Dr. Johnson's Reading Blog

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Thanksgiving gathering. Students had a great time putting everything together. I have included some pictures from gathering. I still have pictures and video from our Immigration Simulation. I'm still working on putting these together. Science / Expert Projects - Just as a reminder, expert projects are due Tuesday, December 5th . We will have a share fair sometime in the afternoon. As soon as I have more details such as time, I'll let you know (it will most likely be in the afternoon). Our share fair will most likely also have our undergraduate science buddies who are also participating in the same expert project. When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will begin feverishly working on our expert projects. Starting Monday, we will spend the mornings gathering information while the afternoons will be about putting our posters and writing together. Remember, the dioramas are to be done at home. Reading / Writing - We are worki...

The immigration simulation will take place next Monday, November 13 . We will probably start around 12:00 or 12:30. This will run to about the end of school. Students have chosen their identities for the simulation. Students are either an Ellis Island processor or immigrant. This week students will do some research about their character, make their name tags, look up some words to help them get into character, and study the characteristics of their character. We have also started discussing our Ecosystem Expert Project. Today we spent time going over the requirements for the expert project and putting in important dates into their agenda books. There are three components to the expert project: students must make a diorama of their ecosystem, then they must make a poster explaining their diorama, then students will write a short narrative about their ecosystem. All parts of the Ecosystem Expert Project are due Tuesday, December 5th. Students have due dates in their agenda books ...

Here are a few announcements for the week: Remember that Thursday, November 2 is our annual Zoo Trip. Students will ride the bus to the zoo with their kindergarten buddies. Once at the zoo, we will spend some time viewing the animals before heading to one of the buildings for a class. Next week you will get information about two big projects coming up. One project will be our Ellis Island simulation in which students will take on the role of either an Ellis Island processor or an immigrant. Our other big project will be an ecosystem expert project. This project will have three parts. Once part is a the creation of a diorama which will be done primarily at home. The second part will be the creation of a poster. And the third part will be a short paper. The Book Fair starts next week. More information will come home towards the end of the week. In science, we have completed our terrariums / aquariums. The terrariums / aquariums have been a point of excitement as students quickly c...

Thanks to everyone who was able to come out to Curriculum Night. We did quite a bit of work with science. For those who were not able to make it, I'll share a few of things we are doing in science. First of all, whenever conducting science investigations, we usually begin with some kind of probing question - a question that will get kids thinking in the general area we are studying. For instance, I showed students the following picture and asked students why the ground is not level. Students made comments such as the grass and roots pushed the ground up. Some thought water was causing the ground to look like that. These questions start the inquiring into the topic. At this point, we use water tables to simulate erosion. Students set their water tables with several pounds of sand, a ruler, and a cup of water. We fill the cups with water as it drips water onto the sand causing erosion. Not using the word erosion, I ask students what is happening. They make comments such as ...

In science, we have started our study of continental and oceanic landforms. Students started off by building oceanic landform models out of Legos. Once these models were completed, we built oceanic landforms using dough. These were built inside of a container. We placed skewers through the lid of the container to mimic how oceanographers map the bottom of the ocean using sonar. Each skewer was measured and graphed. Students building their dough landform model Completed Lego model You have probably heard your students talking about their kindergarten buddies. Students are thoroughly enjoying their time working with them. We have spent the last few weeks talking about the reading strategies good readers use when reading texts. During independent reading, students are spending time reflecting on their own strategies. Being cognizant of these reading strategies helps 5th graders better work with their kindergarten buddies during reading. As 5th graders read with their buddi...

The first couple of weeks are off and running, and it has been quite busy! 5th graders have quite a few responsibilities. The two big ones are being a Kindergarten Buddy and safety patrol. Our class teams up with Mrs. Klosterman's class for Kindergarten Buddies. Each 5th grader is teamed up with a kindergartener. They are responsible for being a good role model, helping the kindergartener adjust to school life, reading alongside them, and demonstrating how to live and learn at CFI. Over the next several weeks I will talk with students on how to read with their kindergarten buddy including reflecting on the reading strategies good readers use when they make sense of text. This is similar to young ones apprenticing under more experienced members of a family. Safety patrol is also another new and exciting opportunity for 5th graders. As you may know by now, we have revamped safety patrol so 5th graders are getting used to the new procedures. For now, 5th graders are enjoying their n...

Dear Families, Welcome back to a new school year! I know the next couple of days are going to be hectic so I'm going to share a few things before we head back to school on Tuesday. The first week of school is going to be a busy one for all the kids. Since 5th graders have many more responsibilities, we spend this week going over those expectations. Our two main responsibilities are kindergarten buddies and carpool, both will start on the first day of school (I will be sending out a carpool schedule on Tuesday that will need to be returned by the end of the week Friday).  Ms. Whitecotton and our classroom will be sharing gathering duties. September 1, our classrooms will be doing a gathering on CFI's Rights & Responsibilities, and September 8th, our classes will be talking about the Book of the Month (a new CFI tradition we hope to start this year). I also wanted to remind you of my communication plan.   My primary way of communicating is through email ...