Dr. Johnson's Reading Blog

I'm going back to using the blog to collect the wide variety of information I'm getting so I can send it out to all of you. The information may be random, and out of order, but I'm getting so much info I'm not sure how to organize it. 1) Chromebooks will begin going home next week starting April 1st.. Dr. Mueller will send out a message as to who those will be picked up. 2) Spring Break is still on. 3) Online learning will OFFICIALLY begin April 20th - April 30th. That's 10 school days of instruction. I have posted some additional work can work on if they finished their packets.  It's going to take me some time to start posting information. I have been inundated with information I have to sift through, then start creating online lessons. I've never done it but I'm looking forward to trying. 4) I will make Google Classroom the hub of all information. Through Google Classroom I will link to our blog or post information directly. Students will rece...

I wanted to share some information I have so far this week. Over the next coming days you will be sent additional information concerning your child's learning at home. I am going to share some abbreviated information so you know what to expect over the next couple of days. The district put together learning packets that each student is expected to complete. Through the packet, each day's work should account for about 3 hours of work in all academic areas (e.g., reading, writing, science). Your child completes the work, the parent signs off on the appropriate spot, and the packet will be returned at the end of the two weeks. This packet work will begin on Friday. All the material in the packet will be review, except for some math items on volume which we haven't covered. Your child should be able to quickly find the information on how to solve those problems. There may also be information your child will need to review. Some time this evening you will receive an email (m...

In science we started our unit on continental and oceanic landforms. This started with the discussion of watersheds, drainage basins, weathering, erosion, and deposition. Before starting this unit in depth, we went out to the recess field to observe land in which water has somehow changed. Here are some pictures of what we noticed: We used these pictures to identify terms such as weathering, erosion, and deposition. We further studied terms such as drainage basins, erosion, and weathering by using stream tables. Stream tables are designed to simulate a plateau in which water erodes the sand way and deposits it down stream. Here are some pictures of our stream tables: After our study of continental and oceanic landforms, our goal is to create 3D models using the 3D printer. Our goal is to present these to you at our second Curriculum Night on December 5th.

Thank you to everyone who was able to make our Ecosystem Expert Project. I took a lot of pictures so feel free to take any of the pictures you like from this link ! (The pictures are in HEIC format so Windows computers might have trouble opening them. There are converters online.) Everyone did a great job with their dioramas and posters. I used to have students write a paper on their research but added the diorama to provide the element of creativity to this project. The importance of the diorama really came out in this share fair. Not only did students have the opportunity to allow their creativity to shine through, but students use their dioramas as a talking point when sharing their research with the kindergarten buddies. Now that these projects are over, we are moving into our study of terrestrial and oceanic landforms. This study is fun because we work with stream tables (imagine playing with water and dirt in class and very messy) and we will create three-dimensional models of ...

Hi Everyone! I wanted to share some information with you concerning our two projects: Expert Project on Ecosystems and our Hero's Journey Project. EXPERT PROJECT ON ECOSYSTEMS I am attaching the expert project documentation here and here . This is the same document I handed to the kids on Friday. The first document outlines the project. Research for the project will primarily be done at school (though your child can work on it at home if they would like). Research will be collected on a Google Document so I can keep track of their progress. Here is a link to that document. The research will is Friday, October 11 . There are two parts of this expert project which ask students to create a visual / creative representation of their ecosystems. All dates are tentative just in case we need an additional day or so. Diorama Tentative Due Date: October 18th This is to be done primarily at home. You shouldn't need to help them much in this area unless they ask. As we ...

Please remember that Thursday is Curriculum Night from 7:00 - 7:45. We will spend this time talking about the reading process, as well as going over things we are working in class. Here are a few of the things we are working on in class: Since our special areas is first thing in the morning (8:30), we alternate between watching the CNN 10 news for kids and math talks. CNN 10 news helps us become aware of national news. We use this information to make connections between the real world and what we learn in social studies and science. Our math talks are about giving students open-ended freedom to create math equations that equal a particular number. For instance, one of last week's numbers was 15, so kids created math equations such as .15 X 10 (to the second power - blogger won't let me make an exponent). We'll discuss this more at Curricular Conversations. In science we are learning about ecosystems. Many of you saw the terrariums we made. These terrariums serve as a ...

I forgot to mention we have a new intern from USC this semester. Her name is Noelle Johnson. I have pasted in an introductory letter she wrote. Greetings! My name is Noelle Johnson! I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Carolina! I am looking forward to working with Dr. Johnson’s class this semester! I am excited to be in the classroom on Wednesdays and Thursdays! I appreciate the opportunity to learn from your students! Thank you, Noelle Johnson