Friday, April 28, 2017

Week of April 24-28

This week, the third graders continued to explore various aspects of poetry like consonance, assonance, hyperbole, personification, and more. We've been trying to incorporate some of these techniques into our writing to make it stronger and more powerful. I'm very impressed with my students' ability to apply these techniques in creative ways to their own poems!

In 4th grade, we explored Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. After reading an abridged version, some students were surprised at how depressing this play actually is! We then focused on translating some of the balcony scene into modern day language by having Rome and Juliet text each other. I was shocked at how quickly many students were able to make sense of Elizabethan English and pick up on the gist of what was going on!

The 5th graders continued gathering research on their TED Talk topics and adding to their mind maps. This important work will help us tremendously when we start to write our speeches next week!

Friday, April 21, 2017

Week of April 18-21

This week, my 3rd grade poets explored aspects of poetry like repetition, lists, surprising/descriptive language, and wonderings. We then tried to incorporate some of these things into our own poems. We discussed the importance of seeing the extraordinary in ordinary objects and seeing the world through a poet's eyes. I am so impressed with the sophisticated and thoughtful poems my students have been writing!

In 4th grade, we explored the language of Shakespeare and discussed his contribution to modern English. People back in Elizabethan times definitely spoke very differently than we do today, but after learning about verbs, pronouns, and some common terms from back then, we were able to start to make sense of it all! We had fun translating some modern conversations into Elizabethan speak using this website:
http://www.shmoop.com/shakespeare-translator/

In 5th grade, we have chosen our topics for our TED talks, and we spent this week doing research and mind mapping our topics to gather as much information as possible in order to become experts. Our next step will be to figure out the point we are trying to make and to decide which branches of our mind map to include in our speeches.

Monday, April 17, 2017

Week of April 3-7

This week, the 3rd graders continued to read and respond to poetry by participating in poetry stations. We painted the images poems created in our minds. We found the rhythm in poems and put them to music using percussive instruments. We also hunted for poetic techniques we've been learning about in the books scattered across the room. We really started to see how poetry is an art form; instead of paints, poets use words to make pictures or evoke feelings in their readers.



In 4th grade, we learned about Shakespeare's use of puns to entertain his audience. We explored the meanings of modern day puns and puns from some of Shakespeare's plays. The best part was coming up with our own puns! I was very impressed by how "punny" my students are!

The 5th graders brainstormed possible topics for their TED Talks, and some students began mind mapping their topic to see where it might take them. See an example below!