Weekly Update

All Star of the Week:

Maia C was our all-star of the week.  She shared some adorable photos from when she was little.  The students loved seeing her with her grandma's dog and the one of her trick-or-treating in her costume. She shared her favorite book My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza and her parent letter---we couldn't believe that she started talking at just 10 months old but thought it was very fitting for Maia's sweet personality! Her mom surprised her on Thursday by coming in to have lunch with her and her friends.  You were a great all-star Maia!

Writing Workshop:

Last week in writing, we were finishing up our introductions and topic sentences in our nonfiction draft booklets.  We also had an opportunity for some creative writing experiences--the students LOVED using the Seesaw app to type a fictional piece using emojis. Below are some photos of the mini-lesson example and some beginnings of student stories....

Above: Mark Y's creative emoji story

Above: Daniella's creative emoji story

Reading Workshop:

In reading last week, the students were focusing on learning the various text structures in nonfiction texts: Descriptive, Sequential, Cause/Effect or Comparison.  They used graphic organizers to then pull the important information from those various text structures to better comprehend what they were reading.

Math:

In math last week, the students were working on solving story problems using the various capacity and weight measurements.  In the photos below, you'll see how students approach the problems by using different strategies.  This is a great way for them to model a solution and teach their peers another way to arrive at a solution.  Students then engage in "math talk" and compliment each others' strategies or ask questions to clear up any confusion.  It also shows them how they can check their work -- when students don't arrive at the same solution, we discuss as a class where the error is and how to make changes to be successful.  

Above: Alice is drawing circles.  Each circle represents 10 ml.  She drew 37.5 circles and then crossed out 25 of them.  That showed her a solution of 12.5 circles = 125ml.

Above: Sean started at 250 and added 50 to get up to 300.  He then knew he had to add 75 more to get to 375.  Therefore, he added 50+75 = 125 ml.

Ryan drew the 2 containers of water.  One being 12 ml and the other labeled 18ml.  He combined those two containers to = 30 ml.

Maia used a number equation to add 18+12 = 30 ml.

Yousif is taking the 28L of hot chocolate and dividing it by the 4 hours.  Then you see him using his count bys to determine the solution.  (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28) = 7L.

Maya P is drawing a math mountain to solve the above story problem.  She is solving for 50/10 = 5ml.

 

Mark D used a number equation...he knew he needed to divide but used his knowledge of fact families to solve for _____ x 10 = 50.  You can see he then arrived at an answer of 5ml.

After focusing on our story problems...the students were introduced to our next big concept of unit 3...TIME!  They practiced telling time to the nearest 15 minutes--the students are expected to tell time and say it various ways.  For example, if the clock says 3:45...the students need to be able to write three forty-five or a quarter to 4:00.  Then they practiced telling time to the nearest five minutes and lastly, to the nearest minute. We will continue to study time all next week too!

Social Studies:

ALL ABOARD! The students wore a Pilgrim or conductor hat to board the Northeast Train for our tour.  Our first stop...West Quoddy Head in Maine. The students learned that the sun rises there before any other part of the country and is the easternmost point of the U.S.  After that stop, they were given souvenirs and added them to their Region binders.  After leaving West Quoddy Head, the train took them to New Hampshire---stop #2 Mt. Washington.    The students learned Mount Washington is known for having the world's worst weather.  It has severe winds that can reach up to 253mph.  Everyone held onto their seats after reading that one! Next week, we will continue our tour of the Northeast!