Transitional Co-Teaching Tuesday! (Day 7)

I hope everyone had a marvelous Labor Day weekend!  I spent this past holiday weekend playing with my dogs and writing lesson plans for Social Studies!  It was the first relaxing weekend I have had in a long time but now I am very happy that we are all back in school!

     The objectives and essential questions for this week are:
ELA:  CC5AL3  Determine the theme of a story including how the setting affects character traits.
           EQ~How does the setting affect characters traits?
Math:  MCC5.OA.4  Find factors pairs.  Recognize Multiples.  Determine Prime and Composite
           Numbers. 
          EQ~What are factors?  What are multiples?
Science:  S5L4  Relate how  microorganisms benefit or harm larger organisms.
           EQ~Can organisms you cannot see harm you?
Social Studies:  SS5H1  Explain the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War.
          EQ~How did the conflict between the North and South Create Change?

     Tuesday, as usual, began with a team meeting.  Our fifth grade team reviewed the lesson plans for ELA, Math, and Social Studies.  The original plans for ELA and Social Studies included worksheets and had to be changed because all of the printers in our school were out of toner.  We decided to read from our books and pull activities out of them to replace the worksheets we were unable to use.  I decided to tweak the Social Studies activity to make it a little more interesting (and to put my own spin on it).  For Math, we had to discuss how to put two days worth of lessons together.  My CT accidentally created a lesson for Monday, that is vital for review, and so we had to combine two days worth of lessons in order to begin our new unit.  Even though we had some troubles, everything worked out in the end.
     After the students returned from P.E. and Art, Mr.Mitchell introduced them to the new poem of the week.

This week's poem is actually a song entitled Lift Every Voice and Sing. 

Lyrics:

Lift Every Voice and Sing, Till Earth and Heaven Ring,

Ring with the Harmonies of Liberty;

Let Our Rejoicing Rise, High as the Listening Skies,

Let it Resound Loud as the Rolling Sea.

Sing a Song Full of the Faith 

that the Dark Past Has Taught Us,

Sing a Song Full of the Hope 

that the Present Has Brought Us;

Facing the Rising Sun Of Our New Day Begun,

Let Us March On Till Victory is Won.

Stony the Road We Trod, Bitter the Chastening Rod

 Felt in the Days When Hope Unborn Had Died
Yet With a Steady Beat, Have Not Our Weary Feet
Come to the Place for Which Our Fathers Sighed

We Have Come Over a Way That With Tears has Been Watered
We Have Come Treading a Path Through the Blood of the Slaughtered
Out of the Gloomy Past Till Now We Stand At Last

Where The White Gleam of Our Bright Star is Cast.

God of Our Weary Years, God of Our Silent Tears
Thou Who has Brought Us Thus Far on the Way
Thou Who has by Thy Might Led Us Into the Light
Keep Us Forever on the Path we Pray
Lest Our Feet Stray From the Places oh God Where We Met Thee
Lest Our Heart Drunk With the Wine of the World We Forget Thee
Shadowed Beneath Thy Hand
May We Forever Stand
True to Our God, True to Our Native Land.

Mr.Mitchell introduced the song by playing a video recording of it on the Smart Board.  After he played it once, he replayed it line by line so students could copy the lyrics.  At the end, he asked students what they thought each line meant.   Many students had very enlightening answers while others did not quite understand the meaning behind the lyrics at all.  As some of the words were defined and described, we slowly transitioned to focusing on vocabulary review.  The students were directed to complete a vocabulary worksheet and work individually.  When everyone was finished, we reviewed the sheet together.  Then we opened our Reading books to continue reading Sleds on  Boston Common. 
     After ELA, students were directed to open their math books and find the definition of a factor. Then, Mr. Mitchell displayed the definition on the board for students to discuss.  He transitioned by introducing a new concept to the students called Numbers Talk.  This activity is all about students seeing different strategies for solving problems.  To introduce it, he demonstrated what steps the students were supposed to take.  The steps are: 1. Look at the Question 2. Talk to Self 3. Talk to Partner 4. Talk to Group 5. Share with class.  He also reviewed the different strategies students could use to find out if the answers were right.  (Such as the property of addition, front end estimation, and rounding.) This activity really got students involved. 

After school, I attended the faculty meeting.  (Gideons usually holds faculty meetings every Tuesday afternoon.)  This meeting was focused on technology, customer service, grading, and ethics.