I'm lucky to get to work with some really awesome and talented educators, and Ms. Ward (the 6th grade ELA/SS teacher) is one of the names at the top of that lengthy list. It's hard to believe that this is just her second year at the Kennedy, as she has become such a valuable member of our staff and warm presence in our hallway. I'm also lucky that Ms. Ward is a close friend of mine, and that we enjoy working together so much that we seek out opportunities for our students to collaborate and learn from each other. And that's just what happened this past Tuesday. Ms. Ward and her sixth grade crew came in to our classroom, and this time, the topic was map skills--the perfect fit for us, as we've recently begun our own focus on maps. We matched up each fourth grader with one or two sixth graders, who were tasked to teach their younger peers the key vocabulary associated with maps. This was also ideal timing for us because we're just getting started on our social studies art project, which involves learning about the fifty states through several different types of maps. 

In ELA this week, we began exploring figurative language. We'll spend more time analyzing figurative language in our poetry unit, but it's important that students begin recognizing and making sense of similes, metaphors, and personification when they come across them in their reading. In addition, students will be expected to incorporate figurative language and description into their own writing this year.

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Donovan and Chris. Donovan was a participation monster this week. He showed attentiveness and a growth mindset with his continual willingness to put his hand up and share his thinking, and that was particularly noticeable during some of the more challenging class discussions we've had recently. Chris really impressed me with the summary he wrote this week. He was able to take the important information from a story and incorporate that information into a clear, well-written summary. He was also super eager to begin reading his book club book upon receiving it on Friday, and I love when I see my students show overt enthusiasm for reading!