Welcome Back! I hope everyone had a wonderful break. I heard many stories the last two days, and I'm sure there is more they have not told me. I am looking forward to hearing it all. With a new year, comes some changes. Previously we used Class Dojo in conjunction with our visual behavior chart on the board. That no longer worked for us so I am switching to a class economy behavior management idea.
They all will start with a bank that has $50. They will apply for a job, and have that job or job that is picked for them for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, they will get a new job, and their "paycheck." The paycheck will be $0-$25. Instead of losing points on assignments or constantly losing dojo points, they will have to pay a "fine" for certain things. As a class we decided on what times are for water, bathroom, pencil sharpening, and when they can shop for tickets. The tickets are rewards that they can purchase, similar to when they would shop at the dojo store. The tickets include things such as homework pass, munchies, reading buddy, job swap, and teachers chair. They can also receive special slips from me for random things that I see them doing around the room. For example, if they help a friend who is in need, I can give them a slip that rewards them $5 or $10. They can also receive ticket slips for not following directions, and being off task. They are really excited about starting, and I believe this will be a great help in the classroom. It is teaching them responsibility, accountability, and banking. Hopefully by the end of the year, we move to them receiving a paper check, and learning what checks are, and how to turn that piece of paper into cash. We will still use dojo, but it will be in conjunction with the economy. If you have any questions or concerns about that please let me know and I will answer it to the best of my ability. math: We wrapped up the last lesson for math yesterday and moved into review. Our math test will be either Friday or Monday. It is looking more like next week, as we struggled through the first day of review. I do not want to move on if a handful of them are not ready. I want them to be prepared, and confident when they take the test. Social studies: We are talking about communities and why they started and continued to grow in certain places. We will cover things such as the 5 regions (i.e., Mid west), ecosystems, and resources needed in a community. We will take a deep look at ecosystems, and the many different types of ecosystems that are around the world. We will look at the different parts of ecosystems and discuss how they all need each other in order to be successful. They will complete a small activity over the weekend where they observe a park, garden, or even their back yard, and describe that ecosystem. They seem to be excited so I am looking forward to starting this new chapter. Reading: The essential question for the week is how can one person change the way you think. The unit started off by having us discuss Jackie Robinson. Surprisingly that led to a very good discussion because it allowed us all to discuss the things we knew and the things we did not know. We will continue to talk about the essential question as we read different stories, and do different activities that have us focus on different people in history that changed the way people thought. We take another look at cause and effect, historical fiction, and idioms. We learned idioms right before Christmas break as it was part of our poetry work. It was fun to see them try to think back that far, but in the end we needed the refresher. We are still working on our stories in writing. The goal is to have those finished by the end of January. They asked to take them home, but I am not sure if that would be okay. If you would like for them to bring them home, feel free to let me know and I will make that arrangement. Science: We are starting a new chapter. We will focus on earth and weather. We will learn about evaporation, the water cycle, climate, minerals, rocks, soil, features of earth surface, weathering, and erosion. The unit also provides us with a lot of different hands on activities. I cannot wait to try some of them. More information will be provided once we get started on the chapter. Other Information:
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