WA 3rd Grade Literacy

This week we started with our analogy worksheets (similarities at this point) and then once again looked at the organization of a Pourquoi story and started breaking it down into a story frame. One more story to go, then we are going to talk about $100 words and similes so they can include them in their own story. Hopefully before break they will begin to organize their own Pourquoi story to write.

3rd Grade Math

This week at Washington students continued to work on the "Draw a Picture" strategy for problem solving. One problem we encountered was that several of the students were in such a hurry to get the problems finished, they rushed through the problems and didn't get the correct answer. So, we are going to work on taking our time, drawing a neat and accurate picture and getting the correct answer.

At Lewis and Clark, we started the new strategy "Guess and Check". The students really liked the idea of making an educated guess based on the information given, checking their answer, and using the wrong answer to help them move closer to the right one. They found the problems quite challenging, which of course, most students who are high in math love to try and solve.

This is a fun unit and the students are really going to grow a lot this year. Many of these problem solving strategies will come in handy for the Math is Cool tournaments that begin in the 4th grade. I hope all of these students will be on the 4th grade team!

2nd Grade Literacy

This week at both schools we read a new story titled "Arab Sang and the Cranes". I will meet with Lewis and Clark students next Friday to have our discussion- be sure to read the story once more at home and answer the questions. At Washington, since we don't have school on Wednesday, they have an extra week to get their assignment completed.

1st grade

This week at L & C we finished publishing our first poem. Next week we will start a new one. At WA, the students are all ready to start publishing, but will have to wait 2 weeks because I won't see them next week due to Veteran's Day.

4th and 5th grade Studio

Due to the fact that 4th graders had play practice during Studio this week, the 5th graders were able to do the same assignment and are now caught up to the 4th graders. To see what the 5th graders worked on, see last week's post. =+)

4th and 5th grade Studio

In 5th grade this week we focused on finding the area of rooms. They did not have graph paper to follow arrays, they had plain squares of complex rectangles and squares in which to find the area. They worked on an assignment to show me they understood the concept of finding area (we talked about why it is so important to understand this concept if you are an architect or contractor). We finished class by grading the sheet. Many had missed the problems, not because of they didn't understand area, but because they made mistakes with their multiplication. =) Next week we will begin looking at how to draw figures to scale.

In 4th grade we started learning how to draw figure to scale. We discussed that in order to draw a 4000 square foot home on a sheet of paper, we would have to scale down the measurements. We talked about how we need to keep all of the dimensions the same, but just make the scale smaller. So, we used a piece of graph paper and agreed that we would make the scale so that each square on the paper would represent one square inch and be equal to one square foot. So we drew the measurements for certain rectangles that were 3 feet by 6 feet, etc...

Then students measured items in the room and drew them to scale. For instance they measured the white board, or the tables, or bookshelves and then had to draw them with the scale of 1 sq. inch = 1 sq. foot. For the most part, students understood and were able to draw the concept correctly. However, when they tried to measure my laptop- which was just over a foot- it became a bit confusing. Once we drew it out, I believe the majority had a solid understanding of the concept.

We will continue to reveiw this concept and next week they will begin creating their Footprint Library that they will use when designing their house.

WA 3rd Grade Lit

We started working this week working on some analogy type of worksheets. These start by looking at things that are similar to other things and will move to more analogy type, higher level thinking, activities. My thoughts are the way we improve our reading is to grow our vocabulary, so the more words we can learn, define and play with the better readers we will become. They will see analogies throughout their schooling- including on the SAT!!

We read the next Pourquoi story that we are going to take apart and put in the story frame titled "Why the Tiger has Stripes", but ran out of time before we could start working on the frame. So, that will be our focus next week.

We should have a few new students joining us next week, so we will work to get them caught up and keep moving on our writing!

Have a great and safe Halloween!!

L & C 3rd Grade Literacy

Today we were able to have our first discussion on "The Tale of Despereaux"! We went over the vocabulary works that they defined over the past 2 weeks and then discussed the questions and the story- what fun!!

