The student from Grade 4-6 that moved on to the division competition, was Kennedy Campbell! We eagerly watched the Vermillion competition via a live stream on YouTube and the Edgerton Eagle community was very proud. Well done Kennedy!
In the past, students have given short oral presentations but this year they were introduced to the BTPS Superintendent's Public Speaking Competition! They worked hard to build a speech based on what they learned about organization and voice. They listened to the Grade 5 and 6 local competition and were able to adjust their speeches with some great tips. Then they took to practicing their speeches in small groups and giving positive criticism. We invited parents to watch, some teachers for judging, and some of our students even dressed up. They had to be quite brave getting up in front of everyone but did so well!
The student from Grade 4-6 that moved on to the division competition, was Kennedy Campbell! We eagerly watched the Vermillion competition via a live stream on YouTube and the Edgerton Eagle community was very proud. Well done Kennedy!
0 Comments
In learning the writing skills required in fictional story writing, students are currently focusing on sensory language. First, they worked on ensuring their personal stories had the basic organizational parts needed for a well laid out beginning, middle and end. Once students could excel at this, looking at their work, I decided to move on to developing student's details. We have discussed and made accessible many tools for adding detail into our writing. Students have been taught to think of the 5W's+H and use decorations such as dialogue, thoughts, feelings and actions. To enhance this trait moreso, we move to sensory language and practiced adding what we may see, hear, taste, smell, or feel in a particular scene of writing. This can do wonders to create a mood for the writing and show our voice too.
I placed multiple scenes around the room and students walked around with their sticky notes to add examples of sensory language. Below, you see us analyzing our ideas and judging whether they are specific enough, make sense, and are accurate. The most important part is a safe discussion and adjustment of ideas that were not quite there yet. Students just completed a guided writing unit on organizing fictional writing! They worked hard and are eager to write stories ALL the TIME!
We started out learning about a new graphic organizer that could help the student organize the basic parts of a story. I used it in front of them and then created my story in front of them. We them worked on one together, trying to incorporate many people's ideas to make it the best! Student groups then went ahead and used the organizer, showing what they had learned from the previous lessons. I walked around to answer questions and provide pointers. I was very impressed to hear the cooperative think alouds and compromises going on. Student groups wrote out their stories and them shared with other groups to get feedback. And after all that effort, we celebrated with a presentation period in the Drama room where we took time to praise and admire. I am so proud of the class this morning. They were asked to choose partners, of whom they don't often partner with, to edit and revise a piece of Emerging writing and make it better. We have been focusing on the six traits of writing: IDEAS, ORGANIZATION, VOICE, WORD CHOICE, SENTENCE FLUENCY, and CONVENTIONS. I am very impressed by the communication between partners and their focus on writing traits. What did the students think?
Nolan: "It was fun revising this story." Rylynn: "It was fun working with different people." Malcolm: "I like that at the end we could read everyone's revisions." Ariana: "I'm glad that we got to work with people we don't really know." Riley L. "Everyone's ideas were juicy." Korbin: "The stories were good." Bentley: "It was fun working with someone new." Riley K. "It was fun working with somebody different than you usually work with." Grayden: "I enjoyed revising and editing other people's writing." Abby: "I liked putting ideas into the stories." River: "I hope we can do it again but harder." Hugh: "I enjoyed working with Bentley as we revised over the writing." Mrs. Seifried: "I think the kids enjoyed the process more, using an exemplar and not having to write their story first. Maybe they felt safer writing together with a partner too."
Expanding our vocabulary, we moved into a mini lesson on character traits. We discussed the character traits of each of the book's main characters, evident in the book. We used thesaurus' and also hunted in children's literature for new words. This poster was created by the students as a space to search for vocab when writing their own pieces.
We did it! Tried out our new spelling test format on Google Forms yesterday and the students loved it! "Was that our spelling test?!" - Colten "That is so cool!" - Riley L. Students get to partner up, open their Google Form "Spelling Check" and test a partner on 10 of the words from their spelling assignment from the week. I love that the pressure that usually comes with a spelling test completely disappeared. It is possible that they were able to see any misspellings better too and that they were so easy to fix - no lazy kids here!
An added bonus is that when submit their answers, I am able to create a spreadsheet and track student growth progress week-to-week. Just need to find out how to send their responses to parents at home too. |
Home Reading
300 minutes a month (approx. 10 min. per night) Word Work (due Wed.)
Archives
June 2017
Categories
All
"Observe and reflect, and become a little wiser every day" |