This was the question I asked the children yesterday. They were surprised to learn that the term 'pioneer' can actually be used to describe people other than the ones who lived in log cabins! We learned that a pioneer can be anyone who leads the way for others. In keeping with our study of Black History, we talked about the characteristics that the pioneers of this movement might share. Endurance, bravery, strength, perseverance, integrity, and responsibility were some of our initial ideas. After brainstorming, the students next worked in small groups to narrow down our large list into what they felt would be the 4 most important characteristics. Each group presented their list of criteria, and a final decision on our top 3 was made - "courage", "perseverance", and "catalyst of change". As we continue to learn more about the people involved in the civil rights movement, we will use our criteria to assess how each of them fit into our definition of pioneer.
Today, we continued our focus on effective paragraphing skills by examining exemplars of student work on the E.Q.A.O. website. In partnerships, students were given three unmarked paragraph samples that represented an "A", "B", and "C". As a team, they decided which of the three deserved the A. We were all pretty much in agreement on which of the paragraphs deserved a "C", but a spirited debated ensued when the class was divided over which of the remaining two paragraphs was worth top marks! After much conversation, and respectful disagreement, we eventually did come to a consensus (the middle paragraph was the big winner). In the process, we built an anchor chart listing the criteria necessary for a "Level 4 E.Q.A.O. Paragraph". To wrap up our morning's work, students then used this newly agreed upon criteria to self-assess their paragraph from the previous day. Tomorrow, they will compare their self-assessment with my feedback, and then have another opportunity to write a criteria-rich paragraph!
We are continuing with our new approach to the study of spelling patterns! Last week, we studied the word 'happiness'. We talked about syllables, double letters, and vowels. Then, somebody noticed the letter 'i'! This led to a conversation about suffixes, and how words that end in 'y' need to change before the suffix is added. Each student then created a personalized word entry capturing what he/she learned about suffixes. The checkmarks you'll see in our Word Books show where we've included the criteria from our Effective Word Entry chart!
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April 2012
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