The students are are really enjoying the story and eager to get reading the next several chapters. Their homework is to read chapters 13-17 for next week and complete the vocab. and questions.

We also started working on some analogy type of worksheets. These start by looking at things that are similar to other things and will move to more analogy type, higher level thinking, activities. My thoughts are the way we improve our reading is to grow our vocabulary, so the more words we can learn, define and play with the better readers we will become. They will see analogies throughout their schooling- including on the SAT!!

They have a packet of worksheets in their folder, but these are NOT required homework, we will be going over them in class each week.

Please be sure your child is reading "The Tale of Despereaux" and completing the assignment for next week! Thanks ;+)

2nd grade math

This was our first week to meet at L & C, so we went over the concepts of "cooperative logic" and "deductive reasoning" as well as the "process of elimation". These are all big words but GREAT higher level thinking ideas. We learned the expectations for working our Group Solution puzzles and went over 3 examples. The students were really enthusiastic and are excited to start the puzzles on their own next week!

At Washington the students are almost all through the "Who's puzzles" and will soon move onto working similar logic puzzles with money.

2nd Grade Literacy

This week we had our Jr. Great Books discussion on "The Happy Lion". Many students from both schools had not read the book at home a second time or completed the questions. I sent a note home to parents to be signed if they didn't have their assignment completed. Please make sure your child is reading the story a second time at home.

We started our discussion by deciding what the definition of a good friend is. The students had many great ideas including, someone who helps you, someone who plays with you, someone who cares about you, etc...

Then we talked about why the townspeople acted the way they did when the lion was out on the street. I asked them why they felt the townspeople needed to use force to capture the lion when they all thought he was such a happy lion in the zoo. And why Francios just went right up to the lion and said, "Bonjour, Happy Lion" and escorted him back to the zoo without any fear of the lion. We tried to tie this back to friendship and asked if they believed that the townspeople were truly the Happy Lion's friends.

They wrote this final answer on a sheet of paper and turned it in. It was a great discussion, but in both groups we were a bit rushed for time. Hopefully as we get into the routine of coming each week, we will end up with a longer class period!

Next week we will be reading "Arap Sang and the Cranes". Be looking for the story and questions to come home so you can work with your child to complete them.

Thanks for your help with this unit!!

1st grade- week 3

This week students either started or continued working on their Simile poems.

They started with the phrase "round as" or "curved as" and thought of a noun that is either round or curved. If they were having trouble coming up with a word, we looked at different categories:

Things that we see outside a window
Animals
Food
Things found in a jungle
Things found in the ocean
etc...

Then they needed to ask and answer the questions when? where? and doing what?

A sample poem one student wrote was:
Round as the moon shining down on us from the sky at night.

Next week we will finish up these poems and they will pick their favorite to publish for our poety book.

Newsroom

This week at Washington we went over our Eddie paragraph homework. We discussed the different ways to "read like a reader, and read like a writer". At L & C we learned about this idea and were given the story to do as homework for next week.

At both schools we explored organization through the eyes of a writer. We looked at many different picture books and rather than looking at them as a reader- to get information or read a story, we looked at the books as a writer. We discussed how writers organize their ideas or subject to disseminate the information to the reader.

Students noticed that writers use patterns to organize their thoughts, picture clues, point of veiw or perspective, flashbacks, repetition and many other ways to show or tell their information. The student's assignment for next week is to look at whatever book they are currently reading- or another one of their choice- and find a paragraph or page that they really enjoy and write a sentence or two about how the author has organized it.

They were also given another paragraph of "Eddie Takes Off" to practice "reading like a reader and reading like a writer."

5th Grade Math- Week 4

At Washington, the students focused on Equally Likely Events. We discussed how events are equally likely if two or more possible outcomes of a given situation have the same chance of occurring or the same probability.

