As of today, all of my writing students have begun FINAL drafts of their imaginative writing pieces that we started last week. Those final drafts are being typed on to Google Drive, now that we have worked through several revising and editing techniques. Students were asked to "share" their piece with at least 2 students, as well as with me. This is how I will make suggestions for improvement.
I will work over the weekend to read the papers from each student who shares with me. If a student doesn't share his/her piece, I obviously can't offer any feedback to help.
On Friday, April 29, I will ask students to turn in the original graphic organizer, the rough draft, and a printed copy of the final draft. I don't want any turned in early, as I want to do one final check before that day to be sure nothing is written in a crazy large font or something that is difficult to read.
In other good news... the fourth and fifth graders have Chrome Books to use in class now!!!!!! We are all very excited about this, as the student to computer ratio is down to 2:1. Whenever my partner teacher is not using her ten from the cart, the ratio is 1:1. This is the most exciting addition to the classroom thus far. This will make things SO much easier.
Having said that, when a student is in my classroom, he or she is assigned to a specific computer. This will help me help them to be responsible. We went over expectations for use and care. Any student abusing the rules will not be allowed to use the Chrome Books in the future. We are using this system to ensure that no one will treat the new equipment like the last set. Over the years, with less accountability, keys have been popped off, decals removed, etc. This just absolutely can not happen. We need these to last as long as humanly possible.
Next week in writing, we will begin to look at drama by studying how a playwright sets up a scene and gives stage directions rather than writing dialogue with quotation marks. The kids are looking forward to this. Now that we have the Chrome Books, they will create on them from the beginning. Students will be in groups working, sharing, and editing the play together. I'm really looking forward to this.
Klein's Class Only: In social studies, Texas is back in the United States. They are ending the period known as Reconstruction. All Reconstruction poems were due TODAY. We are now learning about ranching and farming. The kids are working in small groups to play a simulation game, taking their cattle to market. It involves math as well. We will see which "ranch" makes it to market with the most cattle, making the most money. The students created their own "brand," to learn to read brands, and we talked about how Circle C Ranch was an actual ranch at one time.