Schaab Scholars: Falling into our new routine!

With the fall has come some new changes in Room 217. The Schaab Scholars have been enjoying an increase in brain breaks throughout our day. We no longer have a scheduled class recess period, however, we are utilizing Go Noodle, a website designed for quick brain breaks, as well as visiting the reading garden for a change in scenery while the weather's still nice.

Check out the Schaab Scholars doing some Zumba Kids with Go Noodle!

Another new routine that we've recently started is switching for Science with Miss Risk. The Schaab Scholars are engaged in the Simple Machines science unit for the next 6 weeks or so with Miss Risk. We'll be switching for science on Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It's exciting to be switching classes and meeting new teachers!

You may have also noticed that a new nightly homework assignment has been added to our routine. Since we are pros at setting SMART goals, instead of reflecting once a week, Schaab Scholars & Mrs. Schaab, are reflecting every night for homework. You will find in there STAR binder a weekly reflection page. We'll be trying this out to keep our goals in the forefront of our minds as well as practice writing with support. Please feel free to discuss your Scholar's goals with them! As a reminder also, Schaab Scholars are also supposed to be logging their nightly reading into Reading Rewards as well as completing Xtra Math EVERYDAY.

We have also been participating in the Global Read Aloud, both in our homeroom reading the book, Fish in a Tree, as well as with our Book Buddies doing an author study of Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The Schaab Scholars are really enjoying Fish in a Tree, a story about a girl named Ally who struggles both academically and socially in school. As a 6th grader, Ally can't read. We've had a lot of great conversations about what Ally should do, and her interactions with peers. We are super engaged in the story and have been even engaging in some Twitter Chats to connect with other 4th graders! We chatted with a 4th grade class in New Jersey on Friday about some observations and questions we had about Ally. On Tuesday, we are having a Google Hangout with a 4th grade class in Canada to discuss what we've read so far. It's awesome to be making some connections beyond our local area and bonding with other classes over a book! We were so engaged with the project, that we decided that it would be fun to do the Global Read Aloud with our book buddies too! Each week we meet, we read one book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and do a fun follow up activity. Check out the pictures below to see us doing activities with Chopsticks and with Duck, Rabbit! The author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal actually "favorited" one of our book buddy tweets!

Listening to author, Linda Mullaly Hunt, read a chapter from Fish in a Tree for the Global Read Aloud.

We have also been utilizing Google Classroom for completing assignments, as well as a great venue for me to provide feedback for the Schaab Scholars while working. Another bonus to Google Classroom is that it now is integrated with Google Calendar. So if your Scholar logs into their Google Account, looks at their calendar, they'll be able to see when Google Classroom assignments are due. As a reminder, you can access our assignment notebook and classroom calendar by clicking on the Calendar link above or here. If you are a Google Calendar user, you can click on the plus sign in the lower right hand corner, and the Room 217 Calendar will be added to yours. Check out the Scholars below picking a work space that will help them focus and getting to work on their writing!