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February 20, 2016

Friday's News

Over Christmas break I had plenty of time to just surf around blogging land and the TpT Forums. I stumbled upon a linky called Friday's News hosted by RclassroomsRus. I immediately began following the blog and looking forward to reading the weekly posts about classroom experiences and activities. This week I finally decided to join in.


This week was a bit chaotic for us. We had Monday off due to Presidents' Day and Tuesday off due to a snow day. Wednesday, however, dawned sunny, clear, yet very cold.


My students, although older elementary, do not perform well without a regular routine. Needless to say, they were energetic this week! To combat all the energy I planned several high energy, engaging lessons.

First was a culminating activity for my fifth grade Language Arts students. They have finished learning and practicing Literature Circles with the book "Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardner. Instead of a paper, pencil assessment I asked them to create a story wheel, a retelling in only eight sentences of the entire text they had just completed. Additionally, they must illustrate their sentences. When completed the story wheel will be a sequential record of the plot from beginning to end. They are nearly completed with their task and should finish by Tuesday of the coming week.


My sixth grade science students thrive on STEM activities. I actually did not have one originally planned for the week, but with the disruption to our routine, I sneaked in a quick one that I call Dicey Design.


Students, given one sheet of aluminum foil, must design a cargo ship in ten minutes that will carry the most cargo (dice) without floundering. During our testing phase, didn't the fire alarm sound! We will need to complete our testing come Monday morning, which is... you guessed it! More disruption to the routine! Ah well, such is life in a classroom.

Be sure to stop by RClassroomsRus to read more Friday's News from bloggers and TpT sellers.





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