Reading Centers

Almost every week in Reading class, we have been completing centers.  The students really seem to enjoy the two days each week where they are working in small groups, with a partner, or independently on a variety of tasks.

We begin centers on Wednesday after having been instructed on each of the skills for the week on Monday and Tuesday.  The students have the majority of class Wednesday and Thursday to move through their four centers.  Each student receives a Centers Checklist that lists the directions for each center.  We go over this together and then they have it with them to refer to while they are working.

Over the last few weeks I've been able to collaborate with Mrs. Fedor and have one center that had the students working on both reading and science skills.  This last week we collaborated again and had the students completing a social studies skill.  With a partner, they were reading a map of Ohio and then created a poster listing some of the important features of their state.

Overall the students did a great job working on this center and learned a lot about their state and how to read a map.

Veterans Day Recap

This year for Veterans Day we had another wonderful whole school assembly.  There were many Veterans included in the assembly and the students did a wonderful job singing songs, playing instruments, and reading some of their writing.

A few days before the assembly, we wanted to do some things in the classroom to emphasize the importance of Veterans Day with the students.  In Reading class, the fourth and fifth grade collaborated and completed the same project.  We got the idea here.  We had every student write a paragraph answering the question, Why is it important to honor our Veterans?  They then wrote their paragraphs on bricks and we placed them on a wall outside of the library.  We created our own "Wall of Peace."  There was a reception for the Veterans who visited in the library after our assembly so they had the chance to check out our wall.

During our Enrichment period, Mrs. Fedor had some of the fourth graders creating their own medals. Students brainstormed the sacrifices service men and women make while serving our country and were encouraged to create a medal thanking vets for such sacrifices.