Were you wondering about the page that came home with a red squiggle on it? We read, The Squiggle by Carole Lexa Schafer and used our creative thinking to imagine what else a red squiggle could look like. In the story, a little girl twirls a red ribbon around and imagines the shapes she makes as the Great Wall, a full moon, a pond of ripples, fireworks and more. In class, students imagined snails, snakes (lots of snakes), mountains, and even a sea horse. Every lesson includes Virginia Beach objectives and this lesson included listening and responding to a variety of literary forms and discussing character, setting, and events.
Geraldine's Blanket was a big hit and many students empathized with poor Geraldine who was told to get rid of her favorite blanket. Many students told stories about their favorite "stuffies" and blankets and how much they are loved. In this story, Geraldine figures out a way to keep her blanket after her mom and dad have both tried to discourage her from carrying it anymore - she turns it into a dress for her new baby doll! The children liked this solution and felt it was good compromise. This time students were challenged to connect the story to math and see how many ways they could make a cover a “patch” using different combinations of pattern blocks.
As student worked, we looked for students who were able to find 5 or more different solutions to covering the patches with pattern blocks. Students practiced their metacognitive thinking as they explained how they were able to make different blocks fit onto each pattern. Some students saw that larger blocks could be recreated with smaller blocks and some saw that turning blocks in different ways allowed them to cover the patches.
All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka is a beautiful book that celebrates all the colors of the earth that children come in from “roaring browns” to “whispering golds” to “hair that curls like sleeping cats in snoozy cat colors”. The children then chose something about themselves to compare to a color in nature and used crayons in natural colors to complete their pictures. Objectives included in this lesson were to read and explain their own writing and drawing and being to ask and answer questions about what is read. They also explained why their colors made them feel a certain way or why they chose the colors they did. We saw analogical thinking as children explained how they compared something about themselves to something in nature.
Students also solved a math exemplar. They were challenged to figure out how many ladles they would need to fill 5 cups of cocoa if each cup needed 3 ladles. We focused on using pictures, words, and numbers to solve the problem.
Geraldine's Blanket was a big hit and many students empathized with poor Geraldine who was told to get rid of her favorite blanket. Many students told stories about their favorite "stuffies" and blankets and how much they are loved. In this story, Geraldine figures out a way to keep her blanket after her mom and dad have both tried to discourage her from carrying it anymore - she turns it into a dress for her new baby doll! The children liked this solution and felt it was good compromise. This time students were challenged to connect the story to math and see how many ways they could make a cover a “patch” using different combinations of pattern blocks.
As student worked, we looked for students who were able to find 5 or more different solutions to covering the patches with pattern blocks. Students practiced their metacognitive thinking as they explained how they were able to make different blocks fit onto each pattern. Some students saw that larger blocks could be recreated with smaller blocks and some saw that turning blocks in different ways allowed them to cover the patches.
All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka is a beautiful book that celebrates all the colors of the earth that children come in from “roaring browns” to “whispering golds” to “hair that curls like sleeping cats in snoozy cat colors”. The children then chose something about themselves to compare to a color in nature and used crayons in natural colors to complete their pictures. Objectives included in this lesson were to read and explain their own writing and drawing and being to ask and answer questions about what is read. They also explained why their colors made them feel a certain way or why they chose the colors they did. We saw analogical thinking as children explained how they compared something about themselves to something in nature.
Students also solved a math exemplar. They were challenged to figure out how many ladles they would need to fill 5 cups of cocoa if each cup needed 3 ladles. We focused on using pictures, words, and numbers to solve the problem.