Currently March & A Peek at My Week

Hooray!  It's officially March.  Although you couldn't tell from the four inches of snow we got yesterday....But I don't care.  I packed up some of my heavy (dark) sweaters and brought down some fresher colors from the closet upstairs.  Sure, I'll probably freeze for a few weeks, but at least I won't look like the walking dead in all my dark clothes.

Today, I'm starting off with Farley's Currently.

Listening:  To nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Love it!!

Loving:  Yesterday I did some retail therapy to help get me out of the winter doldrums.  I found this really cute green sweater and shirt at JCPenney....I think I look like spring, don't you??

Thinking:  This is our last week of darkness by 5:30...Clocks change next Sunday!!  Ahhh...sun, where have you been?

Wanting:  I'm almost done with my Reading class.  I'm working on getting my Reading Teacher license.  I have learned A LOT in this class, but it pretty much takes up my whole weekend.  I just have my final research paper to write and I hope to finish that today.

Needing:  It's amazing how dust can collect in places when the windows aren't open to blow it around.  I have a date with a dust rag this week.

???:  My baby boy (OK, not a baby....he turned 16 in January) has made his appointment to get his driver's license -- May 8th.  Pray for us!  :)

Now on to A Peek at My Week......

We are celebrating Read Across America Week at school this week.  We actually kicked things off last Friday with a Read the Most From Coast to Coast with Accelerated Reader.  In case you missed my post on Friday, our school read 4.7 million words (we didn't meet our goal of 5 million, but it's still nothing to laugh at) and the 4th grade beat the 5th grade in most points earned.  YAY!

Here's our schedule for this week's celebration:

Monday:  Read All About It -- Wear a t-shirt with (school appropriate) words.  (Yeah, we hated to have to add that part about school appropriate, but you KNOW what would happen if we didn't...)

Tuesday:  Readers are Leaders -- Wear your best clothes -- dresses, nice pants, etc. are awesome!

Wednesday:  Bad Case of the Stripes -- Stripes, stripes, stripes!

Thursday:  Oh, The Places You'll Go -- What do you want to be when you grow up?  Dress like it!

Friday:  Road Trip for Reading -- Dress like a tourist as you take a trip to read with your buddy class.

In Writing this week, we will begin working on research projects -- specifically biographies.  For this unit, I want the emphasis to be on developing good research skills and teaching note taking skills that don't involve copying directly from the source.  Honestly, learning about their chosen person is going to be secondary in this unit.  I have noticed my 4th graders really have trouble with locating reliable sources and then not copying their notes.  We need to work on this so this is where we will begin.

Here are some of our goals so far:

1. Find appropriate sources on your topic
2. Take notes on your topic in a format different from the source
3. Locate interesting facts, not "All About ___"
4. Develop a bibliography of sources
5. Present learning both writing (report) and visually (speech)

Do you have any suggestions for how to teach research and note taking skills?  I would love to hear them!

An InLinkz Link-up

I wish you a great week!