WISHING YOU AND YOURS A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY BREAK

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

 

1^st Grade:  We started Monday by looking at another mysterious cipher.  This one was in mirror writing. 

Leonardo da Vinci wrote his notebooks out using mirror writing.  It is believed he used this to try and make it harder for people to read his notes.  When I handed out the cryptic message, I asked the kids to tell me what they saw and if any signs or symbols helped them decipher the message.  Within a minute a couple of the kids had figured it out.  For those that had not deciphered it yet, I passed out small mirrors.  When they saw the message appear readable in the mirror they were amazed.  I sent the messages home so that they could show you the magic. Once we finished deciphering the mirror messages we went back to anagrams.  I passed out a few worksheets that asked them to use letter tiles to solve the anagram puzzles.  For example, rearrange ACT to make a house pet.  We continued to work on these sheets Tuesday and for those that did not finish, I sent the sheets home in case they wanted to continue working on them.  They also had time to begin coloring a holiday themed page and tell me their favorite thing about holiday break.  I laughed when one of the kids said, “It’s like a weekend every day!”.    

 

      

2nd Grade: Due to being out a day last week the girls will watch The Tales of Despereaux after break.  This week we continued with our character trait project.  The girls choose Miggery Sow as the character.  They were asked to think of four-character traits to describe Mig.  Next, they had to find text evidence of the trait and once found, write the evidence along with the page number.  Finally, they had to color Mig so she, and the text evidence worksheet, could be made into an accordion character. 

     

3rd Grade:   This week I introduced the kids to Gordon Lightfoot’s song, The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald. I started the class by reading them the lyrics.  I asked them about the mood and tone of the poem.  I then asked them to close their eyes and visualize the poem and its’ mood while I read it a second time.  After handing out drawing paper, they were asked to draw a picture of how the poem made them feel.  The next day I played the actual song for them and then put on a documentary about the wreck to listen to as they colored.  After break, they will each describe, to the class, their drawing and we will finish the documentary.  

Gordon Lightfoot's song

 

4th Grade:  We continue diligently working on the timeline.  This week we began setting up what dates they want to include on the timeline.  I printed out a template and asked that they pick one group mate to write.  They needed to work together in deciding the dates from each of their biography study papers, that were the most important and should make it into the timeline for presentation.  One group is still having a little trouble figuring out how to work together.  Thus, I started the class off working with them.  The other group has no problem communicating with each other but has a little trouble staying on task.  That’s okay they are still learning how to navigate a multistep group writing project.  I floated over their way when needed.  I feel like by the end of class both groups were on track and the next day they really rocked the timeline.   

      

 

MATH

1^st Grade: The kids learned about attributes.  We began class by telling them that an attribute is a characteristic or property.  I told them a few attributes that described myself.  On the floor I had placed a giant circle.  I began pulling kids out and putting them in the circle.  I then asked if the kids could figure out what attribute they all had in common.  When I felt they had a grasp of the concept I asked them all to get into the circle and I pulled certain kids out of the circle.  Instead of having the same attribute, these kids did not have the similar attribute.  The goal is to teach the kids how to group things into like and unlike as a way to introduce them to Venn Diagrams.  Next, I laid out a bunch of objects on a table and asked each kid to come up and choose objects that have the same attribute and place those objects inside the circle.  The rest of the class had to figure out the attribute.  In our second day of class we reviewed vertices and angles.  We talked about right, obtuse and acute and we also discussed the degrees that determined the angle.  We used our arms to model the angles and the degrees starting with a 90 degree right angle.  The kids did a quick worksheet that asked them to name different angles.  The had a little trouble naming a straight line and wanted to call it obtuse so we talked a little more about an obtuse angle turning into a line once it hits 180 degrees.  Once finished they were able to work on their extreme dot to dots or a holiday themed coloring page. 

 

2nd Grade: This week we began working on 3D shapes.  The kids used straws and pipe cleaners to construct a 3D shape.  Each kid was given a shape to make along with the number of long and short straws needed.  To start they each had to decide how to create the short straws from the long straws.  We took out our rulers and the long straws were cut in half.  Next the fun began.  I told them that they needed to make the shape they were given.  I did not, however, tell them how to make the shape.  They took off running and started constructing.  

   

 

3rd Grade:  Third grade was a little crazy due to a class field trip.  I had one boy Wednesday and a no kids on Thursday.  My one boy solved another student’s puzzles and then continued working on his hundreds chart puzzles.  When he finished, we took a field trip to the office where I made copies of his puzzle to take home. So, don’t be surprised if you are asked to solve one over break!

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4th Grade:  We continued working on The Cabbage Soup Band logic puzzle.  I have a few that finished, and a few are getting close.  Some of the kids are frustrated as this is not just cut and dried Math.  I explained to them that logic is a part of Math and is a sister-discipline.  When a mathematician tries to prove a theorem, they use logic and reasoning.  We discussed the definition of a theorem and I showed them an example using the Pythagoream theorem and explained how this theorem is used. Hopefully, that helped the few questioning why we were doing a logic puzzle.  I also think it made them feel better when I told them that it took me about an hour to solve the puzzle ;)