Students gave examples of experiments that are equally likely. Our class example was eight different colored chips were put in a bag. They were identical except for the color. What is the probability of drawing a green chip. It was 1/8, and there is the same chance of drawing any of the other colors.

We also started looking at the ideas of Theoretical Probability vs. Experimental Probability and the Law of Large Numbers.

At L & C began looking at the idea of Experimental Probability and working on proper notation. Next week we will begin with Equally Likely Events. At Washington we will begin the concept of Unequally Likely Events.

3rd Grade Math

At both schools this week we continued to work on the problem solving strategy, "Draw a Picture". I showed them another example and they continued to work on the problems on their own.

Both groups have started moving on the Quest and are all currently in Dinosaur Land. At Lewis and Clark one group received their first Fate Card and luckily had Salsa and Chips on their supply list. For this they were rewarded with a Dinosaur Arrow.

We will continue on our journey and learning new strategies along the way!!

2nd Grade Literacy- week 3

We won't have literacy group at L & C this week because of conferences. We will have our discussion on "The Happy Lion" next week.

At WA, we read together our first Jr. Great Books story, "The Happy Lion". Students verbally gave their reactions, comments and thoughts about the story after the first reading. They were given a yellow folder and put the story plus a sheet with three questions on it to take home. Their homework is to read the story a second time with you, their parent. You can read it to them, they can read it to you, or you can take turn reading pages- whatever works for you and your child. You will see three questions throughout the story on the margin of the text. Stop at those questions and ask your child what they think about the question. Feel free to discuss it with them- allow them to hear your thoughts as well as listen to theirs. Once they have decided what they believe to be the best answer, have them write their response on the question sheet provided. This is due on NEXT WEEK on their enrichment day. When they come back we will have our inquiry discussion about the story.

Have a great weekend!

WA 3rd Grade Literacy- week 3

The goal for this unit is for students to write own Pourquoi story, in order to do this, we need to learn how these types of stories are organized. So, for the next few weeks we will be reading many of these stories and taking them apart in "story frames". These frames allow the students to see all of the parts that are included in a Pourquoi story. We will also be talking about word choice- using $100 words and similes in our stories to make them more interesting to the readers.

Once they take several stories apart in the story frame, they will use the same story frame to start building their own story.

Today we worked on this process with a story, titled "Why the Koala has a Stumpy Tail".

Next week we will read a story together and they will fill out the story frame on their own.

Have a great weekend!

4th Grade Studio

I was only able to meet with 4th graders this week due to conferences. I will see both groups again next week.

Today we focused on being an architect/builder and found the area of rooms with complicated shapes. We had many shapes on graph paper (representing rooms) and found different ways to divide the rooms to find the total area. We used our knowledge of the "rules of rectangles" to help find the measurements of the length and width of each shape. Then we added the area of all of the different parts to find the area of the entire room.

This started out as a difficult task, but as the students started to catch on they were able to find the area of many complicated rooms.

For homework I gave them one complicated room (without graph paper) to take home and teach you how to find its area. Please allow your child to share this knowledge with you and then have them return it next week. If they are still unclear on how to find the area, please work with them to clarify it for them.

Thank you!! Have a great weekend!

5th Grade Math- Week 3

Today at WA we had a short class because of conference week and specialist scheduling changes. We started looking at the concept of Equally Likely Events. Students were given the scenario:

"Ricardo put 8 chips, each of a different color, in a bag. He shook the bag, pulled out a chip and recorded the color. He always put the chip back in the bag before repeating the experiment. Ricardo performed the experiment 40 times."

Students then had to predict how often they believed the green chip would get chosen. Then we set up the experiment and students created the same scenario using chips in a bag. First they had to predict how many times they thought each color would be chosen. Then they recorded their results after doing 40 trials of the experiment.

I do not have Lewis and Clark 5th grade math this week due to conferences, but will work on this lesson next week!

They needed to put their answers in proper Experimental Probability notation, Ex. P(red)= 4/40. That was the end of the time for our class period. Next week we will record how many green chips were drawn from each group. Then we will discuss way these events are Equally Likely to happen.

