Google Classroom Book Talk

     My students are becoming more familiar with Google Classroom. This week for book talk Friday, we conducted a live Google Classroom chat. Students posted a short snapshot of the book they were reading and their opinion of it. Then they read each other's posts and added comments. I modeled what I expected by being the first to post about my current book. I loved how easy it was to provide immediate response and feedback to my students! The kids loved it as well and asked if we can do it again soon. Gonna think about ways to incorporate this with more types of learning.

End of Year Review and Rolling in the New Year!

Whew! The end of 2018 was fast and furious. Can't believe it's been so long since I blogged. My students have been loving the hands on station activities we have been doing as part of our fiction unit. Some examples are below and include point of view glasses made of play dough, sequencing chains using notecards and pipe cleaners and construction of plot mountain using the same cards, pipe cleaners and adorable emoji stickers (from Wal-mart) that were used to show change in character emotion throughout the story. We have also upped our technology game by incorporating the new portfolio feature from Class Dojo. Students can capture their work with a pic and upload to their portfolio with a personalized note or video. They love this! 

The New Year

   As we enter the new year and the school year heads down hill, my goal is not to get caught up in test preparation, but keep a balance with meaningful engaging literature and fun relevant activities. 

When we start back in age days, I want to start the year off with the one word challenge. Students choose a word that expresses a goal for the year and write in on a note card, explaining why they chose it on the back. These will be displayed for all to see and as a daily positive reminder.