Velveteen Rabbit! During the reading, we kept a running record of vocabulary words that were new and featured in these photos students are creating a vocabulary poster showing one of their vocabulary words chosen for them. Creating a kind of word map for the book. These posters will be displayed in our hallway. 

Statistics for the end of 2015.

Wow. I didn't realize how hard it would be to blog throughout the school year. To those teachers who keep up a blog site kudos to you!!!!! Closing out 2015, I did want to post my failure and passing stats for this first year teacher! In first quarter, my passing rate was 69% with 52 students. As of the end of second quarter, that rate has increased 15% to 84% with 55 students! (Deep sigh) Proud of my little workers getting their jobs done in the classroom! Can't wait to start third quarter next week. :)

Sharing Their Thoughts on Thankfulness and Community

Check out our school's webpage! You will find my fourth grade class presenting their opinion writing. :) 

http://collinsrhodes.mce.schoolinsites.com/