3rd grade Math Quest- week 3

Today at WA we went over the expectations for Math Quest. We discussed how the students will be working as a team to get to the treasure, but will be working individually on the math problems.

We will be learning the 6 strategies for problem solving. Today we started learning the strategy "Draw a Picture". Next week we will go over one more problem together and then the students will begin working on their own problems. Every week while we are still learning the strategies we will begin by working a problems together, then they will work on similar problems independently.

They will be keeping their problem-solving spiral notebooks in the classroom. Please feel free to stop by anytime and see what your child's work. I don't like students to take them home until the end of the unit, because with a week between meetings many times it gets left at home. Homework is optional in 3rd grade math. Students can start taking home assignments in the next few weeks, but only if they choose to. Working on the assignments at home can help their group travel through the Math Quest more quickly, but it is not required.

Have a great weekend!!

2nd Grade Math- week 3

At WA today the students continued with the deductive reasoning puzzles. Many of them have moved onto the second set and are working on "Whose..." after finishing the "Find the..." puzzles.

WA 3rd Grade Lit- week 2

Last week the students worked on an Acrostic Poem of their name. This week they really wanted to finish them, so I gave them time to finish their creative writing and beautiful illustrations. I will be putting these up in the classroom.

We also read our first Pourquoi story and discussed the organization of the story. Next week we will read another story and write down how it is organized within a story frame. We need to analyze the organization of these stories so we can eventually learn how to write our own Pourquoi story.

L&C 3rd Grade Lit- Week 1

Today was our first day to meet. We are lucky because I get to see them for 45 minutes rather than 30, so we get quite a bit accomplished in each class period. Unfortunately, we meet on Fridays so we end up missing several more class periods. =)

So, if I know I won't see them for 2 weeks, I am going to give them extra reading because they have a lot of time to get it completed. I told them that I am OK with giving them extra reading because I know that they are good readers and, hopefully, love to read and would be reading something during that time anyway... =)

This week we started "The Tales of Despereaux". My goal was to read to them through chapter 6, but we ran out of time, so I think I only made it to chapter 5. They need to continue reading THROUGH chapter 12- and stop before chapter 13. I gave them two bookmarks- green for go, this should be at the start of where they are going to read, and red for stop- this should stay between the pages where they need to stop for that week.

They also have a paper that they need to complete. It has vocabulary words on one side and questions about the story to answer on the other. I modeled this with them as we read the first several chapters together. I believe the main way that high readers continue to grow is to increase their vocabulary. The higher the vocabulary, the more complex stories they can read. If they don't know the meaning of words, they will lose the comprehension and the story will not make sense to them- the more words they know the stronger readers they will become. So, to that purpose, I would like them to define the words on the vocabulary sheet. They can use Google Dictionary.com or just a plain old English Dictionary =) to find the meanings.

I will not see them next week because of conferences, so their homework reading to chapter 13, as well as looking up vocabulary words and answering the questions about the story are due on October 30.

Have a great weekend!

2nd Grade Literacy- Week 2

At Washington last week, the students worked on an Acrostic Poem of their name. This week they really wanted to finish them, so I gave them time to finish their creative writing and beautiful illustrations. I will be putting these up in the classroom. We will start our first story next week.

At L & C since we didn't meet last week, I decided to go ahead and start our first story. We discussed Jr. Great Books and the expectations of the program, and then read together, "The Happy Lion". Students verbally gave their first reactions, comments and thoughts about the story after the first reading. They were given a yellow folder and put the story plus a sheet with three questions on it to take home. Their homework is to read the story a second time with you, their parent. You can read it to them, they can read it to you, or you can take turn reading pages- whatever works for you and your child. You will see three questions throughout the story on the margin of the of the text. Stop at those questions and ask your child what they think about the question. Feel free to discuss it with them- allow them to hear your thoughts as well as listen to theirs. Once they have decided what they believe to be the best answer, have them write their response on the question sheet provided. This is due on their next enrichment day. When they come back we will have our inquiry discussion about the story.

