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March 19, 2019
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM iREAD- 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Festival of Learning Fair
March 20, 2019
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM iREAD- 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Corporation Art Show Gr. 1-8 Reception
March 21, 2019
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM iREADMarch 22, 2019
Report Cards PostedMarch 25-March 29 , 2019
Spring Break
Fourth Grade Language Arts
Themes for Westing Game:
* Appearances: People aren't what they appear to be
*Wealth: Wealth can make people act funny and it is a cautionary tale
*Family: There are two types of families: One you are born into and one you choose
*Identity: The characters are establishing who they are and redefining themselves through the game
*Patriotism: This book was written during the Bicentennial and there are many immigrants represented in the story. Mr. Westing is big on American ideals throughout the story
* Lies and Deceit: The characters will lie and use deceit to protect their identities
*Society and Class: The characters status often poses problems
*Language and communication: The reader has to do some close reading for clues and look at the language in the will
This week in Language Arts, the children were given time to read in class and have discussions over the chapters read. Some of the children are a bit behind in their reading due to classroom work and life. Over Spring Break I am only requiring them to read 3 Chapters and catch up on anything they haven't read yet.
There is no punishment for not reading the required chapters, however, class discussions go much smoother when everyone is "on the same page" (like my pun here?!)
Themes for Westing Game:
* Appearances: People aren't what they appear to be
*Wealth: Wealth can make people act funny and it is a cautionary tale
*Family: There are two types of families: One you are born into and one you choose
*Identity: The characters are establishing who they are and redefining themselves through the game
*Patriotism: This book was written during the Bicentennial and there are many immigrants represented in the story. Mr. Westing is big on American ideals throughout the story
* Lies and Deceit: The characters will lie and use deceit to protect their identities
*Society and Class: The characters status often poses problems
*Language and communication: The reader has to do some close reading for clues and look at the language in the will
This week in Language Arts, the children were given time to read in class and have discussions over the chapters read. Some of the children are a bit behind in their reading due to classroom work and life. Over Spring Break I am only requiring them to read 3 Chapters and catch up on anything they haven't read yet.
There is no punishment for not reading the required chapters, however, class discussions go much smoother when everyone is "on the same page" (like my pun here?!)
We had only one day together for Language Arts this week.
The children are to read Chapters 19, 20 and 21 over Spring Break, by April 1, 2019.
The children are to read Chapters 19, 20 and 21 over Spring Break, by April 1, 2019.
Fourth Grade Math
Math vocabulary:
addend, algorithm, denominator, difference, like-fractions, numerator, sum unlike denominator and unlike fractions
We spent Wednesday working on magic triangles utilizing fractions. On Thursday, we completed a Think Deeply. For this Think Deeply, the children had to complete a magic square with fractions. They had to write about the process for solving magic squares. We actually had to do the Think Deeply together and writing about the process was too much this week. Maybe it's Spring Break, maybe it's just writing about what we calculate--who knows. Several of the students used algorithms instead of words, which I was fine with, this week! I think we will revisit these again and the strategies one more time to make sure they are truly understanding the concepts. For example: the number that appears the most goes in the center square, the numbers that appear the next most go in the middle of each side and so on.
Math vocabulary:
addend, algorithm, denominator, difference, like-fractions, numerator, sum unlike denominator and unlike fractions
Second Grade Language Arts
Themes in The Tale of Despereaux:
Light vs. Dark
Individuality/Differences
Taking Risks
Making the impossible...possible
We spent Monday, planning our persuasive writing paragraph. We used the "Hamburger Model" to organize our writing. The first layer (bun) is the topic, the next layer (lettuce) is detail one that supports the argument, the next layer is the hamburger patty or detail two and so on until we have the bottom bun or the conclusion.
