Learning From 4th Graders in Virginia

Another great week has gone by. I am very pleased at how much we are getting accomplished, routines are going well, and students appear to be having a little fun along the way. :) We never seem to get everything done that I plan each day, but that's alright as I tend to overplan. Yesterday I had class all day revolving around the "Daily 5" that we are using to faciliate our literacy. It was nice to share questions, ideas, and thoughts with other elementary teachers although I would have rather been outside being it was a gorgeous weekend. I'm not going to lie about that.

There were many exciting events that happened this past week. One of them I need to give thanks to my "Twitter" PLN - personal learning networks. A teacher in Virginia had her students do a readers theatre about Constitution Day, which was Sept. 17th. She let those of us on Twitter know about it. I asked her if I could have a copy of the readers theatre and she said better yet, she would have her 4th graders recording of their readers theatre on her blog page for us to listen to. It was a story about some kids planning a camping trip and had to make decisions. They connected it to the way the Constitution was written and shared facts along the way. We, in 3B, thought it was such a great way to learn about the Constitution that we wrote some comments back to them on their blog page. Little did we know, we would be making friends with students from Virginia via the Internet. It was very cool, and the kids were amazed what they learned by listening to other students.

Our first set of "creatures" arrived this week for science also. The ants have made their home in our room in an ant farm. We will be watching them create a habitate and monitor how many of them exist throughout the next few weeks. Our seeds that we planted last week are growing, which is good. Our next set of visitors will be arriving this week. Wonder what they are. . . .

With literacy, we had our first week of word works - kind of like spelling but in a different way. The students have gone through the different routines and modes of learning and are set. I would have to say using Wiki Stix is a favorite. They could have played with those for quite a while. Next, we move into the area of writing with the Daily 5.

I am excited about writing as we have been talking about what writers do and the writing process. I wanted to try and find an author who would skype in our classroom, via the internet, and chat with the students about writing. After some time looking, I found a site of various children's authors that do just that! I can't wait ! I am working on getting it scheduled and arranged. The author will chat with the kids for 15-20 minutes free of charge. Very cool! The students will be able to have conversation with an actual children's author, asking questions and learning about what it is like to be a writer without leaving the classroom. Ahhh. . .the wonderful world of technology!

Here's to another great week of learning - for all of us!