1st or 3rd Person

Yesterday and today, in both of my ELA classes, we discussed and defined point of view in regards to 1st person or 3rd person.  We realized that 1st person point of view is the person telling the story that was directly involved.  Almost like they are the STAR of a movie!  3rd person is someone telling the story who is NOT involved in the story.  It's very similar to "watching" a movie as oppsed to "STARRING" in a movie.  Below are som pictures of the activities we did today!!  It was another day of hard work!!!

Rachel's Challenge

This afternoon, we had a school wide assembly challenging our kids to accept Rachel's Challenge and start a chain reaction of kindess.  The presenter was very energetic and got our students pumped up!!!  Ask your child today who Rachel Scott was andYRachel's Challenge is and how they can perform random acts of kindess. "You just may start a chain reaction."- Rachel Scott 

For more info, visit the Rachel's Challenge website.

 

Character Traits

Our Reading lesson today was about identifying character traits for one of the main characters from our book: My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother.  Today we chose to focus on Richie, the older brother.  We created a bubble map with character traits and events from the story to prove our thoughts. We called this contextual evidence ( don't we sound smart :) ). This was done as a whole group lesson.  Tomorrow, my STAR students are going to show off their smarts by doing this activity independently with a new text. 

Happy Reading!

Relationships

Today in class we talked about relationships.  We decided that a good definition for a relationsship is how two people relate to each other and how they get along.  We enjoyed a good book titled My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother by Patricia Polacco.  This book was about 2 siblings who are always competing with each other and annoy each other. A very big event happened in the book that cause their relationship to change.  The assignment given to my kiddos today was to respond to the text in their Response Notebooks by  describing the relationship between the 2 main characters and to identify the even that caused their relationship to change.  They also had to explain what the new relationship was.  I was really proud of my kiddos today! Everyone worked really hard!

We also touched on character traits as well.  We listened to the book on my favorite interactive website for books: Storyline Online.  You could help your child get better at this school by having them read one of their favorite books and simply talk to them about the main character's relationships with other characters and discuss if anything happened to make them change!!

Happy Reading

Clip Chart E-Book!

Last summer while in one of my many back to school moments, I was searching for a clip chart system that  was more effective.  I wanted the "move your clip" statement to not always mean something negative.  I ran across this site  http://www.newmanagement.com/ebooks/clip_chart.html.  It's an E-Book that explains a new concept on the clip chart: you can actually have your students move UP for good behavior.

It's pretty simple!  Every child starts on Green in the middle ( Ready to Learn ) and can go either up or down depending on their choices.  I love it because it rewards good behavior!!   Sometimes all I had to say was "who gets to 'clip up' today?" and got POSITIVE results from my kids!  Very rarely did my students have to "clip down" to the very bottom ( parent contact--which I had them call as soon as they landed on that part of the clip chart which was colored black ).

Another cool thing about this system is that you could work your way back up if you had to clip down.

I shared this with my team and they all ended up using it! I got lots of compliments!

Hope this helps someone!

I'd love to hear what others are doing?

Teachers tweeting on Twitter!

So, I plan to start using Twitter as a means to have more instant communication with my parents this year. It's free and environmentally friendly...it doesn't use any paper and I still get the message across!!

So.....Follow me on Twitter @Im_MrsWilliams and I'll follow you!!


Happy tweeting!!

Linky Party

Yearn to Learn is having a Linky Party and what better way to get my blog out there?!?  So I will participate.


1.  A blogger who is a "New Kid on the Blog"
Head over and check out my friend Miss Wheat's first grade blog!!!

2.  Post a blogger in your same grade level
I've really enjoyed browsing through The Sweet Life of 3rd Grade's blog!  I love her enthusiasm.

3.  Post a blogger in a different grade level.  I have to acknowledge the Literacy Strategist at our school,  Mrs. Hasty.  Her new blog,  What's Happening in Literacy, is going to be very informative!

4.  It's all about the button. Find a cute blog button and post it
.I'm not sure how to post button's but The Sweet Life's button is adorable!




This was fun!!!

Online Read Alouds

 

I ran across this website from Miss Wheat's blog, but I've used this site numerous times!!  It's one of my favorites!!!  It's called Stroyline Online and it's great!  It uses several stories that I use to teach different concepts and it has actors/actresses read it aloud!!  It's a great way to model how good readers read with expression and excitement.  I also love it because it models ADULTS that still love to read. By the middle of the year, my students ask for this!!!

