"Order in the Class"

On September 13th fifth graders began articulating what our class rules should be, with Eliana, Mrs. Woods, and Miss Weiss present.  In fifth grade it is important that the rules are student generated to ensure that the stakeholders, that the players in our class kehilla, are a large part of establishing their own culture.  The conversation continued on September 22nd with Mrs. Woods and Miss Weiss.  Kol Hakavod to fifth graders for their tremendous effort in sussing out what rules they feel are most important, and what those rules really mean.  The quality of the discussion was high as students at times spoke eloquently without the need for hand raising.  A true academic discussion centrals around a single question and a collaborative effort to answer it, and they exemplified this!  It is our belief that waiting until we have spent some time together to make the rules allows for students to feel more comfortable and to be more capable to voice their thoughts  about rules that will enable our learning community to be the most effective.  Below are the rules the class came up with together.  In the near future they will handwrite these on a large sign for the classroom. 

Order in the Class

Listen

Follow directions

Do what you’re told

Pay attention

Ask questions

Raise your hand

Look at the person who is talking

Focus on the person who is talking

Be silent when someone speaks over the intercom

Be Kind

Treat each other nicely

Be fair

Be inclusive

Be or act respectful

Be Safe

      Be aware of your surroundings

                  Walk carefully (No running)

                  Be responsible in the garden

                  Keep your hands to yourself

Stay Focused on Your Work

                  Use time wisely

                  Be productive

                  Remember Important Steps

Learn to the Max!

                  Put in your best effort

                  Keep trying

                  Word hard

                  Is the jar half full or half empty?

           

Try to Have Fun!

                   Have Ruach

                   Be positive

                   Be excited

Iced Mint Tea

We had so much fun picking mint from the school garden today!   We used math and science skills to harvest the mint and to make the tea.  The ingredients were simply: garden fresh mint, sugar, and water.  I believe the net profit was about $80.  Kol Hakavod to the fifth graders for taking the initiative and rocking today!  They were excellent role models to the rest of the school.
In guided reading, we started the second chapter of Something Upstairs today.  In math, we learned about and made bar graphs.  And in social studies, we defined colony, discussed reasons for coming to the New World, and students began writing persuasive letters, which are due on Friday. 
Most importantly, together with Eliana and Mrs. Woods, we began making our class rules for the year.  There was a big discussion about listening- what it means, what it looks like, and why it's important.

Problem Solving, Friday Letter, & Shanah Tovah!

Yesterday students had to figure out the correct order of and explanations for the problem solving steps in math.  Each student had a card with words on it, either the name of the step or the description of a step.  They put themselves in the right order after careful group discussion, and we talked about each person's role in the process.

On Friday students wrote their first Friday letter.  They will write one every Friday.  This letter is meant for parents and should be read and signed each week.  Parents might even decide to write back!

Happy New Year to all!  Next week we will make our official class rules.

Something Upstairs

We started our first novel of the year today, Avi's Something Upstairs, a historical fiction novel set in Colonial times in Providence, RI.  This novel connects to the Colonial America unit we're about to embark on in Social Studies and to our theme of freedom.  Readers talked about the various ways in which reading is thinking.  Using sticky notes we will practice active reading by marking up the text.  We found a few new words in the prologue, which we recorded to later use as spelling words.  Everyone agreed the prologue left us in suspense, although there was some disagreement as to whether the prologue is true. 
Parents who want to read the novel can- just ask me for a copy. 
Eliana and I agreed that students should spend  five to ten minutes learning something about the mid-east peace talks, which began today.  Watching this video might be worthwhile: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/02/mideast.peace.talks/index.html

Systems Thinking

Fifth graders started thinking in systems today!  Systems thinking is a holistic approach to looking at the world; instead of simply looking at isolated parts, we look at the whole.  Students had fun trying to figure out what to do with various words written on index cards.  Some of the words were: children, pencils, Vicky, website.  Together they agreed all these words belong in a school, and if you take one away, the whole system isn't as strong.  Sandy's big idea statement about this was:  Every part is needed for the system to work.  Out in the garden students looked to see what systems they could find.  We started with the life-cycle of a plant and ended with the lumber industry, as the raised bed frames are made from wood!  We will use this type of thinking in many of our content areas throughout this year.  In the near future, this will apply to our study of ecosystems.  We ended our day by bundling mint we picked, to dry in the classroom.  Today we were all so grateful for our AC!