Mrs. Perry's Class

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Count Down to the Holiday Break

Although the week of December 19th is just 5 days from the holiday break, it will be filled with a lot of learning! We will start the week working in literature circles. Students will be busy blogging this week on their own. I can't wait until our site starts filling up with conversations. As we continue our study of characterization and conflict, I will show one of my favorite movies, "Miracle on 34th Street". The students will create character charts for the 4 main characters and anaylze how the conflicts create the story and affect each character. We will also look at the resolution of conflict and how different resolutions would change the story.

On Friday, students will be bringing in books for an old fashioned Yankee Swap. Throughout the day, they will exchange their wrapped up books until the final hour of school. At the end of the day, they will get to open the package they end up with and enjoy the title they receive.

In social studies, we are starting our unit on Ancient Greece. We will focus on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and learn about each of them. Students will watch a brief video on the Wonders, work in collaborative groups with our Nexus Tablets to find more information about each, and finally, they will take a clicker quiz to test their knowledge!

It's going to be a packed, but fun-filled week! Then we will take a well deserved 11 day break to enjoy our time with family and friends.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Week of December 9th

This week we will be revisiting using plurals and possessives in our grammar lessons. The students are really struggling with the rules for using apostrophes and when a word is plural or possessive. We have spent intervention classes during the past week with our sole focus on these rules. This week's spelling will incorporate changing common singular nouns into singular possessive, plural and plural possessive forms.

In language arts, we will be looking at character motivation and conflict. The students will read a story in their Reader's Journey and write about the motivation of the two main characters and how their conflicts help them to change and grow.

Our literature circles will begin their 3rd week reading in their novels. We have successfully introduced using the Nexus tablets and I will now introduce blogging to the groups. Look for student messages on our blog pages soon!!!

Nexus Tablets in Action

We are making great use of our new Nexus Tablets. Check out the pictures of the students working with them practicing their word attack and spelling in class.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

A Space of Our Own

I'm excited to announce that I have set up two new blogging pages for my students to share their thoughts and comments about the books we are reading. The first page is dedicated to our literature circles and will feature topics about the novels we are reading in class. To get there, visit: http://dperryacskids.blogspot.com

The second page is set up for the students to share their favorite books and authors that they read independently. My hope is that students from around the globe will visit our page and join in the disscussions. The link is: http://acskidsbookshares.blogspot.com

Please checkout our pages and enjoy!!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

First week in December

We're moving quickly into the first week of December. On Monday, the students will finish with their book shares. They have all been incredible and show so much thought and effort. Last week, we began working in literature circles for the first time. The first day was a little shaky getting used to the jobs and how the circles run, but the student quickly caught on and enjoyed their next reading session together. This week, we will spend 2 to 3 days working in the circles. I am very excited to be introducing blogging to the kids! We will be using our brand new Nexus 7 tablets and blogging with other students in grade 6 who are reading the same novels as well as inviting students from all over the world to join our discussions!

I will also be introducing a new blog for the students to share their independent reading on. I am encouraging the kids to reach out to others around the world who may have read the same books or may be reading something they would enjoy. I can't wait to see if we get a few international responses or even some from across the U.S.

Spelling this week focuses upon VCCV words. We've been looking at different word patterns through out the year so far. Hopefully, the students are beginning to see how spelling rules work and use it in their every day writing.

In social studies we are coming to the end of our unit on ancient Egypt. We will be reading about the fall of the New Kingdom and take unit test. From there we'll be moving into Ancient Greece!