 This website, TumbleBooks, is also another great one.  The difference between this one that Storyline Online is that TumbleBooks is animated this kids also love this one.  There are also thousands of books on this site!!  I also use this one a lot.  Might I recommend that you check out 50 Below Zero by Robert Munsch!!

Preparing Already....

I know!  I know!!  It's still summer, but I have to admit, I LOVE SCHOOL.  I love planning for school!

This will be the 1st year that Mrs. Godby and I are team teaching together.  Instead of having me for every subject, my students will only see me for Reading/Language Arts and Social Studies.  My students will see Mrs. Godby for Math and Science. In return, I will teach her homeroom students Reading/Language Arts and Social Studies.  I'm extremely excited about this because Reading/Language Arts is becoming one of my favorite things to teach, more specifically, teaching Writing.

So, this year, my blog will primarily focus on things that pertain to Reading/Language Arts and Social Studies as well as other things going on in my room.

This blog will also be one of my more instant ways to communicate with my parents because, let's face it: paper doesn't always make it home :).  I will try (can't promise) to post things such as daily homework, reminders, and pictures of events going on at school.  You can even follow me on my teacher Twitter @Im_MrsWillams.

 Please check back for more info and sites that I think are cool!

Rounding on YouTube!

Here's a really neat video on YouTube about rounding!!!  Check it out!

Cool Websites for Math!

Today in Math we worked on probability and data analysis!  We found some really neat sites as we worked on our Promethean board this afternoon.  I PROMISED the kids that I would put them on the blog incase they needed something to keep them occupied over Spring Break!!  Ask your kids to review  these vocabulary terms with you: certian, less likely, equally likely, more likely, and impossible. :)

(interactive spinners)

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/category_g_2_t_5.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/data/probability/play.shtml

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/WhyCantIWin/default.htm

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/ChancesAre/default.htm

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/PinTheTail/default.htm

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/HeadsIWin/default.htm

Have a great Spring Break!!!

-Mrs. W-

The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History......

We had a BLAST today!!!  The kids got a chance to see some really cool exhibits. The Dino Dig was a big hit and the 4D movie was greatness!!   There were lots of smiling faces and students learning outside the classroom. :) I sat with a small group and watched the show in the Noble Planetarium!!  It was pretty amazing!  Below are a few pictures from our day!!  Thanks to ALL of the parents who came out! Today was a wonderful day and the weather was beautiful!

How cool is this???? :)

I thought this picture was really neat!!!  I didn't think to get the name of this dinosaur after I snapped the picture.  This could be another reason for Mrs. Williams to go back to the museum!

Power Up the City!!!

"Power-Up the City" was another really interesting exhibit!!  Here, certain aspects of the city we were able to control by pushing a button or following the directions on the screen. Somewhere in this small model city was a power plant that a student was controlling. Can you find it? Look really good!

Waiting in line for the Omni Theater presentation: "Under the Sea"

What a great day!!!I just wish I had captured more pictures!  This will be our last field trip for the year and what a way to do it!  I think the kiddos will remember this for a very long time!

-Goodnight-
Mrs. W.

Pumpkin Day

The guts of a pumpkin.....yuck!

Back in October, our class participated in what we called "Pumpkin Day". This was the day that we did all things pumpkin.  We measured pumpkins, we counted the seeds, we listed the physical properties of each of our pumpkins.  It was a pretty amazing day!!  Thanks to all of the parents who donated pumpkins!

Reminders- week of March 7, 2011

Here are some important reminders for the week:

Monday, March 7, 2011

•  Weekly Multiplication test-- the time limit is stil 12 minutes and a grade of 70 is required or we will spend our recess studying our facts!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 

• It's  picture day!!!  Please check with your students and make sure they have recieved their picture day envelope!

Thursday, March 10th

•  Field trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Sceince History.  If you  are a chaperone, please make sure your background check is done and you have paid your $15 per adult.  I asked the kids to try and wear a Whitt shirt so we can identify our kids easily.  If your child doesn't have one that's ok.  Each student will be given an sticker!
• Please make sure your child has a COMPLETELY LABLED sack lunch. :)
• Lesson 27 Spelling Test-make sure your child is ready.

Welcome to My Blog!

Hey Parents and Kiddos!!!

I am attempting to do an online blog to help keep us all in the loop of things and hopefully share what's going on in the classroom!

I will really try to post samples of work so that you know what 's going on with your child!!!Please feel free to check back every 2 or 3 days to see that latest happenings!!!

Happy reading and happy blogging!