August 25, 2010
Mrs. Miller

Today began with the students putting their backpacks away and Morning Announcements. Isabela surprised me with a sack of tomatoes and fresh basil. Yum! I can't wait eat them when I go home tonight. I started the day by telling the students the 3rd clue for the Mystery State: This state has the tallest and oldest living trees in the world. Several eyes brightened when they heard the clue. I have a feeling several if not all the students will get 2 extra points on the Self-Start test this Friday.

We started the day by taking a Math TAI Test. The test was kind of long, but the class stuck with it. I was so impressed at how focused each and every student was. During the test, the students were pulled out to have their hearing tested. When the students finished, they were more than ready to go outside for recess and have fun.

After recess, we worked on Adds 2 together as a class. We reviewed < less than, > greater than, and = equal. We also talked about money story problems and multplication.

With the time remaining until lunch, students worked on a writing assignment. The title of the assignment was "My Dream House". We discussed how everyone has a different idea what their dream house would be like. They needed to think about a house they wanted to have when they grow up. The writing should include the different parts of the house, such as the kitchen and the living room. The students needed to describe where the house would be built and what the outside would look like. Also they should explain why this house would be their dream house. We discussed that to make writing interesting they would want to use interesting adjectives and descriptions. I am looking forward reading what the class wrote.

At 12:55, we returned from lunch and we began day 2 of the Heredity Unit. We learned what the definition of species is. Species is a basic category of offspring that are able to reproduce amongst themselves. The class worked in groups of six and found a species that started with each letter of the alphabet. They used their brains, dictionaries, and computers.

After recess, the students continued working on the Heredity assignment. We got out the laptops to look up species that were hard to think of. For example species that start with the letter. Unfortunately the laptops wouldn't let the students log on so we used the three computers in the back of the room.

When 2:45 arrived, we went to the computer lab. I showed them where to find keyboarding on my website. I was very pleased to learn that many of the students had already visited the site and had done some keyboarding. Way to go Class!

We ended the day in the computer lab. The bell rang and the students went out the door with a smile on their faces. It was a busy, hot, and terrific day in room 18.