What a great week have had in 5V! Innovation Day was amazing and all of the students were so excited to learn and explore a topic of their choice. Thank you for all of your help and support in making that day happen. Please be sure to check out our student blog. Each student posted about their day along with a photo of their project. The posts are our most impressive ones yet and I know they would appreciate some comments.
http://kidblog.org/MsValentisClass/
Have a wonderful holiday and vacation with your families!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Innovation Day photos
Be sure to check out our flickr page today for photos and videos taken from Innovation Day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvalentisclass/
We are looking forward to a day full of exploring, learning and creating!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvalentisclass/
We are looking forward to a day full of exploring, learning and creating!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Innovation Day update
Thank you so much for helping your child with their Innovation Day Planning Packet. Today we shared more on our topics and questions. We talked about materials and each student started to plan their schedule for the day.
I also spent some time, reviewing my three expectations for the day....
One is that they learn something they're interested in.
Two is that they make something related to what they learn.
And three is that they will share both with their class the following day.
I've included in this post a link to the video made by Wisconsin 5th grade teacher Pernille Ripp on her Innovation Day. If you haven't seen it, it's worth checking out because I think it will give you a good sense of what I envision the Day looking like in my classroom. Here's the link:
http://www.safeshare.tv/w/LnCdmFQStl
We also talked some about materials and resources for the day. Between now and Tuesday, students should be gathering materials they will use in their project. (I can supply common items from the school supply closet like construction paper, scotch tape, glue, paint, and brushes.)
Students may also want to bring in a book or magazine on their topic. Our library and computers will be available for students as well on Tuesday.
Have a great weekend!
I also spent some time, reviewing my three expectations for the day....
One is that they learn something they're interested in.
Two is that they make something related to what they learn.
And three is that they will share both with their class the following day.
I've included in this post a link to the video made by Wisconsin 5th grade teacher Pernille Ripp on her Innovation Day. If you haven't seen it, it's worth checking out because I think it will give you a good sense of what I envision the Day looking like in my classroom. Here's the link:
http://www.safeshare.tv/w/LnCdmFQStl
We also talked some about materials and resources for the day. Between now and Tuesday, students should be gathering materials they will use in their project. (I can supply common items from the school supply closet like construction paper, scotch tape, glue, paint, and brushes.)
Students may also want to bring in a book or magazine on their topic. Our library and computers will be available for students as well on Tuesday.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Innovation Day progress
Today, we met again with 4G to discuss our topics for Innovation Day. Students had time to talk with each other and revise their ideas as needed. We spent the afternoon translating our topics into questions that would require thoughtful research. We also began talking about what the students would like their products to be at the end of the day.
Most students have a good idea of what they are researching and what they would like to accomplish. More conversation at home would be helpful to develop these ideas further. Students began creating a list of materials they would need from home and school and are welcome to begin bringing in those materials.
Tomorrow we will plan our Innovation day hour by hour and continue to expand our ideas and plans. Thank you for your help and support in planning this exciting day!
Most students have a good idea of what they are researching and what they would like to accomplish. More conversation at home would be helpful to develop these ideas further. Students began creating a list of materials they would need from home and school and are welcome to begin bringing in those materials.
Tomorrow we will plan our Innovation day hour by hour and continue to expand our ideas and plans. Thank you for your help and support in planning this exciting day!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Innovation Day!
On Tuesday, December 20th, your child will be participating in SAU16's first Innovation Day. On this day, your child will get to study a topic of their choosing; spending the entire day immersed in self-guided learning! They will decide on what resources they will need for their research and create a plan for the organization of their day. In addition, they will design and plan a project to share with classmates that demonstrates what they have learned during this day.
During Innovation Day, teachers will facilitate, coach, question and guide students. Students will not be graded on their work. The focus on this day is the learning.
