Month: February 2020

Home Learning for February 10-14 (Week 22)

lrupp Classroom Community, Homework, How We Organize Ourselves, Learner Profile, P.E., TASOK 0 Comment
  1. Read for at least 30 minutes each night.
    • Check out the new reading choice board for scholarly, agentic readers.
    • Reflect on your reading:
      • on Seesaw.
      • by completing the online reading log OR one on paper (Copies are available in class).
      • by having a thoughtful conversation with another reader.
  2. Option: Use the Pobble 365 prompt to inspire your writing.
        • Use lined paper from your binder OR the Google Doc in your Google Classroom.
  3. Reflect back on your Week 20, and complete the “Reflection: Learner Profile & Approaches to Learning” form.
  4. Explore the recommendations on IXL.com. These connect directly to what we have been learning in class.

**A Scholar has a goal: We got off to a great start this week. This week we:

    • answered 755 IXL questions.
    • spent 5 hours 6 minutes on IXL.
    • made progress in 23 IXL skills.

Announcements

  1. Library is scheduled weekly on Thursdays.
  2. P.E. is scheduled weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays.
    1. Come dressed to SWIM – swimsuit, towel, dry clothes
    2. Bring a water bottle
  3. Check your lunch card balance weekly.

Coming Soon

Below is a list of upcoming events of which to be aware.

  • February 12 – Ozobots with Grade 5
  • February 17-21 – I Love to Read and Write Week
  • February 21 – Assembly at 2:30 p.m. (We’re presenting! Invite your parents!!)
  • February 28 – Trimester 2 ASAs End

Condor Sports

  • February 21 – Swim Meet

We’re on Twitter!

Follow TASOK @TASOKinshasa

Follow TASOK PYP @TASOKPYP

Follow Fourth Grade @Scholarsare

Hashtag #TASOK

 

Learner Profile Trait of the Month – CARING

**Check back later in the week for additional homework related to in-class discussions and activities.

 

SAISA Spirit and Scholarly Seesaws on the 100th Day of School

lrupp Classroom Community, How We Organize Ourselves, Learner Profile, Math, TASOK, Visible Thinking 0 Comment

Our week ended on the 100th day of school, a major milestone in every school year. Not only was it the 100th day, though, it was the beginning of the SAISA Basketball Tournament. We had the opportunity to witness the Parade of Athletes, including two teams from other countries – The Republic of Congo and Zambia. We also tuned into the welcome address by Mr. Bergh and Ms. Peacock, which included a moment of silence in honor of Kobe Bryant.

Of course, we couldn’t leave without watching a game – TASOK vs. the International School of Lusaka. In true Condor style, we were supportive fans and scholars… often asking thoughtful questions about structure – warm up structures, shooting structures, passing structures, strategy structures… Also, as bucket fillers, we provided support for both the TASOK AND the Zambian team. Chants of Zam-bi-a! Zam-bi-a! confused the TASOK bench, but completely warmed my heart and those of our guests. While the Zambian team of 6 was incredibly skilled, I would like to think our bucket-filling gave them the extra boost they needed to pull off a win.


By the end of the game, ISL had developed quite the fan club and was swarmed by fans during recess who wanted their autographs!

In honor of the 100th day, we inquired into… hundredths. Using base ten blocks, we represented a variety of decimals and fractions and then created our own addition equations written in both fraction and decimal form. The twist today was… we got to use dry erase markers to write on the desks. Fun!

Each equation was then captured on Seesaw. Stay tuned for approved posts.

Comparing, Contrasting and… Collecting.

lrupp Classroom Community, How We Organize Ourselves, Learner Profile, Literacy, Social Studies, Visible Thinking 0 Comment

This week, we have had the opportunity to get into others students’ classroom to observe, using a See. Think. Wonder. visible thinking routine. As part of our research in preparation for I Love to Read and Write Week, we want to see what kinds of structures other classrooms have in place. Since teachers have allowed us into their learning spaces, we thought it might be a good idea to express our gratitude through the writing of a letter. Before doing that, though, we needed to know how letters are structured and how they compare to other forms of writing like essays and poems. As part of our inquiry into letter writing, teaching teams used used multiple sources and a triple Venn diagram structure to identify similarities and differences between the three genres of writing.

Some teaching teams expanded their inquiry to include other genres of writing like emails and stories, which required them to alter their Venn structure.

After a wonderful session during which thinking and research skills were stretched, it was icing on the cake to see self and social management skills applied during clean up! Thank you, gentlemen, for taking action and working together.

In library this afternoon, Ms. Kraft helped us think about read aloud book selection for the upcoming I Love to Read and Write Week. She shared with us a variety of books and highlighted some of the features that made them engaging and appropriate for various levels of readers.

We then had time to select some books and practice reading them outloud in our teaching teams. Holding and reading books aloud is easier said than done.

Finally, to end our day, we revisited our simile of how a poem is like a puzzle and explored the second stanza.

This puzzle’s pieced together

With meaning, shape, and sound in mind.

Each word is chosen carefully,

Search. The perfect one you’ll find.

With a focus on word choice, we examined the words brainstormed yesterday and narrowed our list down to one word we wanted to explore more deeply. Using a Frayer model structure, we considered and collected:

    1. related words (affixes).
    2. synonyms (and antonyms).
    3. adjectives.
    4. rhyming (or similar sounds)

This resource will be valuable as we set out to compose our poem in the days ahead. Again, this will be a lesson that we share to other readers and writers during I Love to Read and Write Week.

Global School Play Day

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Global School Play Day was a HUGE hit. Students arrived full of enthusiasm and prepared with a whole assortment of things with which to engage in play.

