~ FAMILY FRIDAY ~
Welcome Back! It was great to see all of my students again this week. We have many fun projects,as we are rapidly racing to our finish line. This week I was feeling generous with our quote, so each class got a chance to listen to a hint to figure it out. Our quote reminds us to not hide who we truly are or change to “fit in” with a certain stereotype. All leading us back to be who you are and to be yourself!
I have had our final theme for May planned, since the beginning of the year. I am excited to share that our theme for the month of May is Ohana. This is a very special quote I personally use in my family, as it has slowly grown to be a motto in my personal household. I can’t wait to share this motto with them this month, as they have all extended my Ohana and made it grow by 29!
IMPORTANT DATES
May 1st - May 5th: Teacher Appreciation Week
May 3rd: Early Dismissal Day - 1:45pm
May 12: Yost Fest
May 19th: No School - Reserved Snow Day
May 29th: No School - Memorial Day
May 31st: Last Day of School & End of 4th Grading Period
LANGUAGE ARTS
Then it was onto persuasion. We talked about how we can persuade someone to believe our opinion by using the Hamburger Model. As a class, they chose to persuade me that the Cubs were better than the White Sox - talk about a tough one right out the gate! They had some good reasons, however it led us into the discussion of making sure our reasons were strong enough to persuade someone. 
They mentioned using that they won the World Series, which of course I countered with the Sox have also won the World Series. They were quick on their feet stating we could use this against a team that has never won a world series, which would make it a strong reason against maybe a Seattle Mariners Fan. We continued walking through the steps of the Hamburger Model.
On Tuesday I demonstrated writing a story to a special object using the Hamburger Model. Then it was time for them to try it. They created their own piece of writing on persuasion and turned it into a hamburger. Their goal was to convince me that their object was special - they had some strong reasons today.
1ST GRADE: HIEROGLYPHICS: On Monday, we had a little added practice with our Rebus Puzzles, since they enjoyed this unit so much. We played 3 rounds of win-lose-or-draw. To end the day, we looked at our new message. We needed to decode a Hieroglyphic Message. After a few minutes of looking at the message, I explained to them that they would not be able to decode this until we studied Hieroglyphics further . For fun, I asked them to write what they thought the symbols represented. They had some fun with this, as they created some silly stories. 
On Tuesday, I showed them one chart that represented a letter to a Hieroglyphic. After, they saw some similar symbols from their secret message, they started to connect it back to yesterday’s secret message. We then made 3 charts together as a class: What we (think we) know, What we want to learn, What we learned. This led us into a discussion on our background knowledge, questioning our reading and new
learning.
They thought the chart titled what we (think we) know was silly. So I challenged them with why our background knowledge might need to change. They quickly realized that sometimes it might be wrong and we would need to correct it. They will explore their new story next week to clarify and answer all of our questions we have on our new topic.
2ND GRADE: THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX: We came in on Monday and briefly discussed the assigned reading from home. We had some important events happen and they did a good job remembering those details. Then we finished reading Book the 3rd. As we were reading we were again able to talk about the important details out-loud. This was a great representation of our inner voice talking to us while we read. 
On Tuesday, it was time for our discussion on Book the Third. We complete a worksheet which introduced some questions on comfort. After we completed the worksheet, we identified the cycle Migs goes through in our story: told to do something - misunderstands it & screws-up - receives a clout to the ear - causes her to slowly lose her hearing/ going deaf. This is her never-ending cycle throughout our story. They are beginning to connect how she will become a part Roscuro’s Revenge, without intentionally being involved. I will repeat this lesson with my friends that were out for the field trip on Tuesday, while the other students will read around the room. 
This week they were assigned to start Book the 4th. They were assigned to read chapters 34-37. We will continue with Book the 4th next week.
3RD GRADE: PROBLEM-SOLVING: They were introduced to the idea of problem-solution this week. In a group, they brainstormed ideas related to cheating. They needed to pick their top choice and present it in a complete sentence. Their top choice dealt with the idea not cheating off of another because you do not know if the other person has the correct answer. This already led them to their solution of cheating - simply don’t do it and trust your own answers.