This morning, we met with Mr. Gagnon's fourth grade class to introduce the project and brainstorm. Students will be coming home today with a list of possible ideas. Their homework is to add to the list, think, talk to their families and narrow down their choices for one or two topics for tomorrow. At home, you can help by asking your child questions that will narrow down their ideas and topics into a question; one that will require deep thinking, researching and contemplation.
Tomorrow, we will meet again to discuss the topic choices, help students formulate questions and make a plan for Innovation Day. Included in this plan will be a list of materials to bring from home, materials needed from school, an hour by hour plan for the day, and an idea for a final product.
Mr. Gagnon and I are very excited to be piloting this project, along with other teachers at SMS and other area schools, on Tuesday, December 20th. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Please check out these sites for more information on Innovation Day:
Friday, December 9, 2011
5V News
Holiday book swap and celebration:
We will have a holiday book swap and celebration on Thursday, December 22nd. Our 5V room parents will be contacting you regarding what you can contribute if you'd like. I'd also like to do a book swap. I'm hoping each student can bring in a new or nearly new wrapped book (without a name) to share with the class. Each student will leave with a new book to read over the vacation. As always, feel free to contact me if you are unable to contribute a book.
We are learning about:
We will have a holiday book swap and celebration on Thursday, December 22nd. Our 5V room parents will be contacting you regarding what you can contribute if you'd like. I'd also like to do a book swap. I'm hoping each student can bring in a new or nearly new wrapped book (without a name) to share with the class. Each student will leave with a new book to read over the vacation. As always, feel free to contact me if you are unable to contribute a book.
We are learning about:
- Early European explorers
- Personal narratives
- Long division
- Mysteries
- Practiced long division
- Practiced more long division!
- Learned the qualities of mysteries
- Previewed and chose mystery book group books
- Met with our book groups to discuss our reading
- Researched our explorer online
- Experimented with Glogster
- Began creating a "glog" on our explorer
- Enjoyed our visit with Mr. Baldasaro and learned about quality blog posts and comments
- Planned our personal narratives
- Brainstormed how writers show movement through time in their stories
- Early release- Wednesday, November 14th
- Chorus concert- Thursday, December 15th at 6:30
- Early release- Friday, December 22nd
Friday, December 2, 2011
5V News
We are learning about:
- Early European Explorers
- Geometry
- Personal Narrative
- Reading Comprehension Strategies
- Discovered how many degrees in a triangle
- Experimented with total sum of degrees in quadrangles and pentagons
- Took our unit 3 math test
- Used an inverted triangle to "zoom in" on our life events in writing
- Began planning our personal narratives using a graphic organizer
- Discussed the evidence that exists about what happened to the Native Americans
- Chose explorers to research
- Enjoyed the book fair
- Read with our second grade reading buddies
- Began listening to Zach's Lie during read aloud
- Searched for "hypo" words
- Reviewed the difference between "their", "there" and "they're"
- Practiced asking questions before, during and after reading
- Learned about the types of questions readers ask
- Created a statement of intention for our altered books
- Students should be visiting Xtra math a few times a week to practice math facts
- PTO Pancake Breakfast- Saturday, December 3rd at 8:00
- Early release- Wednesday, December 4th
Friday, November 18, 2011
5V News
Class conversation to share:
At morning meeting we had a great class discussion on how the past couple of weeks have felt with impending projects due. Many students expressed that they learned the importance of trying to plan ahead and realized the benefit of working on small parts of a project over several days instead of waiting until last minute. I am always impressed with the students' reflective thinking and willingness to share their thoughts and feelings with each other.
We are learning about:
At morning meeting we had a great class discussion on how the past couple of weeks have felt with impending projects due. Many students expressed that they learned the importance of trying to plan ahead and realized the benefit of working on small parts of a project over several days instead of waiting until last minute. I am always impressed with the students' reflective thinking and willingness to share their thoughts and feelings with each other.
