Happy Friday! We enjoyed our fieldtrip to Brooks to see "Dear Edwina, Jr." on Thursday. We were also proud to welcome Police Captain Steve, Nicolas' uncle from the East Coast, who shared his experiences during 9/11 on Wednesday. Today, we had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Cortez, our Global Village/ Science Alliance partner again. It's been a week full of guests and new experiences!
Reading: We began our A Christmas Carol wrap up projects. There are two components: the first was completed this week, in which the students drew a two-sided figure of Scrooge. They showed the way Scrooge changed from the beginning of the story to the end through their illustration and through textual evidence. Now they're using this piece to develop essays that highlight the changes that Scrooge made. I'm proud of how seriously the kids are taking this assignment; they're showing tremendous growth in their ability to support their opinions! Additionally, they're using the Google Documents with ease, and it's great for me to check in on their progress.
Reading: We began our A Christmas Carol wrap up projects. There are two components: the first was completed this week, in which the students drew a two-sided figure of Scrooge. They showed the way Scrooge changed from the beginning of the story to the end through their illustration and through textual evidence. Now they're using this piece to develop essays that highlight the changes that Scrooge made. I'm proud of how seriously the kids are taking this assignment; they're showing tremendous growth in their ability to support their opinions! Additionally, they're using the Google Documents with ease, and it's great for me to check in on their progress.
4th Grade Math: We began double-digit division in Unit 6 this week. I taught the kids three strategies: multiples method (guess and check), partial quotient (figuring out parts of the answer, then adding them together), and long division (the "old-fashioned way"). We came up with a step-by-step process to follow when using each strategy, and of course, named the process something completely unrelated. We now have "Gary" to help us remember long division and "Mary" (Gary's twin) to help us remember partial products. They join "Stanley" who helps us remember when to round up, and when to round down. Truly, I can't explain how this is helping, but the kids love it, and it totally does help :)
5th Grade Math: Check out Ms. Wennerberg's website and newsletter for updates: http://www.op97.org/swennerberg/
Science: We set up our terrariums! The kids were extremely excited to plant their rye, mustard and alfalfa seeds. Despite a few tumbles and a lot of dirt on the ground, I'd call it a successful planting. We'll continue to observe our terrariums as they take life next week; in a few lessons, we'll build our aquariums, too! As I mentioned above, please keep collecting 2-liter bottles. We need to reimburse Mrs. Darley for the 30 that she donated to our class.
Writing: I've been meeting with students individually to revise their teamwork essays. With each child, I see different areas of strength and need for improvement. As I've mentioned in the past, with some I'll focus on the organization, with others I'll focus on actually writing a clear, narrow idea. Others are concentrating on supporting their opinions and including more savvy transitions. The beautiful thing is that we're also doing this for our "Scrooge" reading projects. The kids are seeing how an outline can work with different topics, and how transitions can be used in various situations. We're also still working on our Shortcut/ Map stories. It truly is a workshop in here! I'm revising with each group using the Google Docs: we sit together at the round table, read through their work, and they can all see the changes being made by each other in real time. It's so cool! We look forward to sharing all of these projects with you.
Social Studies: Check out Ms. Wennerberg's website and newsletter for updates: http://www.op97.org/swennerberg/
Writing: I've been meeting with students individually to revise their teamwork essays. With each child, I see different areas of strength and need for improvement. As I've mentioned in the past, with some I'll focus on the organization, with others I'll focus on actually writing a clear, narrow idea. Others are concentrating on supporting their opinions and including more savvy transitions. The beautiful thing is that we're also doing this for our "Scrooge" reading projects. The kids are seeing how an outline can work with different topics, and how transitions can be used in various situations. We're also still working on our Shortcut/ Map stories. It truly is a workshop in here! I'm revising with each group using the Google Docs: we sit together at the round table, read through their work, and they can all see the changes being made by each other in real time. It's so cool! We look forward to sharing all of these projects with you.
Social Studies: Check out Ms. Wennerberg's website and newsletter for updates: http://www.op97.org/swennerberg/
Miscellaneous:
- Enjoy the Spaghetti Dinner tonight, and don't forget to purchase your March to Success tickets soon, too!
