Clock Partners

I forgot to mention in the previous post on writing about how the students met with their "clock" partners to complete the simile activity. At the beginning of the school year, I had my students record names of classmates on a clock print-out that I learned about during an IB conference in Atlanta. I found a similar print-out on Pinterest. During this assignment, I had my students meet with their "8 o'clock" partners to work together. I've really enjoyed how each student has 12 different classmates and 12 different opportunities for collaborative work. I'm trying to make sure to schedule in chances for clock partnerships in different subject areas in my weekly lesson plans. Here is an example of the clock print-out and of students working together on this activity.

Writing, Writing, Writing

For the past 2 weeks, we've really dug deep into writing skills with learning about complete sentences, strong verbs, metaphors, adjectives, transitional words and phrases, and similes. One activity I had the students do was a simile poster. First, I gave them a simile handout to help them generate similes. Then, they picked one that they liked the best to illustrate on a piece of cardstock paper. They turned out really cute, so I hung them in the hallway on our display board. I was so glad that I did because they made an attractive display for the governor's liasion to view as he toured our building!

This is my 4th grade inquiry board that I use for independent research projects. I regularly use this activity for my early finishers. The topics that are listed on the web are all related to 4th grade units of study, but a student may inquire into any topic that they're interested in. Each child has a research folder to keep all of their documentation in. After the student chooses a topic of interest, they consult with me during a mini conference where I outline the steps they need to take. First, they must create a web related to their topic. Next, they organize their web into an outline. Then, they must ask a "big-idea" question related to their topic before they begin to do research. I spend some time directing them to sources other than the computer, and I teach them how to document their sources. When they are all finished, they create an end-product that they present to the class. I really think they get so much out of this inquiry activity because they truly are learning about things that they're genuinely interested in. Yes, it takes extra time, but the results are well worth it.

I recently got this idea from a co-worker, and I just love it! This year we have adopted the common core standards, and I'm finding that writing down the skills I'm teaching on chart paper is helping me to document everything. I've noticed the kids are watching the charts too. Today, one student told me I needed to put echolocation on our science one.

Wow, it has been a very busy first 2 weeks of school. I finally finished my new chair and stool for my classroom and brought it to school. I plan on getting 3 more chairs of various styles and painting them all differently. For the seat cushions on the chairs, I'm using red vinyl because it cleans up easily. I went ahead and purchased extra yards to ensure that I'd have the same color for each chair. I painted the top of the stool red to match. They are so cute!I don't think the picture does them justice. In the classroom, the colors are actually a lot brighter.

Here is a creative writing procedure I learned while touring a "Whole-Language" (All you oldies will know what I'm talking about! LOL) school quite a few years ago. You take library pockets and label them with letters from the alphabet. Insert index cards with the corresponding letter in the upper right-hand corner. When a student needs to know how to spell a hard word that they would like to use in their writing piece, they bring the index card to you with a pencil in hand and you write the word on the card for them. When they are finished writing the word, they put it back in the pocket and it's there for the next student who needs it or if they want to remember how to spell the word in the future. This procedure encourages students to use higher level vocabulary words without being afraid that they don't know how to spell the word. It is especially useful when you don't have time to look the word up in a dictionary, and the students learn to spell the word correctly instead of using "invented" spelling. Works like a charm! I wouldn't have a year of class without it.