November 24-26 : Thanksgiving Break!

LANGUAGE ARTS

1^st Grade:  This week the kids finished up their persuasive writings.  It took a while for some to complete.  As kids finished, I gave them a persuasive writing rubric worksheet.  In the worksheet they were asked questions about their writing.  They had to circle a word and replace it with a more interesting word. This opened a discussion about synonyms within writing. Those that finished were asked to open their ipads and together we looked up the word and chose a synonym to use in place of the word they circled. Next week, in the Pages app, I will record each child’s voice reading their paper.

 

2^nd Grade:    We started the week with a vocabulary web assignment.  I posted multiple sticky notes with words that were pulled directly from the book.  The words were hidden so the choices were random.  Once each girl picked two, they were asked to choose which word to research for the vocabulary web.  The words ended up: olfactory, curtsy and clout.  I set the girls free to work by themselves but wandered around to give assistance.  On Tuesday we had a little fun and I introduced the girls to Kahoot!  Kahoot is a fun app.  We utilized it to take a couple quizzes on Despereaux.  In Kahoot you can search for a topic such as Despereaux and it has premade quizzes.  I set up a quiz and am given a pin code to share so each child can join my quiz.  Kids are asked a multiple choice or true false question that they must answer correctly and quickly to move up the podium.  I believe the girls had the most fun choosing their player nicknames, however, they also giggled and playfully ribbed each other during the quizzes.  I have assigned up to chapter 38 for Monday. 

 

3rd Grade:  We started the week by doing a vocabulary web together on tall tale.  We broke the word into two and mapped each word individually.  The kids are getting the hang of the vocabulary web.  We then pulled out our folklore posters and added tall tale.  On Tuesday I drew a Venn Diagram on the board.  I then asked the kids to write on sticky notes characteristics of Myths and Legends and characteristics of Tall Tales.  We then compared the sides to discover any characteristic that applied to both. Once we were done, I pulled out the Mad Libs so we could work on parts of speech.  I have not done Mad Libs with this group yet.  They absolutely loved it and giggles were had by all!  

 

4th Grade:  We continued with our biography study Monday when the kids used the entire class to research their historical change maker.  They looked through multiple books to learn more about how these people influenced change and during which dates in history. We discussed the end game.  Ultimately, they will give a presentation.  We discussed that everyone would have a role in both the organization and presentation of the project.  Some of the kids were concerned about speaking in front of the class.  I told them not to worry since it is a group project and they can decide as a group who will present the monologue.  Next week we will continue our study by filling out a Biography Summary. 

MATH

1^st Grade:  The kids finished up the hexagon shapes from last week and moved on to analyzing how our shape compared to the hexagon shape on the Grupo card.  We talked about how both had 6 sides, 6 vertices, four inside shapes, and were hexagons.  Then we needed to answer what was different.  The kids decided that the type of shapes used to make the two hexagons were different. On Thursday, the kiddos got to play Blooket.  Blooket is an online quiz game that allows the students to battle against each other.  We did a quiz on 2D shapes and the kids loved it!  It was so fun to see their excitement when they got a problem correct.       

 

2^nd Grade:  The kids continued tessellating with their own shapes.  They were asked to fill in a mural with color.  Each kid either replicated the shape they made last week or created a new one.  They traced around their basic shape and I used that to re-create the shape on cardstock.  They used this cut out shape to practice transforming it with a flip, slide or rotation.  This allowed them to see how the pattern could repeat on the page.  To begin they colored in the basic shape and then repeated until the entire page was filled with the colored pattern.  On day two we had time to play Blooket, an online learning game.  The kids played against each other answering questions about the symmetry of shapes.  They were rewarded if the answer was correct.  They absolutely loved playing the game.  One of my boys was standing, dancing and cheering every time he had a correct answer.    

 

  3rd Grade:  The boys were given a worksheet that asked them questions to see the similarities and differences between the hundred charts.  Together we answered questions about why the charts look the way they do when we color a multiple. We were to list which multiples formed columns and which ones formed diagonal lines.  We looked for similar patterns amongst multiples and we discussed why certain charts look similar.  Why are the multiples of 2, 5, and 10 verticals? The chart is organized in groups of 10, so each vertical row goes up by ten and the last column is a multiple of 10.  We then discussed the relationship between 3s and 9s.  They both form the same diagonals.  They both move down one row and left one column.  We discussed how 3 is a multiple of 9 which led us to a discussion about fact families. The last question was a little harder for the boys to explain.  They had to continue the hundreds chart for the multiples of 9 by two more rows.  They were asked where they thought the multiples of 9 would land. They wanted to just say the numbers.  I reminded them to write it down so that a person that did not know how to figure this out could follow your steps and find the answer. From our prior discussion we learned that all multiples of 9 go down one row and left one column. The boys did a great job and on Thursday and we had time to play Blooket an online quiz game.  They played against each other working to solve multiplication facts correctly and quickly. 

4th Grade:  This week the kids learned another way to solve algebraic problems with the cover up method.  When I started to tell the fourth graders that this was a new way to solve a variable problem, most of them exclaimed that they already knew how to do it or that they liked doing it their head.  I asked them to just hang in there and listen and that for some of them this way might help.  The cover up method is a way to teach the kids the order of operations when solving an equation with variables.  We started with the equation 2N + 7 = 15.  They were told to cover up the variable and then decide what plus 7 equals 15.  Once they discovered 8 + 7 = 15 they uncovered the 2N.  Next, they needed to think of what times 2 = 8 to solve for N.  The answer is N = 4.  They broke up into button buddies to do a worksheet.  I walked around and guided those that had trouble, but many got it and completed the worksheet that same day.  I had a few that needed to finish up on Thursday.  Once completed I gave them a Zaccarro worksheet to work on with a partner.  I challenged the kids to write out how they solved the equation and to not just show me