Maps, Masks, and Mail

We've had a busy time since returning from break! If you'd dropped in on Mr. Bill's Crew, here's some of what you would have seen us doing:

Greeting Each Other in Creative Ways (Here's the popular shoe greeting during morning meeting)

Listening to great stories that incorporate life lessons (The crew enjoys a novel read to them after lunch each day for about fifteen minutes. Students are allowed to draw scenes from the story as they listen. On some days, a crew member does the reading.)

Sending and Receiving Post Cards (We've launched our global post card project for the year. Students learn geography as they locate the places the cards come from and are going. They enhance communication skills as they correspond with people from other cultures and countries.)

Here's our rather creative mail box for posting the cards, proudly displayed by its creator

 Investigating Weather Around the World (We recently launched our year-long weather data project, which incorporates learning about climates with the use of digital technology.)

Testing to Monitor Our Progress (Students took district-designed interim assessments in reading and math to help them, and teachers, gauge their progress so far this year.)

 
Learning Math in a Variety of Ways (For example: students building geometry understanding by manipulating shapes, and students getting a "second dose" of angle-measurement concepts by watching a video online at Khan Academy.) 

Kicking Off a New Expedition (Students do a "gallery walk" for their first exposure to our new topic. They look at and think about various documents and images related to American colonization as we began the first social studies expedition of the year--"A Tale of Two Colonies." After the gallery walk, we discuss our observations. Then, the big ideas and guiding questions for the expedition are introduced.)

Having Fun on Halloween (a perennial favorite for elementary school students...and a lot of adults)