Monday, January 23, 2012

A Busy Week

Well, we have been working hard lately and there's more to come!

This week, we'll be taking our quarterly reading assessment. I can't wait to see how students do on this. They've been working so hard in class lately, I'm sure it will be great.

Also, students will be finishing up their book projects from their last book. AND they'll be starting their new one...A Wrinkle in Time. Chapters 1 and 2 have to be read by Friday (I'll be giving them their books Wednesday).

I'll be sharing book projects soon!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Back to Work

We are jumping headfirst back into a heavy workload in our Reading Workshop.

I want to update you on what students are working on this week...

*They are continuing their independent reading...I'm encouraging students to read a book from a series so they can participate in our book club that will meet next week.

*They are writing up a blog post about what they learned from exploring a website called Wonderopolis. (You should check it out, it's amazing!) The posts should be done by Friday for all to read.

*They are working on book projects for the books they finished in Guided Reading in December. These projects are, in a word, awesome. Or maybe "epic" is a better word. Either way, they're going to be great. I can't wait to share. They should be done with them on Friday.

What could we possibly do to top these? Well, I'm glad you asked. Later this month, we're starting a new book...and all students in the class will be reading the same book. This should make for some terrific discussions and allow us to really dig deep and develop critical thinking skills. ALSO, two other classes--one in Philadelphia, and one in Alberta, Canada--will be reading the book, too. We'll be working with them to discuss the book via Skype and Edmodo and will be doing book projects with them, too! Pretty awesome, huh? We're going global!!! Stay tuned for details.