Our first snow day has officially happened! And I'll be honest, it was a welcomed day off, considering I got home from San Diego very late Sunday night (well, actually very early Monday morning...). We kicked off our four-day week revising our poetry tests. We discussed the poem on the test, breaking it down stanza by stanza. Then we made sense of the rubric used to grade the written response on the test, which students used as a checklist when they were revising their responses. They also had a color-coded exemplar and a chart with sentence stems to help them improve their response. Usually I give students written feedback prior to test revisions, but this time, I wanted to boost their independence and oblige them to use the provided resources to make changes to their essay. It took some reminders for some students to use these tools, but in the end, the majority of kids were able to make notable improvements on their responses and I was really impressed. These tests will be sent home this week with the updated grade and individualized feedback.

Our next ELA unit will touch upon all three genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. So on Thursday, we revisited our nonfiction reading strategies on a text about Amelia Earhart. Following both a whole-class read and an independent read of the passage, we used the website Socrative to answer questions and find the main idea of the text. It was an engaging way to spruce up multiple choice questions, and it allowed me to collect valuable data on areas we need to review. Then on Friday, we read the book The Bad Seed and worked in pairs to come up with a central idea for several text-based questions. I HIGHLY recommend this read aloud to anybody and everybody. As we talked about in class, it's technically written for younger kids, but there are several profound messages that can be taken away from this simple story. I adore children's books, and this one has definitely solidified itself as one of my all-time favorites.

Ryker brought in a really neat interactive globe this week, which was fun to play with during social studies block. Students are learning how to use measurements of latitude and longitude to determine absolute locations on a map. In a few months time, we'll kick off an interdisciplinary project that incorporates STEAM, writing, and United States geography. I'm working with Ms. Tosches to develop it, and I'm looking forward to giving students a chance to explore more social studies related content.

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Ava and Lauren. A characteristic of Ava's that I value is her desire for feedback. She wants to know what she needs to work on when it comes to classroom expectations, and I can tell that she puts effort into applying the advice I give her. Sounds simple, but in reality, seeking out constructive feedback isn't easy and doesn't happen as often as one would think. So, kudos to Ava! I was so proud of Lauren on Friday. I did a mid-year reading assessment with her, and she knocked it out of the park. Her reading has improved significantly since the beginning of the year, and I'm super proud of her hard work and growth. Keep it up, Lauren!