Credibility

Ms. Leom wants her students to enjoy fourth grade. She wants each student to grow as a reader.

One way she tries to inspire students is to share her own reading journey.

Today, she shared the new books she is reading. 

Ms. Leom joined a book club. She wanted to read books beyond her usual genres and choices. Everyone in her book club is a reader. When her group meets, they talk about the book for that meeting and everyone makes connections to other books and shares other titles they are reading. These were three books that she has heard about, in book club and among other friends. 

Ms. Leom doesn't have the opportunity to read in school. She is active, helping students develop their reading skills. Ms. Leom was clear to point out that these are ADULT books and not a good fit for fourth graders. She has plenty of book talks and suggestions she shares daily about good-fit books for fourth graders. She wanted to share some of the books she is reading at home for the first part of November. When Ms. Leom asks students to read at home, it isn't to punish students or make them "do work" just to "do work". She finds reading enjoyable. She thinks reading books at home is important and helps students grow.

When Ms. Leom asks students to keep a weekly reading log, she has a reading log also. Her book doesn't include sentences to summarize her book, but it does list every book she has read since January 2008, with the copyright and author. She has a list in the back of her reading journal of her favorite and really good authors too. She has read 76 books already this year and often has more than one book she is reading at a time. Before her reading journal, she recorded the books she read on yearly calendars. She has calendars going back over a decade before the start of her reading journal.

Her reading journal was a gift from a former student.

Does that make her a book nerd? Probably. Does she mind? Nope. Who better to teach and share a love of reading with fourth graders?!

Ms. Leom is also quick to point out that she doesn't just sit around and read. She has trained for and completed one marathon, eight half marathons, two triathlons, and over two dozen other races since 2010. She works full time. She is the mom of three children. Being active and involved is also important. It is all about the balance.

Let the love of reading continue!

Scenarios

Now that we have reviewed the Olweus rules and developed strategies, today's Olweus meeting was to apply our rules.

Ms.  Leom read us some strategies. We "turned and talked" with a neighbor to tell what we thought we would do.

Love their intensity!

Love their smiles!

Students are encouraged to have new partners for each different scenario. 

Then we talk about why we practice scenarios. We want our school to be a safe place. When we find ourselves in situations that make us feel anxious, worried, having thought about our options and having a plan makes it easier to know what to do. 

We always encourage Rule 4, tell an adult at school and an adult at home, even if the adult at school resolved the situation. Talking about these experiences and gaining the words to express ourselves is developing the communication skills we need. As we grow up, our parents are a great resource to navigate our world. We start to build and develop these lines of communication early. 

A Variety of Strategies

One of our reading standards, using fourth grade, kid friendly words, "I can read using a variety of strategies". 

In Unit 1, we focused on:

- main idea and details

- asking questions

Today, now that we completed the Unit 1 test, we introduced our two new strategies:

- sequencing

- determine important details

We started by talking about our afternoon routine. We did a "turn and talk", to share with a classmate. Next, we looked at a poster of the Water Cycle. The Water Cycle comes up in Social Studies as we learn about weather and climate. It comes up in Science when we study water. It also is a great way for us to begin learning about sequencing. Writers often write, sharing plot events or changes over time in a specific sequence. As readers, identifying the sequence can be helpful to our comprehension. We will do more to develop sequencing events tomorrow.

Then, we developed the purpose and some strategies to determine the important details in a text.

Students recorded these notes in their Flex Journal as we wrapped up class. 

We will be developing these various reading strategies to support and improve our reading comprehension.

Words in Text

Today, we practiced identifying our Lesson 6 spelling words in text. We start by reviewing the spelling pattern. We write it on the top of our assignment. Then we have the opportunities to discuss what follows our pattern and what does not follow our pattern.

Lesson 6 patterns are:

-igh, y, and short I

First, our pattern is supposed to have "accented syllables". We decided we would accept "in", "is", "why", and more one syllable words. We felt these one syllable words help us when we are identifying the word parts.

Second, there are spelling patterns we will learn later this year. For example, "-ing", a suffix is a future pattern. In the word, "thing", it fit our "short i" pattern. If we took out the "-ing", we wouldn't have a word. In the word, "meaning", the "-ing" is a suffix, and when we remove the "-ing", you have the word, "mean". So "meaning" does not fit our pattern. 

The questions are generated by students. We are thrilled with the participation, even when our discussion ends with the example not matching. We are learning, and all participation and contributions support our learning.

What fits the pattern might vary slightly between the two classes, varying by the questions and discussions raised in the individual classes. 

We start together. Then, we work independently. We check and discuss. Finally, students are invited work in pairs, their discussions continue. Students may work independently or in a group of three, so no one is left out if they would like a group. Ms. Leom walks around the class, giving reminders for names on their papers, giving friendly reminders to label the pattern, a reminder to highlight the pattern, not the whole word, and listening to the various conversations about our pattern.

It was a colorful, mismatch, backwards day too!

Book Buddies

Ms. Leom's class visited their first grade book buddies today.

We shared books by the author, Helen Lester, the creator of Ms. Leom's favorite character, Tacky the Penguin. First graders shared books from their book boxes. The smiles, laughter, and friendships bloom in this time.

Hello Officer

Today we welcomed Officer Rasmussen to our classroom.

He shared the annual safety talk. Topics included: costumes, candy, strangers, houses, crossing streets, and 9-1-1. It was a lot to cover in his ten minute visit. 

He also took time to listen to us share. We loved having him listen.

So thankful for our local community and their support!! 

"Dialogue Day Two"

Today was our second day at working on writing a dialogue with the correct use of quotation marks, indenting, identifying the speaker, and the necessary punctuation.

We know that when we want to develop our skills, we need to practice. Yesterday we combined classes and mixed partners to represent both homerooms. Today, we remained in our own rooms, selecting new partners. It was an opportunity to have feedback from another person.

Soon, the rooms were quiet with active conversations zinging around the room. It was amazing how much our skills progressed in one day!! So much fun to read students' conversations and what is headline topics!