I will see WA students next week, so we will start the story "The Happy Lion". I will not see L&C students next week due to conferences, so both groups will have their inquiry discussion the following week on 10/28 and 10/30.

Have a great weekend!

1st Grade- week 2

At Washington the students finished working on their Acrostic Poems. I will be putting these up in the classroom so everyone can see their creative writing and beautiful illustrations. We will not be meeting next week because of conferences, but will start our simile poems the following week.

At L & C the students finished their Acrostic Poems last week. This week, we started working on our simile poems starting with "Round as" or "Curved as". The students brainstormed different things in categories that are round or curved. Then, they elaborated on when? where? doing what? So an example of one of their poems is: "Round as the moon shining down on the earth at night". Next week, they will choose one of the poems that they wrote to publish and then illustrate it.

Studio- week 2

This week we are reviewing how to find the area of squares and rectangles. I started by asking the students if I wanted to buy carpet to fit in this portable, how would I know how much to buy? We then discussed finding the perimeter- so we would know the length of each side (we discussed the rules of rectangles- four 90 degree angles and equal opposite sides). Then they decided to multiply the length times the width to find the area. So groups measured the walls of the portable and we found our answer.

We then did other samples of rectangles on the board and found the areas. The students found the answers, compared and discussed their answers with their neighbor and then we answered each problem as a whole group. We then created more complex shapes and learned how to find the rectangles and squares (using the rules of rectangles) and then added the areas together.

We will spend a bit more time next week looking at other types of shapes and finding their area. =)

Newsroom- week 2

This week in Newsroom we started out by taking a pre-assessment in writing. We want to get a pre-unit writing sample from each child. This sample will help to guide our teaching as well as give us something to hopefully show lots of growth by the end of the year!

After the pre-assessment we looked at the ideas behind Reading like a Reader vs. Reading like a Writer. In this unit we will be focusing on starting to read like a writer.

Based on writings by Steve Peha:

When reading as a reader we tend to ask questions, make predictions, make inferences, make connections, show feelings or express emotions, and make evaluations as we read.

When reading as a writer we look at the story differently. We read looking at the 6-traits of writing. We look at the idea, how does the author reveal the main idea, looking at details or purpose of the piece of writing. We look at the organization, what kinds of leads and endings does the author use, looking at transitions, or sequencing of the piece. We look at voice, does the author show passion for the topic, does the author put his personality in the writing? We look at word choice, what techniques does the author use- similes, metaphors, million dollar words? We look at sentence fluency- the rhythm and flow of the language. We also look at conventions- how does the writer use conventions to make the writing easy to read and more meaningful?

We read the opening paragraph to a fiction piece as both a reader and a writer. We did this as a whole group. Their homework for this week is to take the next paragraph and look at it as a reader and then as a writer- they need to answer at least 2 in each category.

At L&C we did not have enough time to assign homework. This class is 15 minutes shorter than my other two so we won't always get as far. I will continue with this lesson next time I see them and they will have the same homework expectations.

I will not have Newsroom during conference week as all my classes are in the afternoon, so they will have 2 weeks to complete this homework. =)

3rd grade Math Quest

This week in Math Quest groups finished purchasing their supplies. They had to add up the column of how much they spent and then subtract it from the total amount given ($650). We are ready to start our journey the next time we meet!

2nd Grade Math- week 2

Today the students started in their groups. Many groups finished about 4 Search puzzles. They did a great job and are really working cooperatively! Good job kiddos!!

Experimental Probability

Today at WA in 5th Grade Math (because of no school on Friday, L & C is a week behind) we discussed Experimental Probability. The students were given a scenario that they and a friend were waiting for ice cream. They were going to flip a coin to see who would go first- they REALLY wanted to go first- would they pick heads or tails???

