A Busy Week, by our feature blogger, Mia and Blographer, Chase

On Monday

We played a game that’s named SET. Everybody loved it! It was a little like the matching game. After, we did a writing assignment. 

We had to finish it to go outside, so we finished it.

Then we had a snack break and mask break. At the end of the snack break, we did races and it was me vs Maddie. We were tied and BAM! Me and Maddie slammed into each other and our knees were covered in blood. It was the first injury of the year. 

But after, we worked on some math. We went over some homework and then we got to go home!

On Tuesday 

We first did language arts. In language arts, we practiced cursive writing and we did a worksheet. 

Then before we started math, we had a snack break. After the snack break, we did a fun math game called "Around the World." It’s a game where you go against one of your classmates and you try to get the correct answer before the other person. Next, we did some science. Me and Lily got some free time because we already finished what we needed to do. So after that, we got a little homework and packed up our bags. 

 

Mrs. Bredemeier read Stories with Holes and then we went home.

On Wednesday  

The day went by very fast. We did a lot of language arts and that took up most of the day. 

After that, we went outside and had a snack. We also made a video of ourselves reading our worksheet about how we feel. 

Then we went inside and it was already 11:00! When we went inside, we did a little more language arts. We did some math and then it was 12:45. We packed up and got a lot of homework. Then it was time to go home.

On Thursday

We had to say the three words to Mrs. Koch about the kinds of sentences we studied on Monday: declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory. 

 

After that we practiced doing summaries about bats and we did that pretty much the whole day. 

 

We also played SET, a lot of people got sets. 

At the end of the day we looked at the blog and had a little homework and then we were done!

Sadly there will not be a post about Friday but maybe in the future there will be. I hope you have a good day.

Working on Our Flexibility (Our Teachers' Perspectives)

Mrs. Bredemeier and I have been so impressed by how hard the students worked this week. Despite the challenges, the students have shown a positive attitude and a desire to succeed.

At the start of our week, we had a discussion about what it takes to be successful: successful in big and small ways. I drew an iceberg on the board and discussed how what we see above the water is only about 20% of the whole iceberg, 80% is unseen, underneath the water. We discussed how this is like success and the students brainstormed many of the qualities and actions it takes to achieve success. Being flexible in the journey was an important aspect too. I used the many popular memes to complete our list and wrote those words on the lower part of the iceberg. The image below includes the words the students generated.

Our days have been a bit of a rollercoaster with some technology problems, but the students are getting better at being flexible. We are working to break down the steps to work in and submit their Edgenuity virtual lessons. The students have learned their logins and passwords and they are proficient at logging into each of the applications on their iPads. This week they created file folders to organize their completed work before submission. They are better handling their frustrations as we continue to seek out new work arounds. Mrs. Gensen, the students' Virtual Academy teacher, has been helpful working with us to get all of the students online and moving forward. We appreciate her efforts and input as we figure this all out.

https://www.whsd.net/2/Content2/intedgenuity

Our mask breaks a such an important opportunity for the students to visit, socialize and get their wiggles out.

We have several enrichment alternatives we have turned to when we couldn't move forward with our online work. This week the students were introduced to the TOPS (Techniques in Problem Solving) Math decks.  It is an individualized math program where the students progress through a series of sequential cards. TOPS allows the students to challenge themselves until they reach a correct answer before moving forward. The students will use these problem solving skills and strategies, singularly or in combination to solve each card.

• Make an organized list
• Work it backward
• Solve a simpler problem
• Draw a picture or diagram
• Find a pattern
• Make a table
• Use reasoning and deduction
• Guess and check

Flexibility of thought is a key attribute of a successful problem solver! TOPS also builds resilience and tenacity as students learn to view mistakes and incorrect answers as challenges and opportunities to grow and learn new skills.

This week we started a read aloud chapter book, Lulu Walks the Dogs. The kids are enjoying a funny and cantankerous relationship Lulu and Fleischman share.  If they are enjoying this story, they may like two others in the series by Judith Viorst.

We have also been learning about the components of creativity:

• Fluency
• Flexibility
• Originality
• Elaboration

Flexibility is something we have needed in almost every lesson we have completed this week. It is definitely a great life skill. 

• Flexibility is the ability to change your way of thinking about a problem or situation.  It is the ability to think of alternative ideas and to adapt to different situations.

We ended our day exploring our blog for the first time. The students were excited to see we have had visitors and surprised by the many locations in which they live. Receiving comments and questions will allow the students to write their own replies.  We are just beginning to learn about digital citizenship, online safety and how to create quality posts and comments. We are looking forward to getting to know some students and friends that live in different parts of the world.

Below you will find Palmer and Dashiell's first blog post. Consider leaving them a comment or question. You will find more information on "How to Comment" and "Our Blogging Guidelines" in the tabs above.

 

We are Getting There Little by Little, by our feature blogger, Palmer and blographer, Dashiell

Edgenuity would not let anybody in to do the 1st module.

Mrs. Koch read Lulu Walks the Dogs after stressful iPad time on language arts. 

Then we tried to do math Edgenuity but it wouldn’t work either. So instead we went outside and took a mask break.

When we came back we did some math called Tops Math. We ended talking about flexibility and elaboration.

Tuesday the technology was even worse but we powered through. The mask break helped a lot to give us some energy. Sadly Griffin and Dashiell were not there today. Then we finished the day of with a bang. 

Wednesday was a big change. We moved into a different room with really bouncy chairs.

We had to move because the air blower would not work. We did Edgenuity almost all day. Then we did a really cool assignment. We drew a picture and the other people had to find little letters from our name in it. This was a lesson about flexibility and elaboration. That’s what we did today!

Today, we gladly did not have that many technology problems. 

   

www.amazon.com/Lulu-Walks-Dogs-Judith-Viorst/dp/1442435801

We read Lulu Walks the Dogs after some iPad time working on Edgenuity. 

Then we looked at the blog. We have had people from all over the world come to our blog. That is COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! 

Palmer 

First Week of School- From the Teachers' Perspective

Our biggest take-away from this week is what a great group of students this is! 

There is an amazing chemistry among them and they were very supportive of one another. They were eager to share their knowledge with the intention of helping everyone succeed.

While we began with many tech issues, things are falling into place and we are beginning to get a sense of the routines we will need to have to accomplish the curricular goals of the district. In a way, it’s like we are putting together a 100 piece puzzle. We definitely have found the corners and are close to having the entire edge in place, but together we are going to have to work hard to fill in the center.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/assemble-challenge-combine-creativity-269399/

Right now it feels a little like those pieces are still in a big messy pile but with time, patience, and tenacity, there’s no doubt we will succeed! It’s definitely a fluid situation and we will continue to monitor and adjust!  

Our big affective piece this week was met through the reading of the charming book Only One You by Linda Kranz.  It was a great choice to start our time together because it touched on many concepts such as positive thinking, encouragement, character traits, working successfully with others and individuality.  Besides conversations from the heart and sharing of experiences, we have two tangible pieces left in our classroom from this book.  First, we designed our own unique fish following the artistic style of the author.  We also shared one of our favorite positive messages on the back of our fish.  We have those hanging proudly in our classroom and hope they continue to reinforce our positive attitudes.  We also developed five class rules within the scope of “positive, stand out behaviors.”

1. Be kind and respectful to everyone.

2. Know when to speak, know when to listen, and know when to work quietly.

3. Follow directions the first time they are given.

4. Walk quietly in the building with our hands by our side.

5. Keep our work area neat and organized.

Together, we will make this a wonderful year!