Elena's Adventures in Hubbell Elementary

      Wednesday, December 14th ➽Activity of the Day: Creating a complex sentence     The class worked on creating a sentence today. The parameters were that every kid's sentence needed to include a noun, verb, and adjective- and they all needed to start with the letter M. The students began by coming up with example words as a class. Then they went back to their table and constructed their own sentences. I walked around, helping out and checking spelling.      Thursday, December 15th ➽Activity of the Day: Kwanzaa Day 1     Today the class was learning about Kwanzaa. They started by going through a book that explained the origins of the holiday. Afterwards they started a project. On a black piece of construction with a brown paper underneath to represent the kinara, the children cut out 7 candles (1 they colored black to go in the middle, three red to go on the left and three green to go on the right)  a nd 7 flames. I got to s...

            Monday, December 5th ➽Activity of the Day: Frog and Toad Today I read Frog and Toad with a girl I used to work a lot with. This was the first time I read a chapter book with her. She was definitely intimated and blowing through words she didn't know. I slowed her down and every couple of pages I stopped to ask what was going on in the story. That said, when I told her we were only reading two more pages she read fluently all of a sudden. It was like she didn't think she could read a full chapter book but two pages seemed manageable. Little did she know she would have five more of "two pages to go".      Tuesday, December 6th According to Ms. Carlson, the girl I worked with yesterday is falling behind in fluency. She is testing worse now than she was a month or two ago. We are working to get her back on track! 

            Tuesday, November 29th ➽Activity of the Day: Reading      I got to read with a girl who used to be a usual, but I stopped working with so much as she was progressing in fluency. The first thing I noticed when reading with her today is that she was able to make connections in the story and inferences of what was to come. We were reading a book where a squirrel was questioning what species he was because he was without stripes. When looking at the other animals, my reader inferred beforehand what the author's explanation would be for the squirrel not belonging to the other species.                    While her connections are getting better, I couldn't help but q uestion how long it takes for someone to learn a new word. I would have this girl sound the letters out for words she didn't know. Once she said the word (and re-read the sentence as I always have the kids do), she woul...

       Monday, November 14th ➽Activity of the Day: Recess      Typically, I'm not a big fan of Hubbell's recess. Kids will be kids, but I am over double their age. It can be difficult to play along because it's been a long time since I've had an imagination like theirs. That said, today was different. One of the girls I often read with asked me to play with her. I suggested an obstacle course, which she loved  the idea of. Hubbell's playground has many different parts to it, making it great for a course. The route we took was;     Climb through a rock wall, leap across bouncing seats, climb up a ladder that was at a 45-degree angle, slide down a corresponding bar to the ladder, and end on the swings.      If you fell, you were out. This obstacle course got so exciting, we soon had half the grade involved!       Tuesday, November 15th ➽Activity of the Day: A geography lesson     I'm not sure wh...