Week of May 26-29

This week, the 4th graders practiced public speaking with a fun warm-up activity.  I flashed a funny photo on the screen, and they had to pretend it was from a family photo album and explain what was going on.  See my personal favorite photo below!  We learned that good public speakers sometimes have to fake it 'til they make it!
We also worked on our persuasive speeches, getting them ready for next week's presentations.
HW: practice speech with note cards and slides each day and remember to work on the goal you set for yourself

In 3rd grade, we explored Blackout Poetry as a means to use powerful words within a text to create a poem.  I was blown away by the poems and messages my students uncovered.  Check out a couple below!

 Laughed so hard

No trouble

Good day

An answer to the question on the test

had become more important than being right

could anyone think?

maybe they had a clue

to the answer

HW: write blackout poem

*We also did the blackout poetry lesson in Mrs. Oshinski's and Ms. D'Aronzo's second grade classes.  Here are some poems from second graders!

Friendly
Quiet
I live in it
A good quiet
Friendly

This one is hard to make out, but I love the message:
Truth and gossip
is not the same thing

I wrapped my arms
crying so hard
I told him,
It's okay.
He was scared.
Everything will be okay.

Week of May 18-22

This week, my 5th graders blew me away with their presentations of their passion projects!!!  The work they did while I was on maternity leave was truly inspiring, and I hope they continue to work on these and other passions in the future.  Thanks to Ms. Maline for guiding the students on this amazing journey!  I added a new page where visitors to this blog can check out the students' projects.

HW: watch debate video and answer questions; complete sheet I sent about debate topics

In 4th grade, we worked on strong intros and incorporating research into our persuasive speeches.  For homework, students will complete their speeches and make slides for the presentation using preferred program (google slides, prezi, etc.).  Practice speech at home and have family member use rubric to give you feedback.

The third graders learned about poetic techniques like repetition, lists, describing things in interesting/surprising ways and tried some of the techniques in their own poems.
3c also looked for the rhythm in poems and put them to music.  Check out the video below:
HW: Write two poems using the techniques we discussed in class.