This week we’re continuing Vowel Bootcamp, working on subtraction, and learning about butterflies! And we’re kicking off Backwards Bootcamp and going to the zoo! Oh, and it’s state testing for the next two weeks for 3rd and 4th grade so that means our schedule is different. Buckle up, ya’ll!
Note: This year, my goal is to show you that you can use our TKS resources along with required curriculums and continue to have fun, so you’ll see that happening throughout the school year!
District Guidelines-UPDATED
- Masks are now HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but not required
- We are keeping our enhanced cleaning procedures (wipe down surfaces throughout the day, steam sanitize the room daily, hand sanitizer/hand washing throughout the day, steam mop the floors daily, etc)
- I have added an air purifier to our classroom after reading the research from Johns Hopkins that these can help reduce the spread of Covid and other germs. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PURIFIER I ORDERED!
Lesson Plans
As always, you can download our weekly lesson plans by clicking on the image!
You can get our EDITABLE lesson plan template by clicking on the image below:
Vowel BOOTCAMP
In keeping with the pacing of our foundational skills curriculum, this week we’re learning about double consonants. BUT, I noticed in the last few weeks that my students’ writing could be so much better if they had the CVC-E pattern so I will be adding in Vowel Bootcamp to give my students what they need. We will do a circle chart, work on decoding, and writing words and we will be using our decodable readers.
This week is U. We save this vowel for last because it’s the most challenging!
Monday-circle chart
Tuesday-word building and blending
Wednesday-word writing
Thursday-word match
We will also be using our CVC-E decoding cards for extra practice!
And yes, Vowel Bootcamp and the entire TKS BOOTCAMP curriculum are aligned to the science of reading. And it has been from day 1 because that’s how I was taught to teach reading so it’s what I’ve always done!
Sight Word 60!
This week we are continuing Sight Word 60! After spending the summer learning more about the science of reading, we are continuing with Sight Word 60. We have always had decoding and encoding (writing) of the words as part of Sight Word 60 so we will continue that and will increase the amount of decoding and writing. We will also use orthographic mapping and we’re changing our order of sight words to align to the 109 most frequent words (even though we do 100 words…). You can learn all the details of how Sight Word 60 works on the linked blog post and you can get everything you need for Sight Word 60 in our Sight Word 60 creation!
Read It Up-The Very Hungry Caterpillar
We kick off our butterfly unit with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We will sequence the story and discuss butterflies.
Butterflies Research Project
I am SO excited to bring butterflies back into the classroom after many years. Seriously. We haven’t done butterflies for probably 10 years and I am so excited to do it with my class! This week we will do a schema map, can/have/are graphic organizer, need/eat/live chart, and a true/false sort.
Math-Subtraction
This week we’re continuing to work on subtraction with our Math It Up! Get Off My Boat creation! Get off my boat is one of our favorite whole group math lessons, and one of our most effective subtraction lessons. So we wanted to turn that into a week or more of lessons and activities that we could use to work on subtraction and support our students.
To play, make a giant boat on the floor. Show an equation. Students get on the boat, then some get off the boat. Solve the equation. Kids LOVE this game and it’s so effective at helping them understand subtraction.
Monday-Get Off My Boat-whole group. Show the equation cards. Solve and write.
Tuesday-Students will get a boat, pictures of kids, and a recording sheet. I will show the equation and they will solve and write the answer.
Wednesday-Students will get a boat, pictures of kids, and a recording sheet. I will read the story problem and they will solve and write the answer.
Thursday-Small Groups
Morning Meeting Greeting
This week our morning meeting greeting is a mingle greeting. Students walk around and mingle!
Mad Science
For mad science, we will make sparkling gems using ice cream salt, food coloring, and glue! Just mix all three together, squeeze and let dry!
Earth Day
Backwards Bootcamp
This week we kick off our Backwards Bootcamp. I cannot believe we’re at the end of the year. And we’re celebrating the last 26 days of school. This ridiculously challenging year is almost over…and man, we teachers have done amazing things! This week our Backwards Bootcamp activities are:
Z-Make a zebra
Y-yellow-wear yellow!
X-x-change autographs
We use Sharpies to sign t-shirts. Each student brings their own shirt (I provide a few extras in case we need them…). Make sure to check out our Backwards Bootcamp post for a FREE autograph book!
This week’s resources:
FREE FILES!
For more information, check out these posts:
