Thirty days of thanks!
- One of the first things we did this month was complete our SPOOKYTOWN project. Since we researched Christmas traditions of our native countries last year (and you can see links to those presentations in Miss D'Apice's blog on this website), we thought it would be a good idea to research Halloween or fall traditions from our different countries this year. We are thankful for traditions we can learn about from other countries. You can see the collaborative presentation we did by clicking HERE.
- We are so thankful for our fully activated RAZ KIDS license. We love reading the interactive e-books on our iPads and taking comprehension quizzes in our own reading levels. We adore the variety of fiction and non-fiction choices in book titles, and we also love the fact that we can choose between listening to reading or reading to self. We feel that this program really helps us with an approach to balanced literacy. We chart our progress with RAZ KIDS every week. We will keep you posted on the progress we make!
- We blogged about what or who we are thankful for in our lives and why we are thankful for these things or people. Here are some of the things we posted on our kidblog that we are thankful for:
I am thankful for the veterans because they protect me.
I am thankful for my mom because she takes me everywhere and gives me love and care.
I am thankful for my bed because it is comfy.
I am thankful for being in dance and gymnastics. I love doing it and my parents pay for it.
I am thankful for apples because they are a healthy snack.
I am thankful for Pokemon because I love pokemon.
I am thankful for Henry the frog, my stuffed animal.
I am thankful for my school because it is where I learn.
I am thankful for Miss D'Apice because she helps me and is nice.
I am thankful for my bike because it gets me places.
I am thankful for cookies because they are so good.
- We discussed why we are thankful for our veterans. According to one fifth grade student's blog, "Veterans Day is a day when we celebrate the people who fought in the war. We should be thankful for them because they kept us safe in the past and right now!!!!!!!"
We used Poll Everywhere to help us with our Thanksgiving persuasive writing projects. Polls are now closed, but thanks to all who voted!
And here are the results of our Thanksgiving persuasive writing projects! Students:
- learned various persuasive writing techniques.
- chose their persuasive writing topics. Students could choose the topic Why should the turkey live? OR What is the best Thanksgiving side dish? If students do not celebrate Thanksgiving, they could choose the topic What is the best food / side dish?
- brainstormed all of their thoughts on padlet. Check it out HERE.
- determined the questions that needed to be asked of Mentor staff to get more data for their projects via Poll Everywhere.
- "data walked" through the poll results to find support for their persuasive writing.
- wrote paragraphs using at least one of the persuasive writing techniques we learned. Also, each paragraph had to have a clear introduction, three supporting details, and a conclusion.
- read their paragraphs in front of other students. Students in the audience had to vote if they were persuaded or not. Watch some of our best persuasive presentations below. Watch and enjoy them, but be sure to turn up the volume!
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While older students worked on the above project, younger students scanned QR codes to listen to their favorite Thanksgiving stories and then did a brief writing project.