In Daily 5 we are FINALLY up to 5 choices, and students are doing a great job of working independently. I have also decided to choose 2 monitors every week to make sure everyone stays on task while I am working with guided reading groups. My hope is that the monitors will change weekly so everyone gets a chance to be in that leadership role and hold that responsibility. The kids are loving having lap tops as a choice for "listen to reading" and they are going crazy over Reading Eggs. We are so lucky to have such an engaging program!
In other fun news, our cafeteria is participating in a healthy snack program that provides a unique/rare healthy food each month for students to try. In September we tried the Seckle Pear, which was a huge hit. This month we got to try Sea Beans. I had actually seen them on an episode of Chopped just a few weeks ago (I love Food Network), and I was super excited to try them with the kids. They look kind of like something you would find in a fish tank. And they taste like sea water. SALTY. But surprisingly most of the kids really liked them. Some even asked for seconds! I love that they are being exposed to new foods and encouraged to try things they may not get to try otherwise.
This month I also introduced Friday math tubs, which are just fun games and activities that provide practice in skills such as addition, subtraction, and counting. This month they have been fun Halloween themed activities, and we even did some cute monster math to hang up! Students got to select the size and quantity of eyeballs for their monsters, then they had to write an addition equation to match.
