Every Wednesday, plan on a vocabulary assignment! The purpose of this is two-fold: 1, it forces your students to review the words before the weekly quiz on Thursday, and 2, it forces your students to use the words we are learning IN CONTEXT, which research shows is the most important way kids can learn and expand new vocabulary.
Today's assignment is a story. The kids need to read it, locate the synonyms for the vocabulary words we learned this week, and replace the synonyms with the correct vocab word. It's an assignment that helps them recognize how to use the words (and their synonyms!) in context, while also promoting good grammar skills (changing the endings to be the correct tense!) and being (hopefully) a little entertaining! (Other research shows that including humor in your vocabulary instruction helps students retain it better!)
Homework:
Language: Vocab WS
Today in reading class we worked on inferencing some more - we read a new Skippyjon Jones book and supported our inferences with text evidence. We got to continue learning about ancient humans during social studies class:
Ask your student to explain why water is so important for ancient people! Or ask them to tell you what a nomad is! Maybe be really daring and ask them to explain how the life of ancient people was impacted by their need to constantly search for food! All of these are topics we discussed in class today, and these are things we will continue to ponder as the chapter goes on.
We also had two guests in our room today! I am hosting two students from ISU as they begin their clinical observations in a classroom setting. Their names are Emily and Demetra and will be joining us every Monday and Wednesday!