Leveling Up

This week was another successful WBT week!  I learned a lot as a teacher, and the students are starting to catch on as well.  Today, I finished my first 5-step lesson on Context Clues.  Yesterday we went through the first 4 steps, but the students did not pass the QT test.  Today, the students came to class excited to learn the next "test".  Can you believe it?  After the students passed the QT  and Prove It "tests" the students wrote their own "Prove It" questions for critical thinking.  The class enjoyed answering their peer's multiple choice questions, and discussing why the answers were and were not correct.  It was also a great opportunity for me to give a quick mini lesson on giving enough information to determine an answer.

 I had several students move from "Rookie" to "Phenom" on our Super Improvers Wall.  The class cheered as I awarded the students with a new green card.  I sent the white card home.  Students were excited all day to see if they might be the next one to move up!

 Here is a close-up of some of the Super Improver Cards.

 I liked the Genius Ladder game that we played last week so much, that I made an official place to post the points on the board.  Students earn 1 point for writing a topic sentence and 1 adder.  They earn 2 points for writing a topic sentence and 2 adders.  Students earn 3 points for writing a topic sentence and 3 adders. Writing a topic sentence, 3 adders and a concluder earns a students 4 points.  Students earn a bonus point for writing a spicy adjective in every sentence.  The class tally was 93 points for the week.  We will try to beat that score next week.

My husband is a printer.  He made this terrific "Practice Makes Permanent!" poster.  I have it hung above my practice cards.  I haven't started using the practice cards yet, but we still practice our rules every day.  Occasionally a student has to practice a rule or two for 30 seconds at recess.  I have warned them that when we start the practice cards practice time will be 2 minutes.

Next week I look forward to becoming more proficient in using the 5-step lesson.  I have prepared the templates, PowerPix, and examples.  Hopefully, my weekly test scores will improve from using this lesson format!