They had to set up an experiment to test their hypothesis. They decided to do 20 trials (new vocabulary word meaning one round of an experiment). They had to write their results in proper notation: P(H)= 9/20 P(T)= 11/20. They were taught that the top number for Experimental Probability is the number of times an event occurs OVER the number of total trials.

Our classroom results were as follows

P(H)= 10/20, 7/20, 10/20, 11/20, 11/20, 10/20, 10/20 = 69/140

P(T)=  10/20, 13/20, 10/20, 9/20, 9/20, 10/20, 10/20 = 71/140

We decided that it is a 1/2 chance of getting heads or tails. We will start discussing theoretical probability next week.

We ended with a fun round of college bowl!

Have a great week!

Newsroom- week 1

This week students were introduced to the new unit and were asked to decide if Newsroom is a good fit for them. They were given their "empty book" and began to organize it. They put in dividers titled: Non-fiction, Fiction, Poetry, News, and Lessons/Resources. They were also given a worksheet to complete that will become the cover of their empty book. I will take their picture to put in the center, and then they were to write or illustrate 4 different things that represent them. They could be things that are important to them, or that they love to do or just something in general that describes who they are.

They were also given a Monthly Me to fill out, titled "My Story". This is something that should be enjoyable and helps me get to know them a little bit better. Finally, they were given a yellow permission slip to take home and discuss with you to decide if this class is a good fit for them. Whether you both decide yes or no, please fill it out and have them return it for their next class.

So, there are 3 homework assignments for this week:

Empty Book Cover

My Story pages

Signed permission slip

I hope you all had a great 3 day weekend! =)

4th and 5th Grade Newsroom

Introduction to Empty Books (by Mrs. Lind)

Newsroom is a language arts class. Language includes reading, writing and oral communications. It is an art because although there are rules, it is a hugely creative endeavor crafted uniquely by your heart and mind. There are 500,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary and over one million when you include new and technical words. The average educated person knows 20,000 words and uses 2,000 in a week. Can you imagine the number of ways even those 2,000 words can be combined?

The purpose for exploring language arts is to focus our attention on the craft of combining written words, to more fully appreciate what we read and hear, recognize the elements and style used, and to be able to more clearly express our thoughts.

We are going to begin this exploration with a unit titled Empty Book. It is just the beginning of a process you will continue to develop the rest of your life. It is a process you will also use in other areas of learning using the skills of noticing, exploring, reflecting and applying.

You will select pieces of literature from a variety of genres – fantasy, historical fiction, humor, poetry, non-fiction, newspaper articles, to name a few. You will share your selection with the class and explain why you chose it, how it affected you, what you noticed, liked or disliked. You will sample a variety of styles and elements of writing that you will reflect on and critique. You’ll also try out styles and elements of well written pieces. You’ll be filling your Empty Book with these pieces, including your own writing to further the journey of increasing your knowledge, skills, and creative talents to best put your thoughts and ideas on paper.

This will be a very fun unit where students will learn to read like writers and grow as authors!

4th and 5th Grade Newsroom

Newsroom is a class for qualifying (or referred) students in 4th and 5th grade reading (literacy). Newsroom is different than other enrichment class in that all 7 Wenatchee elementary schools work on the same curriculum. At the end of the unit we have a big culminating event, usually at Foothills Middle School, where all students are able to celebrate what they have learned.

Therefore, Newsroom is the most time consuming class for students. They are taken out of their regular classroom for a longer period of time (from 60 to 90 minutes a week) and there is generally homework every week. Last year in debate, students had to research an assigned topic and write two powerful arguments, one affirmative and one negative, outside of class. Many students felt this was hard work, but for those who persevered, they felt it to be incredibly rewarding and a fun learning experience.

This year we will be working on a unit called "Empty Books". While last year's unit was more group oriented, this unit will be more of an individual experience where students are not relying on others to accomplish the final goal. 

