Young Author's Conference....

Audrey Futrelle, Leigh Hjelmseth, Kailey Kabo and myself (Mitchell Coglizer) all went to the Young Author's Conference at Skagit Valley College. With the help of Audrey's mom, Holly Futrelle, we had a great time! We saw authors, Lara McGee Kvasnosky, Rosanna Porter and illustrator Pierr Morgan. When we got there we shared our stories then we went to these authors...  
We met an illustrator named Pierr Morgan. She read us a book she illustrated called "The Squiggle." Then she also told us how the book started. She was on a trip to China when she saw a class of children walking in a line. One of the kids was looking behind her at something on the road. Peirr took a picture of the class. When she got home she painted pictures of what the girl could be doing with a streamer that she thought the girl was looking at. She did not have any words to go with it but with the help of an author she was able to come up with the words for the book. She helped us make little books and we put things from magaazines in them. My mom made one for her preschool and I didn one for my dad. I hope to go back next year and see her again. She was very fun and creative! 
Rosanna Porter was an author of Tofu, Ling, Princess, Naughty and others but she wasn't the illustrator. When we got to her room, we made characters out of ordinary objects. We had to name them, giving them an age, gender, distinguishing features, we had to write down the colors, interests and attributes, special skills, pets, friends, parents, siblings, nemisis, and reason why. Also, we talked about how to make a sory by making at first one character, and then the others.
I knew it would be fun, if only I could pick which object we would've used. Liegh picked a tape measure. We also had to write about it on a piece of paper.
Rosanna made four Tofu Ling books, and one Princess Naughty book. 
Laura McGee taught us about how she used her actual family and made a book called "Summer Memories."  She took it to the publishers but they didn't publish it. So she wrote a few other books over a few years. Then she was trying to come up with another book by drawing pictures. She came up with two fox characters and she wondered what they were doing? That is when she formed Zelda and Ivy. She took her life expereinces and mashed them together to make Zelda and Ivy. Some of the changes she made as an auther were; instead of using five sisters like she had she only used two. Instead of using people in her stories she used foxes.

by Kaily Kabo, Audrey Futrelle, Mitchell Coglizer and Leigh Hjelmseth

Math Update...by Noah Christiana

In room 12 in math we are working on comparing fractions like: 3/3 = 1 whole. We are also working on multiplying and dividing. Today we started learning about decimals.
Our goal in fractions is comparing fractions and to know all of the equivalent fractions with LIKE DENOMINATORS. Our goal in computation is multiplying and dividing and being able to get 60 PROBLEMS CORRECT IN 4 MINUTES. Kids who have mastered both of these skills are learning how to add fractions....like: 1/6 + 1/6 = 2/6 (Did you know the equivalent fraction for 2/6 = 1/3).
Today in math we learned about decimals and how they are similiar and different than fractions.
HOMEWORK FOR TONIGHT...
Find 6 examples of EVERYDAY USES of decimals and be ready to share tomorrow!

by Noah Christiana

Homework Update...

Math...
Kids are working hard on creating their fraction cards to represent different fractions. Some of the fractions are improper (the numerator is larger than the denominator). When making their improper fractions kids are learning that these fractions are equivalent to another fraction. The visual (amking these fractions) is a nice way to introduce this topic! An example of this: 6/3 = 2. For this evening kids are asked to finish up their fraction cards if they have not already done this in class. We will be playing a fraction game in class tomorrow with these cards.

Writing...
Homework for writing includes an article on Helen Keller. Kids are asked to find and write out the 10 most important facts found in this article and circle the THREE most important facts. The three most important facts are suppose to be the MAIN IDEAS and the other facts found are the SUPPORTING DETAILS. This assignment is due tomorrow.

Writer's in Room

Today the writer's in room 12 focused on editing and revising their narrative writing pieces. I caught many kids hard at work and decided it was a great opportunity to try and get some candid shots in! Kids are also learning the different elements of a narrative piece of writing. Questions you could ask your child: "Where do you introduce the characters in a story? What about the setting? Does there have to be a problem in a narrative? How does one usually wrap up a narrative story?"

Learning Targets

Reading...
Readers in room 12 have been working on the comprehension strategy, summarizing information. Kids are working on finding the big ideas or key ideas in the text. Then they are asked to summarize the list of big ideas in one or two senteces. Kids are also looking at illustrations to help them identify important ideas.

Writing...
We are moving on from persuasive writing and focusing on narrative writing. Kids are using their homework writing pieces from earlier in the month to create a writing goal based on the 5 Writing Criteria; Focus, Organization, Support, Conventions and Style. This personalized goal will be applied to their latest writing prompt, "If you were a dog or a cat."
As a whole class we are working on ORGANIZING our writing into paragrphs and REVISING our writing by reading and rereading, because- "When we think we're done we have only just begun!"

Figuring things out!

I am still trying to figure out how to consistently use a blog. It is easy to get caught up in the little pieces of it all....so I am trying to focus on what will be meaningful and simple for parents and kids to use. There are so many resources out there- what is intentional and useful for kids to learn- while thinking about our state standards.
I would love for this blog to be a resource for families to go to in order to guide them with current lessons or challenge their child with extensions in our current unit of studies. I also love the idea of posting pictures of the kids working, reading, playing and enjoying their days at school.
Another cool thing about having a blog is the ability for parents to add comments, or post questions about what's happenin' in room 12! Hopefully the sites I have linked through our blog will help guide families along if your child is unsure of how to go about a homework assignment.