UPPER
Carolina School for
Inquiry
Columbia, SC
ELEMENTARY
October 22, 2007
Volume 1, Issue 10
Mrs. Melanie’s Monday Minute
Weekly Note
This is going to be a BUSY week for us! We
have so many exciting things going on and so
much to learn! We’re excited about it all and
hope you are, too.
Don’t forget the announcement of the
HalloWonka Sculpture Contest at EdVenture
on Thursday night, 6:30 p.m. It would be
great to have you there if you can make it! ☺
Partners in Inquiry,
Melanie
This Week at a Glance
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Math – Division
Reading – Thinking like readers (using
“I wonder..”, “I think…” and
questions to guide reading
Writing – Sentence and paragraph
structure. Published Piece #2 is
due on Friday!
Social Studies – Taking a break this
week.
Science – Reviewing animals as we
prepare for our field experience!
Monday and Friday – Our Class is in
charge of school-wide gathering!
Thursday – Announcement of
HalloWonka sculpture winner!
Friday – Field Experince to
Riverbanks Zoo
Please be sure to send back your
signed “Blog” letter!!
Coming Soon…..
In the CSI News…..
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Riverbanks Zoo on Oct. 26 –
We’ll leave about 8:30 and
return by 1:30. We are
expecting a GREAT time of
learning
Don’t forget Dime-A-Day in
October to support
Thanksgiving turkeys for
Harvest Hope Food Bank! There
are 8 more days!
Oct. 1 – 31 Dime-A-Day for Harvest Hope
October 22 – Grits for Grandparents
October 24-26 – HalloWonka at Edventure, our
“Animal Fun” sculpture will be on display!
October 26 – Upper Elementary Field Experience to
Riverbanks Zoo, 9 a.m. – 2p.m.
October 31 – School Fall Festival and Dance, 6-8
p.m.
November 19 – Upper Elementary Field Experience
to Harvest Hope Food Bank for a service-learning
opportunity
Mrs. Melanie’s Monday Minute Page 2
This Week’s Assignments
Reading for 30 minutes each night.
Math –continuing to look for “Multiplication
Stars”…..practice those multiplication facts!!
Daily practice of our class activities.
This Week’s Highlights
Monday
ART CLUB Afterschool
Tuesday
ART Club Afterschool
Wednesday
It’s Hump Day! We’re almost to Friday!
Thursday
Tomorrow we will have a Math Assessment!
Friday
Have a great weekend!
Reminders to Students
Good Reader Skill of the Week
• Bring money for field trip
• Don’t forget to bring supplies
with you and be prepared for
class every day!
Reminders to Parents
7.Please remember to check your
student’s nightly reading. Have them
explain to you the skills and strategies we
are working on in class and then use
reading time to reinforce those. See the
above “skill of the week” for more ideas!
VISUALIZE
Good readers visualize as they are reading.
This may be pictures or “movies in the mind”.
Ask your student to describe what he/she
“sees” while reading.
Thank You Center!
Special thanks are due the following ….
Parents who completed the “homework”
about your favorite book and those who
participated in the “reading strategy”
survey.
Monday
8:15 – 8:30
Monday Gathering
8:30 – 8:45
Class Meeting
8:45 – 9:20
Reading Workshop (Reading Strategy – Think As You Read)
• ML: What are the ways reader’s “think” as they read? (ask
questions, predict, I wonder, I think, etc.)
• Read Aloud: The Report Card (demonstrate thinking through
“think alouds” focusing on predicting)
• Shared Reading:
• Guided Reading:
• IR/Teacher Conference (looking for evidence of student think
strategies)
9:20 – 10:10
ART
10:20 – 11:15 Reading Workshop Continued
11:15 – 12:15 LUNCH AND RECESS
12:20 – 1:00 Writing Workshop (Writing Strategy – sentence and paragraph structure)
• ML: What are the sentence structures? (simple and complex) How do
we use these in our writing?
• Try It: Practice writing a few sentences and evaluating for simple and
complex
• IW/Teacher Conference (what kinds of sentences are you using?)