There will be 3 different spot checks for students. Usually after about 4 weeks, we look to see if students are fulfilling all Newsroom expectations. If they are, they continue to forge ahead. If not, we re-evaluate and decide if Newsroom is a "good fit" for them. We realize that many of these students are busy. Many play sports, play a musical instrument, are in other organized events outside of school and don't have time for anything more. If kiddos realize they are too busy with no time for fun and decide to opt out of Newsroom, I will miss them dearly, but have a lot of respect for their own self-preservation and hard decision making skills. I think it is better for students to realize this 4 weeks into the unit rather than struggling through and then dropping out a few weeks before the big event!

So, I guess in summary, Newsroom is a challenging and time-consuming unit that in the end will be, hopefully, a rewarding and wonderful learning experience!

WA 3rd Grade Literacy

Washington 3rd grades will be starting by learning all about Pourquoi stories. Pourquoi is a French word that means "how" or "why". These stories are the legends of why or how different things in nature are the way that they are. For instance, how the camel got its hump, how the elephant got its trunk, or why the moon rises in the east and sets in the west. We will be focusing on organization, leads and endings, and wondrous words.

Once we learn all about how Pourquoi stories, students will begin to write their own "why" or "how" story. They will use the information we have learned in class to have great leads and endings and many $100 words to make their stories more interesting to the reader. At the end of the unit, they will get to share their books in the Author's Chair. Writing units tend to take a long time in enrichment classes. Only having them for 30 minutes, once a week, it takes quite a while to have them rough draft, revise, edit and publish. Once they start their rough draft, it is nice if they can work on it at home- also with the publishing and drawing their wonderful pictures!

(Hopefully) starting in March, we will begin reading one of my very favorite books "Walk Two Moons". We will be focusing again on character development and comparing the two books with how they showed bravery and courage. This book is also wonderful for working with the complicated plots of flashbacks and a story within a story. We will also focus on the theme of "never judge a man before you have walked two moons in their moccasins". This book should carry us close to the end of the year.

L & C 3rd Grade Literacy

We are going to work really hard getting through 2 books before spring break! Students will need to be reading at home and answering questions about what they are reading.

We are going to start with The Tales of Despereaux. We are going to focus on vocabulary, character development and discussing the theme of bravery and courage. We are going to work hard to finish this book by winter break. Unfortunately, fridays are not the most optimal day to meet because of so many days off, so we will be working together to reach our goal!

Starting in January, we will begin reading one of my very favorite books "Walk Two Moons". We will be focusing again on character development and comparing the two books with how they showed bravery and courage. This book is also wonderful for working with the complicated plots of flashbacks and a story within a story. We will also focus on the theme of "never judge a man before you have walked two moons in their moccasins". My goal will be to finish this book by spring break.

Finally starting in April the students will research an artist that will be included in the Art Museum. They will get to create a presentation and present the artist to all of the classes (and parents) who attend the museum.

This is going to be a busy year for these kiddos so I hope that are up for a wonderful challenge!

3rd Grade Literacy

3rd Grade Literacy will be a bit different at each school.

At WA, at the end of the year, the Newsroom students (4 & 5 graders) work to be Art Docents in our Art Museum. At Lewis and Clark, the Newsroom students work to create a memory book for the 5th grade class (L & C doesn't have a yearbook).

Mr. Ferrell and I have decided we would love work together to have the Art Museum at Lewis & Clark, so since the Newsroom students will not have time, we are going to have the 3rd grade literacy students be the Art Docents.

Therefore, I had to change the curriculum a bit for the Lewis & Clark 3rd graders because we wouldn't have time to get through Pourquoi stories. I will still focus on writing with them, but it will be focusing on research writing.

No worries, the 3rd grade literacy students at WA who qualify to be in Newsroom (reading literacy for 4th and 5th graders) will get to be art docents for two years! =)

To make it easier, I am going to write a different post for each class.

