What a crazy time of year! We have cross country running happening as well as all the fun spring events…we did an egg drop last week and our school participates in a “run for fun” where the kids all get outside running on a daily basis!
We have been continuing to use the Classroom suite – I use it daily in my daily 5. My daily 5 now looks a little different as we split the kids into groups of 3 or 4 and our principal, librarian, resources teachers, and reading teachers each take a group and do a “reading blitz” with the students, focusing on their reading levels and helping them improve their skills in a smaller setting. Therefore, our daily 5 has become more writing focused. I have a silly sentences center, interactive writing notebook center, 2 computer centers, printing practice and free writing going on these days! The kids have been loving it!
With the computers, the kids have been enjoying exploring the story maker. They love checking out pictures they can use to help make stories and they often try to add words to describe their pictures. One struggle we have been having is “saving” our work. It’s a learning curve to get the kids familiar with naming a document and saving it if they wish to do so.
I have also let my students become fairly independent with the computers. They are getting better at bringing them out of the cart and putting them away, and I often put one person in charge of plugging them back in and locking them up!