• Share
1:00 – 2:00
Math Workshop
• Warm Up: Multiplication Assessment/Number Practice
• ML : Now that we know what division is (refer to Friday’s lesson),
why do we use it and starting with 1 digit division
• Try It: making division with unifix cubes (evaluate: do you
understand what division is and how to set it up with 1
digit?)/turning it into division problems (written)
2:00 – 2:40
Science Workshop
• ML: Animal Review (getting ready for Friday’s field trip) of
consumers, producers, decomposers
• Try It: create a visual and written representation of these three
categories of animals
2:40 – 2:50
End of Day Meeting
Tuesday
8:15 – 8:35
Exploration, Morning Meeting
8:35 – 9:20
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Reading Workshop
ML: Using “I wonder…” to begin asking questions about reading
Read Aloud: The Report Card (demonstrate ML with “I wonder...” think
aloud)
Shared Reading:
Guided Reading:
IR – student selected reading/teacher conference (Looking for “I
wonder..” moments and encouraging students to try)
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9:20 – 10:10 Spanish
10:20 – 11:15 Reading Workshop Continued
11:15 – 12:15 LUNCH and RECESS
12:15 – 1:10 Writing Workshop
• ML: Turning a simple sentence into a complex sentence.
• Try It: Students will take pre-written simple sentences and turn into
complex sentences
• IW/Conference: Looking for sentence structure
1:10 – 2:00
Math Workshop
• ML: The many ways to represent division (pictures, numeric)
• Try It: Division problem practice. Create posters of problems
showing multiple ways to solve.
2:00 – 2:40
Science Workshop
• ML: Animal review of food chain. What would the food chain look
like? Why? (bring in yesterday’s lesson for review)
• Try It: Create a food chain that demonstrates the hierarchy
2:40 – 2:50
End of Day Meeting
Wednesday
8:20 – 9:10
PE
9:10 – 9:20
Moring Meeting
9:20 – 10:10 MUSIC
10:10 – 11:15 Reading Workshop
• ML: Reader’s ask themselves questions as they read. What kinds
of questions? Why do they do this? How does it help them
read/understand better?
• Read Aloud: The Report Card (think aloud questioning)
• Shared Reading:
• Guided Reading:
• IR/Teacher Conference: Looking for evidence of thought process
during reading
11:15 – 12:15 LUNCH AND RECESS
12:15 – 1:00 Writing Workshop
• ML: Turning sentences into a paragraph. Basics of paragraph
structure. (Indentation emphasis)
• Try It: Quick write of a paragraph. Practice using indentation.
• IW/Conferencing: Publish Piece #2 Due on Friday/reviewing
indentation and paragraph structure
1:00 – 2:00
Math Workshop
• ML: Division with 2-Digits
• Try It: Sample problems and working with multiple ways to solve
2:00 – 2:15
Animal Review Activity
2:15– 2:40
Plan Friday’s Gathering
2:40 – 2:50
EOD Meeting
Thursday
8:20 – 8:40
Morning Meeting, Exploration
8:40 – 9:20
Reading Workshop
• ML: Introduce Level 1 Questions to students
• Read Aloud: The Report Card
• Shared Reading: SS Article/model L1 questions
• Guided Reading: SS Article/ students practice L1 questions
• IR/Conferencing: Looking for evidence of thought in reading
9:20 – 10:10 YOGA
10:10 – 11:15 Reading Workshop Continued
11:15 – 12:15 Lunch and Recess
12:15 – 1:00 Writing Workshop
• ML: Paragraph structure
• Try It: Writing paragraphs
• IW/Conferencing: Draft Due on Friday/evidence of sentence and
paragraph structure
1:00- 2:00
Math Workshop
• ML: Division with 2 numbers
• Try It: Division with 2 numbers
2:00 – 2:20
Field Experience Workshop
• Explain the Field Experience Assignment for Friday
• Discuss FE and expectations
2:20 – 2:40
Friday Gathering Practice
2:45 – 3:00
End of Day
Friday
8:15 – 8:30
Morning Meeting
8:30
Leave for Riverbanks Zoo Field Experience
9:00
Arrive at Riverbanks Zoo
9:00 – 11:30 Tour Zoo in small groups with chaperone (Mrs. Melanie, Mr. Chris, Ms.
Tisa, Mrs. Richards, and Mrs. Suber)
11:30
Meet at Education Building
11:30 – 12:30 Education Program
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch and Leave
1:30
Arrive back at CSI
1:30 – 2:00
Debrief Field Experience (finish FE journals and turn in)
2:00 – 2:15
EOW meeting and The Wonderful Happens
2:15 – 2:50
EOW Gathering Practice and Gathering