I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend, our second in a row. It's been a while since I've posted on the blog, and it's a been a while since we've had a full week of school! The kids were really good sports this week. We took the district test for our nonfiction unit, and it took a lonnnngggg time. The kids worked hard for three reading blocks over the course of three days. It was part on the computer and part on paper. I was very very pleased with how well they did. The snow days made me a little worried because we didn't have as much time to practice writing about nonfiction, which was definitely the most challenging part of this unit. But they surpassed my expectations. We went over the test on Friday and students were given the opportunity to revise the written portions. I'll regrade them tonight and they will be sent home for parents/guardians to see at some point this week.

We're still working on expository writing. During writing block, I gave the students an expository prompt and a checklist that incorporated some of our focuses for writing this school year, like catchy beginnings, showing not telling, and sentence structure. Based on how they did, I'm working with Mrs. George, our reading coach, to plan the next few lessons. We'll spend the next few weeks practicing analyzing prompts, planning our writing, and splitting our writing into paragraphs. In social studies, students have started researching states for our road trip project. I love the different landmarks they're discovering and how invested many of them already are in this project.

Our Bucket Fillers for the week were Tanner and Ava B. Tanner's writing is always a pleasure for me to read. She is a master at writing creative similes and incorporating feeling into what she writes. Ava is a positive, kind student who gets along with everyone. I'm looking forward to having lunch with both ladies this week!