Career Day, "Shelf"ie Progress, and More!

Our week started with Career Day, which was a great way to kick off the week! Students were able to listen to two presentations from the careers of their choice. Speakers talked about their journey to their current career and the importance of reading and writing in all careers (even ones you'd think it wouldn't be a big part of the job). My dad came in to share about maintaining the golf course at Manheim Township and other speakers included engineers, electricians, construction workers, and nurses. It was a great day! Mrs. Kessel did a spectacular job organizing these wonderful presentations.

In Workshop, students are moving through the non-fiction units. As we approach the end of the year, we are focusing on applying all the skills we've learned to authentic reading. Hopefully, many groups will be able to participate in a book study (or something similar) soon!

In Writing, we are working on our argumentative essays. Students are creating some good arguments! After these essays, we will be digging into figurative language and poetry.

To end our week, we had some last-minute schedule changes, so one class did a reader's theater together. This is always a fun way to practice our fluency! Especially when it is a Dr. Seuss book!

Our "Shelf"ie continues to fill up ... we only have about 2 months left to fill it, so keep reading!

Earth Day is April 22 and we will be celebrating on April 26! Please continue sending in 2-liter soda bottles for one of our stations.

Question of the Week: What is one thing you learned at career day?

ELA Update!

Spring has finally arrived and we are all excited for the longer days and warmer weather! Check out our Twitter feed for a post about what each of us are looking forward to the most. Many of us said gardening, soccer, and warm weather.

Earlier this week, we enjoyed some extra gym time as a reward for our great Health classes. We played Strickler VS Wolfgang Freedom Survivor! There is definitely some competition between our two homerooms... and students seemed to enjoy getting their teachers out ... 🤔 It was a wonderful end to our Wednesday!

In ELA, we are moving through the Non-Fiction units. We are learning a lot through these units ... not just about different strategies, but content, too! It has been fun experiencing this different type of reading.

In Writing, we are working on our argumentative papers. Everyone picked a topic they care about and is working hard to research different facts and statistics to support their argument. I am excited to see what students come up with!

Career Day is coming up at North Hills and students are excited to hear from guest speakers about careers they are interested in. Stay tuned on Twitter and our blog to hear all about it!

Question of the Week: What is one thing you have learned as we move through our non-fiction units? This can either be a reading strategy or just an interesting fact! Email me by Monday to win!

"Shelf"ie Update!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! 🍀 To celebrate, here is a "Shelf"ie update. We have completely filled two whole shelves now! Keep up the great reading!

ELA Updates, a PAWS Meeting, and More!

Our week started with (another) two-hour delay and ended with a half-day! On our half-day, we participated in our school-wide PAWS Meeting. At this meeting, we reviewed what NH PRIDE looks like, revealed more campers (we are 40% away from our goal ... which would send Mr. Youcheff to camp!), and played a team game that required us to cooperate.

In ELA, we have been working hard on examining the details of argumentative writing. Soon, we will all be ready to pick a topic we are passionate about and write our own argumentative paper! We have also all moved into the non-fiction units. It has been fun diving into this new kind of reading. On our half-day, we engaged in some story swaps for Fun-Write Friday! Then, the students were begging for some reading with Christmas lights and Harry Potter music ... so that's what we did!

Finally, a "Shelf"ie update...! Keep up the good reading so we can fill our "Shelf"ie before the end of the year!

Question of the Week: If you could visit any fictional world, what would it be and why? Email me to win!

Bonus Post: Reading Reward Lunch!

In January, I gave the students a reading challenge. If they completed the challenge and submitted the form, they came back to the classroom to have lunch. We even had a special guest (my sister, Kyla) join us and she brought us delicious homemade cupcakes!

This challenge was such a success, we decided to do another one for the month of March ... except this time, it's harder! Keep up the great reading everyone ... I hope to see you at our March Reading Reward Lunch!

We Had a Full Week ... (almost)!

Read Across America Week was great! To make it even better, we had a completely normal, five-day week (except for a two-hour delay on Friday). It was so nice to get back into some routine and be back with our Workshop groups!

For Read Across America Week, we celebrated all the wonderful stories Dr. Seuss brought us. We played Dr. Seuss trivia, read some of our favorite stories, and even tried some reader's theater versions of his stories. Our favorite was trying to read through Fox in Socks ... our tongues got very twisted, but it was a great time!

In groups, we are all starting (or continuing) non-fiction. This has been an exciting time and we are learning a lot ... not just about good reading strategies, but content, too! In writing, we started talking about argumentative writing. We have been discussing thesis statements and supporting arguments. Soon students will be writing their own argumentative essays!

With more snow in the forecast (only 17 more days until Spring! ... But who's counting . . .?), we'll see how normal this next week is...!

This Week's Question: What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book? Why? Email me by Monday to win!