A Polar Vortex Kind of Week

Well, after being engulfed into a "Polar Vortex" for 3 days, there is finally some relief. Buses were cancelled in our region for 3 days. On Monday, I was graced with 2 students, on Tuesday 1 student and on Thursday a rockin' 9 students!

We're in the purple area. YIKES!

The deep freeze lifted on Wednesday afternoon and regular scheduled programming resumed.
THANK GOODNESS!

Here is a peak out my window at school.
LOTS of snow + cold temps.= interesting week.

Here is what went down in 7E with what was left of the week:
On Wednesday, we dove into "Author's Purpose". We discussed the various reasons why writers write and their messages/themes. I was lucky to have scooped up this Christmas Cheer Freebie from Lovin' Lit during the Christmas Break. I used these cards to display in my room and continue to refer to them with my students.

We took a deeper look at persuasive writing.... and with 9 students, I decided to have a mini-persuasive writing contest.

The two topics to choose from were:
1.) Convince your parents to let you stay home when buses are canceled, but schools are open
or
2.) Convince Mrs. Edmunds that you should not be given homework for a week.

The students wrote their letters and presented them to the class. Each student voted on a ballot.

The winner was awarded a delicious Chocolate Chip Muffin from Tim Horton's! Hehe.

On Thursday, I welcomed my ENTIRE class back to school!
We got back on track pretty quickly :)

Our first item of business was goal setting (class goals and personal goals).
We used this quick self-evaluation/goal setting sheet freebie :)
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/New-Years-Resolutions-Goals-FREE-1030611

Prior to the Christmas Break, I had invited an archaeological company to come in to do a presentation on some our ideas from our Geography, Math & History Unit. It was nice to show the kids "real life connections" to the things they learn in the classroom, as well as peak their interest about a career that's somewhat "out of the box".



Earlier in the week, I finally got around to making my "Exit Slip Board".

 Sometimes we don't have time for lengthy assessment, but rather, just need a quick "show what you know"! I have quite a few Exit Slips created with various focuses. I have also picked up a few from CreateTeachShare.

Yesterday was our first crack at it!
I was VERY excited to use NEWSELA (a free reading website)! I had the students create their own accounts on the iPads and Chrome Books and I added a few news articles to their online binder.

We did a shared reading and I had the students complete a quick exit slip before they left to get their lunches from their lockers.
Worked out VERY well! :)

Finally, in keeping with Author's Purpose, we looked a specific lyrics this week.
Using this song by Melissa Etheridge "I Need to Wake Up", the students listened, read and discussed the author's purpose and message of the song, using text support.
Following the song, I showed them the trailer to "An Inconvenient Truth" (the movie the song was written for).

The next day, using a center cards (that my friends Kristen & Stacey loaned to me for the year), the student chose names out of the jar (groups of three).

Here was their assignment:

The topics that have chosen are awesome (I kinda thought they'd pick immature themes)..... But they didn't! Can't wait to see how their songs turn out :)

Until next week....

 ~Kaitlin~














Comments

  1. Yikes is right with that purple area! Oh my goodness! 2 students one day and one the next? Whatever did you do to keep them occupied? I almost feel like that might be harder than having a class full.
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alison,
      YES,....1,2 and even 9 students was painful! Especially when you are craving to get back into the groove and back into routine. We did a quite a bit of review and organizing. Makes for a VERY long day :) I was never so happy to see all of my students on Thursday! Hahaha!

      Delete
  2. How did you make this exit slip board? is it magnetic?

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