The Learning Letter
September 11th, 2015
Happy First Week Back to School Everyone! We know how busy everyone is and how hard it is to find the time to visit other classrooms, search for great resources and/or read interesting blog posts for new ideas...so we are here to help! Every two weeks, we will be sending out The Learning Letter full of ideas, resources, upcoming dates and shout outs of the wonderful things we are seeing around the building! As always, we would love to hear ideas from all of you for future content!
~ Kristin and Erin ~
Math Labs and Teacher Time Outs
Elham discussing Math Labs and Teacher Time Outs at NCTM 2015.
PROBABLE PASSAGE
No matter if you are doing a read aloud or asking the class to independently read a novel, this is an excellent way to launch a new literary passage in your class! Strategically pick about 10-15 words/phrases from the new story. These selections should fit into an empty story map of your choice. They can be shown on the SMARTboard one at a time or placed randomly on a paper list. Ask students to work in groups to predict where each word/phrase would fit into the story map. For example, Summer may be placed as setting or character, vocab words you want them to explore are great to include, signal words for conflict and resolution are also fun to ponder. Once the words/phrases have been placed, students can record a thoughtful prediction. Probable Passage allows everyone to contribute....no right or wrong. It keeps the kids engaged throughout the text to confirm or refine their first thoughts.
Which One Doesn't Belong?
I love this activity and can see it playing out across all content areas! All you do is post 4 things, words, shapes...etc on the board and ask students to think about which one does not belong. There will typically be one that stands out among a majority of students but then I ask them to see if they can come up with a reason for each one not to belong. It is a great routine to launch a lesson! Here is a link to pre-made math ideas and my experience of using one in my classroom. My buddy Christopher Danielson talks about them here.
I would love to brainstorm ideas with other content areas and, of course, I would love to pop in the classroom and hear the student conversations!
Art and Science
Denise Costello, this is ALL you! For the science teachers it embeds Claims, Evidence and Reasoning protocol.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2015/03/24/integrating-art-science-getty/
Making Number Talk Matter Book Study
Click the button for more details!
Sesame Street: Janelle Monae - Power of Yet
Event Information
Connecting Arithmetic to Algebra Book Study
All Assignments in the August folders are due.
When?
Tuesday, Sep 15, 2015, 11:45 PM
Where?