This week has been full of different inquiry activities. Students participated in a non-verbal task as an introduction into our first unit: Who We Are. Students were asked to build a house or some sort of structure, working together with their table group. However, students could not speak!Afterwards, students reflect on how they felt, explaining why they felt that way, and offered a suggestion for how they might change the activity if they did it again. "Instead of talking we would sing. We would make a park instead of a house." "I felt happy, because I was excited to make it. If I did this activity again, I would let them talk." "I felt frustrated, because of when I made the floor. I would put the glue on the tape next time." "I felt weird, because how could we make a house with all the sticks?" "I felt sad, because it's hard to make it." "I felt happy, because I never build with sticks. If I did this activity again, we can speak." "I felt frustrated, because it kept coming off! I was angry too. I was angry at the lollypop sticks! I would use more materials and I would use more sticky tape!!!!" "I was happy, because we were using teamwork to make something." On Wednesday, students worked together to try the activity again, but this time they were allowed to talk to each other. When we reflected on the task, some students said: "I felt happy, because we can talk now and I know now which part of the house to do." "I felt happy, because we were working as a big team." "I felt frustrated, because it was hard to fix it together, because I was using glue. I thought if I used sticky tape it would have worked." "I felt mad, because it was a sticky situation and it was breaking apart." "I felt annoyed, because everybody was talking." In the end, we came to the conclusion that sometimes talking is helpful, but sometimes it is not. Sometimes not talking is helpful, but sometimes it is not. Students also explained that if you are talking, it needs to be about the job or task being completed, otherwise it's not helpful. Students also completed a Words Their Way spelling assessment and will be starting spelling next week. More information to come. Home reading books went home on Friday. Students have a Home Reading Journal in which they can keep track of their nightly reading. Parents or students can write a comment about the book, and I will be checking these periodically. Students are free to exchange home reading books as they wish throughout the week from a specific selection of 'just right books', but are encouraged to do so at least once or twice per week. We will soon have some zippered bags with which the students will use to bring their books and papers home. We spent some time learning a few of the parts of Daily 5. Ask your child what they need to do during 'Read to Self' each day. We practiced the routines and are working on building our stamina. Students also made bookmarks to help them pick 'good fit books' based on their purpose, interest, comprehension and knowledge of the words. We have also been working hard at retelling stories - both orally and acting them out. Students worked together in groups to retell 'The Little Red Hen' and did a fantastic job of telling the story in order, adding extra detail and using expression. In math, students explored shape manipulatives, and used them to cover other larger shapes in different ways. We also explored the relationship between the 100s chart and number line. We will be investigating more into numbers and developing a strong number sense, including place value, in the coming weeks. I wish you all a fun and relaxing weekend. Ms. Luttrell
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWe are 7 and 8 year old students who live in Singapore. Our teacher, Ms. Luttrell, will be helping us write blog posts throughout the year! Archives
June 2016
Other ISS SitesMr. Pinchbeck - Principal Blog Categories |