We took a look at one more problem from a discussion we shared on Monday. Ms. L doesn’t like coasters - how can they help me get over my fear of coasters to ride them with my daughter. Their first response was they were going to trick me onto it or force me onto it - to which I responded how can you force me onto it - I am not going! Then they thought for a moment and the ideas started coming: they would share stories, we would watch a video, we could look at pictures, go on virtual coasters. To end this activity, they thought it would be great to take and field trip and take Ms. L on a coaster...however, I might need some more time to prepare!
4TH GRADE: IT’S A MYSTERY: It is time for them to take on the role of the author. Over the past few weeks, we have researched about what makes a good mystery. Now they are ready to write their own. We reviewed what details their mystery should have - clues, red herring clues and suspects. We had a brief discussion on how to use our red-herring clues to not give the mystery away to early. 
Then it was time for the twist - each student took a part to the story: characters, setting, plot, problems, ending. They were each responsible for coming up with 25 ideas for their section.
On Tuesday, they drew for the items that they would need to incorporate into their story. It is very clear that some of our mysteries might also follow the traits of humorous fiction. They were allowed to trade in 2 of their picks for a new one, the chance they took - it might be better or worse!
After they traded in their 2 they are locked into their story elements. We will have class time next week to work on these and then they will share them with the class. I did explain to them depending on how well they utilize their class time, they might need to utilize time at home to finish their stories. They seem really excited about this project and I can’t wait to hear them when they present.
MATH
KINDERGARTEN: BAR GRAPHS: On Wednesday, it was time for them to create their own Bar Graph with our data from our Favorite Desserts. This time they were in charge of recording all of the data. After they completed the graph, we looked at the data they recorded and answered some questions to what they discovered. We ended the day practicing writing different numbers in tally marks.
On Thursday, we changed to independent practice with a bar graph. They each chose a topic and recorded the data for the given chart. After they created their own chart, it was time for them to create some challenging questions to trade with a partner - to practice reading our data. This is where we will continue next week.
I am very happy to see all of the growth from the beginning of the year preview to the end of the year assessment. We had some HUGE gains!
On Thursday they completed some worksheets to see what would be our next topic to review before the end of the year.
To end the day, we wanted to join in the Dance Party fun in HA. We thought it would be a perfect way to celebrate all our hard work we completed for our friends Imi and Zani.
Enjoy some photos from Crazy Hair Day and Dance Party Day!
2ND GRADE: AREA - THE MEERKAT MOB: On Wednesday, we finished discussing the scavenger hunt and reviewed all of the information we learned on area so far. We did continue our wrap up on Thursday, to help our friends who were missing on Wednesday from the field trip. We discussed the different units of measurement we learned for area. 
This led us into making sure we choose the right area for what we are measuring based on the size of the area. We also discussed 4 strategies we learned to find area. For my visual learners, it was using our tools in the room: our cubed cm, 1 inch square tiles, 1 square foot scrapbook sheet, and our transparent grids. Our other strategies our for our friends who love computation: for both we find the dimensions first and then can find the area by repeated
addition or multiplication.
Next we had to respond to our friends Dru and Teller. They measured an area and got a number of 13. We needed to decide what unit of measurement was used and explain how we knew it. The last thing they asked was why we would use a transparent grid for area. 
Next week - Chapter Check-up!
3RD GRADE: LIQUID VOLUME - YUMMY YETI LEMONADE: To begin class this week a few friends needed to finish their Think Deeply question from last week. For those that were finished, I gave them another challenge on the board to convert. After everyone had a chance to find the answer, we worked through the problem together as a class. It was some added practice, which was perfect as we will add onto this in our next lesson.
Our end goal we will finish next week, is what is the best value to purchase to provide the refreshment in this project?
First for our visual learners you could simply graph the points you have and find a translation between two points to find the missing point.
They had trouble explaining this as they would skip the how they found the translation, so we went back and reviewed this step after they completed their Think Deeply. Our other strategy was to make a chart with the original and prime coordinates. Then look for the translation by finding the difference between two points. It seems they all preferred our first strategy. We will conclude this chapter next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment