Friendly Debates and Discussions and What's Up Next

With this election, it seems funny to be discussing the idea of "friendly and respectful" debates, right? In our class we read the short decodable Superkids Story, "What a Pet!" and discussed the main idea, practiced retelling and what was the point of this story. We realized that this story, about Oswald who shows Hot Road his pet rock that is painted like a frog, brought up the question of whether or not a rock is a pet. Suddenly, a teaching moment, and a fun opportunity to have a debate. We encouraged students to listen to both sides and show respect to the opposing side  and to work with their team to brainstorm ideas and respond to the other side's points. We worked on giving everyone a turn so that everyone had a voice. The class broke up into two groups and Ms. Leah joined the side arguing against rocks being a pet, and I joined the group arguing that rocks are or can be pets. Here were some of the awesome points brought up by both sides:

• "Rocks are not Pets":
• the are not born
• they do not have a real heart
• they cannot walk or stand on their legs
• they do not have a brain
• they do not breath
• they do not need air 
• Rocks are Pets":
• you can clean them/give them baths
• you can take them for a walk (in your pocket)
• you can swim with them
• they may not have a heart but you can draw one on and then they do have one (same with a brain)
• you can put them to bed
• you can make them a cage/house
• you can love them and feed them (they may not actually eat but you can give them food)
• They are born from mother nature

Regardless of the verdict, which was a hard one because both sides had great points, we came to a decision mostly swayed by the definitions listed in the dictionary. Both sides had fun and did a wonderful job showing CARE while still voicing there opinion. The presidential candidates should look to room 4 as examples of how to treat one another. 

We will be wrapping up Unit two this week in Superkids and starting the -le ending and -am, -and, -ank, -onk, -ang, -ong, -nt, etc. (glued ending sounds).

In math we are working on frames and arrows (skip counting by 2's, 5's, 10's and some of us are trying 3's and 4's and even 6's as a challenge). Next week through Thanksgiving our focus will be on doubles facts and doubles +1. For example: 6+6=12 and 6+6+1=13.

WISH LIST: Here are some things we could use in the classroom: white-out tape, foam poster tape (for hanging work), index cards, extra snack for students who may forget their snack. Thank you to everyone who has donated! I really appreciate it!

I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!