Week of March 14-18

This week, the third graders continued to explore aspects of poetry by participating in poetry stations. In the poetic language station, the students read Owl Moon and My Mama Had a Dancing Heart, and they looked for poetic language in the texts. We discussed how phrases like "hold on tight leaves" and "trees that stood as still as statues" help us create pictures in our minds. In the choral reading station, students chose a poem to put to music. They had to find the rhythm and then choose a percussion instrument to accompany their reading of the poem. Here is one group in action!

In 4th grade, one class learned all about puns. We looked at modern day puns, puns from Shakespeare's time, and we started to come up with our own puns! My other classes had a special visit from Mr. Duggan. As a former high school English teacher, Mr. Duggan had a lot to share with us about Shakespeare's language, the types of plays he wrote, his themes, sayings that originated from Shakespeare, and even some special effects from the Elizabethan times!

In 5th grade, we learned some tools to help us be more creative: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. We started to generate and refine some possible ideas for our TED Talks. Then we learned about the tenets of improv (be present, find the "yes, and...") and played a game called "The Ignorant Expert" where the students had to fake it 'til they make it!