Before heading to French, we briefly reviewing the Global School Play Day guidelines and addressed any questions. Immediately after French, students began to play! Fabric forts were constructed, trading cards were being exchanged, a duo of UNO games were being played, and paper was being folded into ornate origami wreaths. This was only the beginning.

We had predicted yesterday that the benefit of Global School Play Day would include:

  • fun
  • learning new things
    • strategy
    • different ways
    • involvement
  • motivation
  • social skills
  • communication skills
  • responsibility
  • strategy
  • thinking skills

When we debriefed at the end of today, we realized:

  • Ben noticed we learned about trade vs. buying, and Zinnah wondered how they were similar.
  • Chelsea wondered if buying was a form of trading (money for product).
  •  Karma discovered new games he had never heard of before and realized there are more games to discover.
  • Karma also used to think there were only a couple versions of UNO, but today realized there were many more versions than he was aware of.
  • Collaboration was added to our list of benefits
  • And, patience, sharing, and cooperation were specific social skills itemized today.

On top of all that, we realized that there was a LOT of structured need and found in unstructued play. This was a great day of discovery for everyone… including Mrs. Rupp!

Fifth Grade engaged in a sustained game of strategy in the pod.

When a game of tag broke out in the classroom around 10:00 a.m., we knew it was time for and early recess and extended outdoor play.

 


When our day of play in the classroom was over, we headed over to Mr. Wilson who joined in on the fun and provided us with an opportunity to engaged in unstructured play in the pool. What a great way to end our day!

 

A Poem’s Like a Puzzle…

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A poem’s like a puzzle

 

This is the statement we started with today. With just this one line, students considered how this can be true. During our initial discussion students suggested things like:

  • Both are human-made
  • Both are mysterious
  • Both paint a picture
  • Word choice in a poem is like finding the right puzzle piece

Students also noticed that this statement was a simile and could serve as a thesis.

We then continued by revealing and reflecting on the remainder of the poem:

A poem’s like a puzzle

Made of up many parts.

With words and lines and stanzas

It’s assembled from the heart.

 

Students then had an opportunity to piece together a personal puzzle, unique to a topic of interest each identified last week. As students worked, the following sounds of puzzle making were captured.

  • Does this fit?
  • This is hard!
  • The pieces are shaky.
  • Where does this fit?
  • This is tricky.
  • This is easy.
  • Where’s the color?
  • It’s not quite right.
  • I give up.
  • Hooray, I persevered!
  • Can we do another?
  • I’m missing a piece.
  • I need help.
  • Something doesn’t seem right.
  • Can I help?
  • You did it, even though it was hard.

Once puzzles were complete, we paused to reflect on the original statement in relation to the sounds of puzzle making. Could all of these things be said while writing a poem, too? Probably!

Our next step in the process was to describe our puzzle. One a piece of blank paper, students individually generated a list of words to describe what they see, think, and wonder. After a few moments, students had the opportunity to add words to others’ lists, affirming strong word choice and offering an alternative point of view.

Today’s lesson will be one students replicate during I Love to Read and Write week, when we set out to teach students in other classes about poetry.

We hope others enjoy the lesson and learn as much as we did!

 

 

 

Announcement: Global School Play Day

lrupp Classroom Community, How We Organize Ourselves, Learner Profile, Literacy, P.E., TASOK 0 Comment

Global School Play Day

Fourth Grade scholars have been inquiring into the impact of structure on individuals, communities, and societies. As part of our inquiry, we have decided to participate in Global School Play Day, which is described as “The grassroots effort created by educators in support of unSTRUCTured playtime for students around the world.”

One of the questions someone asked today when this day was announced was, “UNstructured? How can it be UNstructured?”

I guess we will find out tomorrow.

We hope to be able to reflect on our experience and explain how unSTRUCTured play helped us inquire further into STRUCTURE.

Alert: Mr. Wilson will also be participating, so be sure to remember your swimsuit for P.E.

#GSPD2020

Home Learning for February 3-7 (Week 21)

lrupp Classroom Community, Homework, Learner Profile, TASOK 0 Comment
  1. Read for at least 30 minutes each night.
    • Check out the new reading choice board for scholarly, agentic readers.
    • Reflect on your reading:
      • on Seesaw.
      • by completing the online reading log OR one on paper (Copies are available in class).
      • by having a thoughtful conversation with another reader.
  2. Option: Use the Pobble 365 prompt to inspire your writing.
        • Use lined paper from your binder OR the Google Doc in your Google Classroom.
  3. Reflect back on your Week 20, and complete the “Reflection: Learner Profile & Approaches to Learning” form.
  4. Explore the recommendations on IXL.com. These connect directly to what we have been learning in class.

**A Scholar has a goal: We got off to a great start this week. This week we:

    • answered 791 IXL questions.
    • spent 6 hours 17 minutes on IXL.
    • made progress in 28 IXL skills.

Announcements

  1. Library is scheduled weekly on Thursdays.
  2. P.E. is scheduled weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays.
    1. Come dressed to SWIM – swimsuit, towel, dry clothes
    2. Bring a water bottle
  3. Check your lunch card balance weekly.

Coming Soon

Below is a list of upcoming events of which to be aware.

  • February 5 – Global School Play Day
  • February 7 – 100th Day of School
  • February 7 – Parade of Athletes (9:00 a.m.)
  • February 17-21 – I Love to Read and Write Week
  • February 28 – Trimester 2 ASAs End

Condor Sports

  • February 6-8 – SAISA Basketball Tournament
  • February 21 – Swim Meet

We’re on Twitter!

Follow TASOK @TASOKinshasa

Follow TASOK PYP @TASOKPYP

Follow Fourth Grade @Scholarsare

Hashtag #TASOK

 

Learner Profile Trait of the Month – CARING

**Check back later in the week for additional homework related to in-class discussions and activities.

 

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