Happy Fantastic Friday!

This week we had so much planned and it felt like it flew by. I am still getting to know all your children and learning about what they like about Language Arts and Math. 

I look forward to seeing them excel as we try new things each week. I am also excited to try and challenge them to see what they can accomplish when they work together. 

Language Arts All Grades:

We began pre-assessing each grade level before teaching. Even though I stressed and maybe even you stressed, that these are no big deal . . . no grades are taken. 

I could see that many of them still wanted to do well. It's what they're used to! Even though the assessments are time consuming and not a lot of fun for the students, it's such a great way to see where all of my students are starting out AND where I need to take them.

When they finished up with the last assessment for the week, I had them read a book or draw something on their white boards. They enjoyed this. We also played the spider web with the bigger classes so we could get to know each other better.

All grades will continue with the pre-assessments next week, but I will for sure break it up with a mini lesson or a fun language game to keep them interested. They will be excited!

• First Grade's Theme is Signs and Symbols: Connections for Making Meaning. They did a concept and persuasive writing pre-assessment. 

• Second Grade's Theme is Connections of the Heart. They did a grammar and concept pre-assessment this week. Next week we will finish up with a pre-assessment of persuasive writing before digging into the lessons. 

• Third Grade's Theme is The Changing Faces of Story. They did a pre-assessment of grammar and informational text. We will finish up next week with a pre-assessment of concept and writing.

• Fourth Grade's Theme is Change-people have the power to make a difference. They did a grammar and informational pre-assessment this week. Next week we will finish up with a pre-assessment on concept and writing.

Math Grade 4:

We worked on the problem of the day which covered place value which totally fit in with what we were working on. We completed worksheets on place value and expanding it. I tried to make it fun by going around letting each student pick a card with a number to fill in each value. Once we had each number ready they completed the worksheets by showing the numbers expanded. I am still trying to get all of my technology ready. I hope to have a smartboard soon so we can use it to help us try new math lessons. 

Math Grade 3:

We discussed the various multiplication models . . . equal groups, array and number line. The first day we worked on arrays using cards and picking numbers between 2 and 7. They would then fill the number into their worksheet to complete the multiplication for each row with addition.

Day two we did a card and bead activity where they picked two cards to represent the number of cups (piles in our case) and number of beads. The piles of beads would help them to see the addition and multiplication as they worked.  They worked on their worksheet to show the ways to represent repeated addition and multiplication. It took some of them a while to get that the pile equaled the number and the beads were how many times they added. Many switched it up on the representation. They will get the same answer, but according to the model, it's a certain way. 

Math Grade 2:

We "colored in the 100 chart" in math. I gave them a total of fifteen math clues they were to color in. For example, the numbers between 25 and 75 with a 5 in the ones place. We had fun trying to figure out the pictures as we were completing them. The boys also made sure to act like the robot when we completed him, doing the robot dance. It's not only a math activity, but a listening one too!

Math Grade 1:

We finished up our Math Monster and we completed the problem of the day each day. We also started our Name chart. We decided to use all the names of all the high ability students for our chart which will take us longer, but we decided to challenge ourselves with it. We also decided to add the names of the family pets. We count the letters of each name and add it to the column and row it belongs in. We then fill in our graph for each name. It will be fun and lets us learn more about charts and graphs. Pictures are to follow once we have it all ready to go.


Well that is it for this week. I will be sure to keep the information and pictures coming as we complete things each week. Please feel free to email me if you need anything.

I'm really enjoying working with your children! They are excited when they enter our classroom and can't wait to find out what we're doing today. That's priceless!

I look forward to all the new and exciting things we have planned for the fall and Halloween.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Lutterman