Themes in The Tale of Despereaux:
Light vs. Dark
Individuality/Differences
Taking Risks
Making the impossible...possible
 |
| "I will be brave," thought Despereaux. "I will try to be brave like a knight in shining armor. I will be brave for Princess Pea." "I honor you." |
We spent Monday, planning our persuasive writing paragraph. We used the "Hamburger Model" to organize our writing. The first layer (bun) is the topic, the next layer (lettuce) is detail one that supports the argument, the next layer is the hamburger patty or detail two and so on until we have the bottom bun or the conclusion.
To get a feel of what a good introduction sounds like, I reread the introduction in The Tale of Despereaux and a few others in books I have in my classroom. While these aren't examples of persuasive text, I wanted the children to be "hyper aware" that starting any type of writing requires the author to pull the reader in with a good lead or introduction.
We only had one day together for Language Arts this week.
Over Spring Break, if there are moments for reading, please have your child read three Chapters in Book Two.... Chapters 16, 17 and 18. Thank you!
Second Grade Math
We have a Meerkat Mob on our hands. Dru and Teller have some newborn Meerkats that joined their community. Because the Meerkats sleep in dens underground in order to stay cool under the hot African sun, the babies are taking up precious space. Dru and Teller are worried that as time goes on and the babies grow they will take up even more space! They kindly ask the kids to help them understand the amount of space on their floor and to arrange the space from smallest to largest.
We spent Thursday ordering the spaces the Meerkats dug. Again, the children had to predict and then measure their prediction to check. This was the best part because guess what?! Their prediction skills have improved so much and there are no more tears when we have to predict. The children are seeing that they do not have to be correct in their predictions--just close. It took time and trust to get us to this point. So happy!
Third Grade Language Arts
Theme: Interactions
Themes in Black Beauty
*The ethical and humane treatment of horses/animals
*Coming of Age: Trials will test characters and these trials will lead to maturation
*Lifelong Friendships: Black Beauty spans birth through old age and two horses remain friends for the long haul.
*Rewards of Doing Good: When a person chooses to do something good, it will be rewarded
This week we began our Socratic Seminar. The girls took Monday to get ready for the actual discussion by filling out a paper that will help them fully engage in the process. The worksheet helps them organize their thoughts and focus on our theme of interactions and how interactions are shown in the book. They also prepare by digging deeper and looking for thoughtful quotes, listing confusing parts, describing parts they appreciate as the reader, and what the book is reminding them of in their own personal experiences, news, history, literature, etc.
We only had one day for Language Arts this week. One of the girls told me, and I quote:
"We were really disappointed we couldn't do our Socratic Seminar"
I mean, how awesome is that!!
Homework: The girls need to read Chapters 21 and 22 over Spring Break if they have the time and the inclination.
Theme: Interactions
Themes in Black Beauty
*The ethical and humane treatment of horses/animals
*Coming of Age: Trials will test characters and these trials will lead to maturation
*Lifelong Friendships: Black Beauty spans birth through old age and two horses remain friends for the long haul.
*Rewards of Doing Good: When a person chooses to do something good, it will be rewarded
This week we began our Socratic Seminar. The girls took Monday to get ready for the actual discussion by filling out a paper that will help them fully engage in the process. The worksheet helps them organize their thoughts and focus on our theme of interactions and how interactions are shown in the book. They also prepare by digging deeper and looking for thoughtful quotes, listing confusing parts, describing parts they appreciate as the reader, and what the book is reminding them of in their own personal experiences, news, history, literature, etc.
We only had one day for Language Arts this week. One of the girls told me, and I quote:
"We were really disappointed we couldn't do our Socratic Seminar"
I mean, how awesome is that!!
Homework: The girls need to read Chapters 21 and 22 over Spring Break if they have the time and the inclination.
Third Grade Math
Math vocabulary
Area
Perimeter
Rectangle
Square
This week in math we are exploring area by decomposing shapes and then combining their areas. The activities we are working on serve as an introduction to the Distributive Property of Multiplication over addition. Being able to decompose a number into a set of addends can simplify the computation by using facts they may already know.
Working together!
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