Grammar Activity

We worked on expanded our vocabulary in grammar this week, using a favorite nursery rhyme.


C:UserskgentryDesktopitsy bitsy spider from Ms. Gentry on Vimeo.

Snowy Weather on Friday!

Character Activity

The 9-1 boys met with their 6-B character buddy class. We spent time discussing handshakes, and then headed out to introduce ourselves to members of our community.

Here are some of the Sixth Agers introductions filmed by the Ninth Age boys. Many thanks to our Calvert community for volunteering to participate in our activity.

Character Activity: 6-B and 9-1 from Ms. Gentry on Vimeo.

Multiplication Review

In class we are continuing to explore a number of ways to solve new and challenging multiplication problems. Yesterday students used doubling, arrays, and skip counting to show their knowledge of their 6x facts. The students are working nightly to practice their facts, which has helped their confidence continue to grow, even as we add new factors into the mix! Terrific job!

 

MLK All School Assembly

Reading: Digital Story Telling

After spending time in reading class learning about "Pour Quoi" tales, we are now showing our understanding of these stories by creating our own! The students are using Story Bird to write their own tale explaining how or why something exists as it does. We have learned about the relationship between cats and dogs, a penguin's colors, and the giraffe's neck; stay tuned to see all of the finished stories!

Character Lesson: Eyes on Tradition

We begin each day at Calvert School with a handshake, and this Calvert tradition was the focus of our two-part character lesson on manners and physical differences. We practiced giving proper handshakes, which focused on matching the initiation of a handshake, grip, and eye contact of our partner.

We will spend the next week getting to know our Calvert community through our handshake meetings, as well as noticing one aspect of physical difference: eye color. On Friday we will discuss our handshake meetings and review the eye color differences present within our community. The boys will also spend time learning more about unique ways people from different cultures greet one another.

Fluency Activity: Fluency Sailboats

In reading class we begin each class by focusing on a specific reading skill. Yesterday we completed "fluency sailboats," which can be done as a group, in partners, or independently. Each sailboat is slowly revealed as an additional word is shown, eventually displaying an entire sentence. This activity helps the student work on scanning ahead, reading fluently, and using proper intonation. There are other activities included in this packet, so feel free to get a sneak peek at a few of them!

 I turned the entire activity packet into a flipping book, but if you are interested in using this activity at home, you can download the PDF.

Pour Quoi Tales

In reading class, we are focusing on "Pour Quoi" tales. These are folktales that explain how or why something came to be. We have learned how the tiger got his spots, how the tortoise got his shell, and how the sun and moon came to be up in the sky. We will spend one more day reading and analyzing these stories before creating our own virtual "Pour Quoi" tales on Story Bird. Stay tuned!

 

Student Blogger

Here is a quick post from one of our student bloggers:

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. The 9th Age boys started practicing a new play called ''Greek Gods, Goddesses, and Unicorns: A tale from the Trojan War." Also, one of the 9-1 boys made the creation below out of office supplies:

 

 Joke of the week:

                                                                     

 What is a pirate's favorite place to eat?

 arrrrrbys

Multiplication Begins!

In class today we reviewed arrays with rows and columns, practiced repeated addition, and introduced doubling with the the fable below. We then worked to create our own "doubling pots" and input/output tables.

Reading Success in 20 Minutes