We are learning about:
- Early Native Americans
- Geometry
- Personal Narrative
- Inferring
- Used population data to practice comparing numbers
- Reviewed the types of angles
- Practiced measuring angles
- Learned about adjacent and vertical angles
- Played Angle Tangle
- Explored personal narrative picture books
- Identified what makes a personal narrative
- Began brainstorming ideas for our personal narratives
- Determined the rules for making plural nouns
- Inferred the meaning of unknown words using the book Caleb and Kate
- Used inferring to determine theme and author's message using Aesop's Fables
- Shared our research on our Native American tribes
- Experimented with watercolors to create paper to use in our altered book
- Students should be logging into Xtra math a couple of times per week to practice math facts
- No school- November 23rd- 25th
- Scholastic Book Fair- November 28th- December 1st
Friday, November 4, 2011
5V News
We are learning about:
diigo: http://www.diigo.com/user/Msvalenti
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvalentisclass/
- Inferring
- Publishing our writing
- Traditional multiplication
- Native American civilizations
- Reviewed for our unit 2 math test
- Took our unit 2 math test
- Studied and discussed "trans" vocabulary words
- Made inferences using advertisements from magazines that had one item covered
- Used the netbooks to type and revise our stories
- Decided on the "so what?" of our stories
- Designed our Native American books
- Continued listening to Something Upstairs by Avi
- Had a Halloween celebration
- Researched the parts of speech during computer in order to make a brochure
- Read with our second grade reading buddies
- Learned about analogies and how to solve them
- Created envelope and tag templates to use in our altered books
- Instead of weekly math for the next two weeks student will be working on a geometry picture. Directions will go home on Monday and it will be due Friday, November 18th.
- Early releases- Wednesday, November 9th and 16th
- No school- Thursday, November 10th and Friday, November 11th
- We have been discussing the importance of reading at home whether it's thirty minutes a night or spread out in different increments.
diigo: http://www.diigo.com/user/Msvalenti
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvalentisclass/
Friday, October 28, 2011
5V News
Class conversation to share:
We had a class discussion about behavior and work expectations because there have been many reminders about focusing and getting our best work done. I was so impressed with the honesty that came from the students. They were able to vocalize what they saw happening, how it feels and how they can help make a more positive learning environment. I was most impressed with the metaphors that came up naturally in the conversation. Students compared us to a football team where everyone plays an important role and a pyramid because we need to support each other. I wanted to share that we truly have a class of bright, thoughtful and reflective students.
We are learning about:
We had a class discussion about behavior and work expectations because there have been many reminders about focusing and getting our best work done. I was so impressed with the honesty that came from the students. They were able to vocalize what they saw happening, how it feels and how they can help make a more positive learning environment. I was most impressed with the metaphors that came up naturally in the conversation. Students compared us to a football team where everyone plays an important role and a pyramid because we need to support each other. I wanted to share that we truly have a class of bright, thoughtful and reflective students.
We are learning about:
- Reading comprehension strategies
- Publishing our first piece of writing
- Early Native Americans
- Traditional multiplication
Some activities we did this week:
- Practiced and reviewed traditional multiplication
- Made estimates before multiplying with decimals
- Learned about words with the "mal" prefix
- Reviewed regular and irregular past tense verbs
- "Lifted a line" from our writer's notebook to begin a new entry
- Tried starting our stories with three different leads- with character's thoughts, dialogue and action
- Began typing our stories
- Discussed how inferring is using your schema and evidence from the text
- Practiced inferring what type of person would use an object we found in recycling
- Researched our Native American tribes
- Started planning our codex on Native American life
- Began our altered book project
- Had a class discussion about behavior expectations and how we can help each other do our best work
Notes and reminders:
- Flickr- I've created a flickr account for our class and have started uploading pictures. More to come! http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvalentisclass/
- Parent Conferences- I will be sending home a reminder in today's Friday folder. Please let me know if you'd like to schedule a different time.