5th Grade Math

We are working on a unit called Carnival of Chance. We will be learning through experimentation about the probability of events occurring. Using hands on learning, students will learn the difference between theoretical and experimental probability. Before spring break we hope to put on our Carnival of Chance. Each student will create a game for the "Carnival" that is slightly unfair. Shhhhhhhhh, don't tell the group of kids that we invite to the carnival to play our games! 

After spring break we will dive into an Algebra unit called "Hands-on Equations".

Studio

In Studio, we are working on a House-Design unit. The unit in broken into 3 phases. The first part we will be reviewing necessary math skills. Students need to know how to be able to accurately compute area and to draw to scale. They will also be creating a footprint library for common furnishing, appliances, windows, doors, etc...

In the second phase each student will take on all three roles as architect, interior designer and contractor. They will design and create the floor plan of their own bedroom (with any changes they would like to add=) I want them to wear all three hats for this phase so they will understand and be familiar with each role for Phase 3.

In Phase 3, students will create architecture firms. Each firm will have an architect, interior designer and contractor. They will be assigned a client family. They will have to look at yearly income, decide on a reasonable mortgage, and from this information design and furnish a house for this family within a budget.

I am hoping this will be a fun and engaging unit!

1st Grade

The first graders are starting the year with literacy and in February we will switch to math/logic. 

We are starting with poetry writing. The students will explore word choice and look at different poetic elements- starting with similes. I hope to be able to post the students' poems on the blog as they are finished, so keep checking. =)

After our poetry unit the students will work on fluency and expression as we delve into Reader's Theatre.

Remember that these groups can rotate and change throughout the year.

2nd Grade Math

This group is going to delve into a "Group Solutions" unit. This fun math unit incorporates cooperative logic and deductive reasoning to solve puzzles. Students will be working in groups of 4, a problem is given each group, and each student in the group receives a clue. The problem can not be solved without all of the clues. Student work together using process of elimination and logic to find the answer. This is a fun and highly motivating unit. They will be learning higher level mathematical concepts and vocabulary.

Only one student from each group is the materials person each week. This person is selected by rotating through the group. The materials person is the only one who can go and get the needed tools (coins, pattern blocks, counting bears, etc...) and next puzzle. Groups who can work well together and be team players will be much more successful. Sometimes this is a learning process =).

Ask your child what types of puzzles they worked on today. They check the puzzles off after they prove to me that they have chosen the correct answer. Feel free to drop in anytime and check them out!

2nd Grade Literacy

This group is going to start with a Jr. Great Books unit. We will read a story and discuss it together, then the students will take the story home and read it a second time with you (their parents). There will be three questions for you and your child to answer together. Hopefully this will be a fun time for you to sit with your child to read and discuss wonderful literature. The following week they need to come prepared to discuss the story in a "shared inquiry" process.

I didn't see the L & C group this week because of no school on Friday, so the WA kiddos will be a week ahead of them. The first story we will read will the The Happy Lion. WA on 10/14 and L & C on 10/16. Be sure to remind your child that they need to read the story the second time at home with you!

Have fun and I hope you can enjoy the time sharing great literature together!

3rd Grade Math

Math Quest: The 3rd grade math students are going on a Math Quest. A reclusive mathematician has found a new land and has mapped it out. Within it there are 4 different lands, 7 gates which increase teams power as they go through them, and at the top a locked treasure chest. Students have formed teams, purchased supplies and are racing to the top to be the first team to find the teasure.

We will be focusing on the 6 problem-solving strategies: draw a picture, guess and check, make a table or chart, work backwards, act it out, and look for a pattern. Students will work in teams to travel through the Math Quest; however, they will be working at an individual pace for problem solving. For each problem they solve correctly, their group will earn travel dots. When everyone in the group fulfills a requirement, they can draw a fate card. Their fate can be good such as finding several emeralds under a bush, or not so good, such as a dinosaur is blocking your path, if you have dinosaur food, you can feed him and sneak by, if not, lose 20 diamonds.

Students have the option of homework. They can earn more travel dots for their team with correct answers, but homework is optional.