5. It has been fun to watch the students observing the lima bean growth in class. I have asked students to record their observations, thoughts, and questions that they have. I believe science is the process of observing and questioning. It is more than just acquiring scientific knowledge that others have already observed. I am trying a new science evaluation this year and asking students to record what they learn and then present their observations and data. I want to turn science into more of a conversation and less of a test. I feel like our conversations have been more fruitful when it is driven by their observations and not just an article in a book.
4. Speaking of assessment, the math assessment went splendid. The first couple of days that we worked on regrouping within subtraction it was hard to get around to everyone who needed help. It is a very hard concept, but within a week nearly everyone received a three on the assessment and the only ones who didn't just made a couple computational errors which I will retest before report cards come out. We made it through one of our hardest units a day ahead of time and everyone understood the subtraction algorithm. I am excited by this and the fact that we averaged six students passing rocket math each day last week. I look forward to how far we can go in math this year.
3. During reading, we worked very hard to provide a good environment for assessment. Students worked hard being "buried" in their book. Students are working on visualizing within their reading. While they read, I was able to spend time with each reader listening and talking to each student about their reading. Students did a great job on their assessments. I was impressed with the quality of writing that they did on the comprehension piece.
2. We began our holiday poetry project this week with our Five Senses of Halloween poems. Students took on the challenge and enthusiastically went to work on their poetry. I read some of them Friday and students used excellent word choice to paint a picture of what Halloween means to them. We are working on typing them so that we can share them next Friday. It is awesome to see young people excited about the power of their own words. I love to see them excited to share their work.
1. The thing that I am most proud of this week are the examples of friendship I have witnessed. I am beginning to see students spread out beyond the people they knew last year. I witnessed a couple incidents last week where students who were having a bad day were joined by another student to comfort them. It is great to see students work to pick each other up. I have also seen supportive examples of students cheering on others that have successes that can be celebrated. I am excited to see my team continue to grow together and work towards making us all successful.
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