- Homework- we are into our regular homework routine for the school year with the exception of some future project work that may need to be finished at home. Here is what should be happening weekly:
- Reading- nightly
- Weekly math- due Friday
- Practice five spelling words- by Thursday
- Find a word that fits into our vocabulary study- by Friday
- Blog post and comments- by Friday
- Practice math facts on Xtra Math at least twice a week
- Study links or math practice will be sent home most nights
Friday, October 14, 2011
5V News
We are learning about:
- Adding and subtracting decimals
- Reading comprehension strategies
- Developing seeds in our writer's notebook
Some activities we did this week:
- Finished our NECAP testing!
- Created characters for the Storyworks character contest
- Acted as our invented characters with the rest of the 5th grade
- Used "thinking stems" to discuss and write about our thinking during reading
- Focused on metacognition and using schema for reading strategies
- Discussed how our schema is what makes us unique
- Created file folders for Ms. Valenti's schema
- Practiced using our schema during reading
- Began using Xtra math during class
Notes and reminders:
- Please have your child bring in a photograph and an object that are important to them for writing workshop on Monday
- Please comment on our blog! www.kidblog.org/msvalentisclass
XtraMath-
We are using a web-based program called XtraMath to increase speed and accuracy in arithmetic. Your child is invited to spend a few minutes each day practicing math on the computer. If you don't have Internet at home I can suggest alternative activities which are also effective.
Go to www.xtramath.org and watch the short “Overview” and “Getting Started” videos to find out more. All students accessed the site today and should have a pin to log in from now on. They need to enter my email address (jvalenti@sau16.org), their name and their pin.
If you would like to have access to your child's report you may use your email address and the enrollment code that will be in your child's Friday folder today.
If you would like to have access to your child's report you may use your email address and the enrollment code that will be in your child's Friday folder today.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Photographs and Artifacts
I'm asking students to bring in at least two meaningful photographs and one object that is important to them. These should come in by Monday, but students may bring them in before that. We will be using them to write during writing workshop next week.
Friday, September 16, 2011
5V News
We are learning about:
- Classroom routines and expectations
- Reading workshop
- Writing workshop
- Rectangular arrays and factors
Some activities we did this week:
- Discussed how readers choose books
- Tried to find “just right” books during reading
- Reviewed reading and writing workshop expectations
- Created a map of our hearts during writing
- Shared our summer souvenirs during morning meeting
- Experimented with Wordle during computer time
- Played Factor Captor in math
- Created rectangular arrays to represent number models
- Discussed logical consequences and classroom rules
- Role played logical consequence situations in front of the class
- Created “paste paper” to use to cover our writer’s notebooks
Reminders:
- Curriculum night- Thursday, September 22nd from 6:30-7:30
- Check out our kidblog site!
- Students have been requesting to post pictures to their kidblog posts. Please let me know if you would prefer your child to NOT post photos to the site.
- Chorus and band will begin next week for those students choosing to participate
·
Enjoy the weekend!
Contact Ms. Valenti: jvalenti@sau16.org or ext. 166
Friday, August 12, 2011
Traveling cross country
Here are a few photos from my cross country trip. I can't wait to share more with you and hear about your summer!
Grand Canyon
Grand Tetons in Wyoming
Mount Rainier in Washington
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
Grand Canyon
Grand Tetons in Wyoming
Welcome
Dear 5V students,
I cannot believe that summer is almost over and we will be back to school on Monday, August 29th. This summer seemed to fly by! I spent the majority of my summer traveling across the country with a friend. We packed up a car and spent a month on the road. I had many great adventures and I’m excited to share all of the amazing places I’ve been. Some of my favorites were the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.
I hope your summer was fabulous and I can’t wait to hear all about it. I am very excited about our year together and I am looking forward to getting to know you. Please plan on wearing or bringing sneakers for the first few days of school. We will be playing some outdoor games to have fun and to get to know each other.
You do have a homework assignment for the first day. Bring in the best book you have read this summer. Make sure it is one that you can leave in the classroom for a week or two. I will also be asking you to bring in a summer memory after Labor Day, so you can be thinking about that. It can be a photo or a souvenir.
I hope you are enjoying your last few days of summer vacation and you are looking forward to starting school.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)