Questioning, Intro to Poetry and some Simple Machine Creations!

We kicked back into the groove of things this week {following a week off}!
This months writing focus is "Questioning".
A few great read alouds we used this week were:

We reviewed the difference between THICK and THIN questions. This was an important lesson because I am trying to teach my kiddos that asking questions that only require one word answers does not make their classmates think. In order to become better readers and writers, we need to ask strong questions.
At the beginning of the week I just showed my students the cover of the book. Using their inferencing skills, they generated questions about the book. By Wednesday, I read to the middle of the book and they created "During Questions". By the end of the week, we created "After Reading" Questions. WOW! My kids did an awesome job with this activity.
Our reading focus this month is FLUENCY. Every morning I have added a culmination of periods, exclamation and questions marks into our morning message. I use this a shared reading activity everyday. It gives my students practise with
intonation & clarity = fluency.
 We also began an intro week into our Poetry Unit.
I used these 2 pack this week. Christine and I decided to create these 2 packs because of our Provincial Testing results. We noticed that our students were really struggling with creating and responding to poetry.
 

Using our Poetry Response Book Pack, my kiddos made their personal poetry books.

 This week coming we will dive into 8 different types of poetry and begin responding to our classmates poems, as well as famous poet creations.
We are also creating a poetry contest pack to use in your classroom and/or school. So stay tuned :)

This week we in Science, my grade 2's completed their marshmallow launchers. I may be a little bias, but I definitely see some future engineers and architects!


We then took our completed launchers and tested them out in the gym! The kids were pumped! Would definitely do this activity again :)

Finally, using lines to create texture, we created unique lanscapes!
Considering these students are 6&7 years old, they rocked this activity!
Forgot to share this one.... But a few weeks ago we read the book "The Best Part of Me" by Wendy Ewald.
An award-winning photographer asked several children "What is the best part of you?", and presents their answers in this sometimes funny, sometimes moving, deeply personal book that includes striking black-and-white photographs taken by the author. Ideal for parents and teacher to use to discuss body image, self-esteem, and diversity with children.


I read this book to my class. Then, each student chose "The Best Part" of them, I took picture and then wrote about it. A very powerful lesson. Great discussion about our differences and how often we take our bodies and gifts for granted.




A 4 day BUSY week is ahead of us..... This weekend is going to be filled with lots of NCAA Basketball Watching and planning for Easter :)

Have a happy weekend :)
~Kaitlin~




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