Jefferson 5/2-5/3

4/5 Reading groups have jumped right back into their "Next Best Seller" PBL unit. They are receiving feedback from peers and myself, revising, illustrating, and moving into the publishing stage. WOW! There are so many truly amazing writers here. I have been most in awe of the vocabulary and wording in these stories. Clearly these students are avid readers and that is evident in their writing. I'm looking forward to a few sequels and series o come here!

Some students continue to work on digital illustrations. This has been a great learning opportunity for tools in the visual design world. We tried a number of different apps and software programs, and each student found what worked best for them. Publishing mediums are the same, students explored and made a decision based on what felt best for their learning style (BookCreator, KeyNote, Google Slides, Google Docs, or any other medium presented by the student).

Students will share their finished public work with chosen classrooms when complete. I will also publish the e-books here upon students permission when applicable! Stay tuned.

A number of 4/5 groups revisited Unit 3 of our Greek and Latin Roots/Affixes work. Students looked at prefixes: pre-/pro-, contra-/contro-, circa-/circum-, amphi-/ambi-, ortho, co-/com-/con-, syn-/sym-/syl-, neo-, and paleo-. They also explored Greek and Latin Roots including: script, graph/gram, and ped/pod. Lastly they applied their vocabulary knowledge to suffixes: -ize/-ise and -fy.

Next students worked to identify the words created by combining these roots and affixes that fit the given definitions. Initially this was challenging as we typically find definitions for words, not words for definitions. Quickly though, students recognized key words in the definitions and found the fitting words using their root/affix work.

3rd Graders creating their Fairy Tale set designs are putting finishing touches on both their set models as well as their presentation displays. These groups have worked painstakingly on details and layout to make sure their ideas come across as their groups have planned. Materials that typically do not come into play while analyzing setting have really helped these imaginations thrive. In working collaboratively there are sometimes difficult discussions and decisions to be made. These groups have truly grown to manage those decisions so voices are heard and final choices are made as group. This is very impressive to observe and to take a step back on, as these designers have seen this project through.

Way to go Jefferson students on persevering, collaborating, and innovating!