Tuesday was typically teeming with tons of tasks.
We started by reading about Tua and her elephant. What do you do with an fugitive elephant? Well, bring her into the kitchen, of course. As we track Tua’s troubles in our plot diagram, we are also talking about tricky words and terrific ways the author shows not tells. As was true in our last read aloud, figurative language continues to be a critical component of a writer’s craft.
After having explored multiple ways to represent fractional number stories, we captured a variety of strategies for solving problems involving mixed numbers in our multiple source grid books.
Then, we set our to apply what we know about halves and wholes to measuring each other’s heads to the nearest half centimeter. Everyone had the opportunity to try out the measuring tape and to read and record the fraction noted on this number line tool. Our results will be used to create a line plot tomorrow.
Our biggest head size was 63 centimeters. Our smallest head size was 45 centimeters. Tomorrow, we will figure out what the most common (mode) head size is in fourth grade. Care to venture a guess?
Part of our day was also dedicated to drafting a poem related to our learner profile trait of the month – risk taker. Thinking about some of our recent vocabulary words and reflecting on our knowledge about risk takers, we brainstormed a list of related words. Then, we chose one word with which to start an “I am…” poem. While some are still drafting, many manage to manipulate words in a way that resulted in rich descriptions of who risk takers are. After revising, these poem will be posted publicly for others to ponder.
Here’s a preview of a few poems in their draft forms. Reflection and revision are still needed prior to publishing, but these are off to a great start.
I am… by Leslee Rupp
We ended our day by working on our symbols of struggle and survival. We reviewed the expectations on our single-point rubric and got right to work. As some finished up their artifacts, they began work on the description, which is to detail the parts, process, and purpose of their symbol. The end products will be powerful.
