FEELING LIKE FALL FRIDAY
Welcome! This week I introduced my language arts students to our theme within the room this year. I will introduce my math friends to the theme next week. Building off of last year, we are going to have a weekly Super Hero Power. Our Super Hero Power will come from the board where each student wrote on a star their own Super Power. A super power is their special character trait. Next week, I will share our bulletin board with all of our Super Powers on display. Each week we will feature one of our Super Powers for our focus in the room.
Our theme this year: Be a SUPER,
Be INCREDIBLE!
Be INCREDIBLE!
AROUND THE SCHOOL
October 3rd: Early Dismissal Day - 1:45pm
October 13th: End of 1st Quarter
October 20th: Report Cards Available Online
October 20th: Report Cards Available Online
October 24th: Picture Retake Day
October 27th - Fall Recess - No School
WEEKLY LIFE GOAL: Truthfulness
LANGUAGE ARTS
1st Grade: Coat of Arms: This week we took the time to examine our product we created for our Coat of Arms project. To help us add to our definition of a connection, we discussed what each patch should have displayed.
We were looking for symbols or a representation of what the patch was connecting to the student.
On Tuesday, we moved onto our next lesson. The students were introduced to the secret message. Every time we move onto a new lesson, we will work on decoding a secret message. This week they were introduced to the Caesar Cipher Wheel. After learning how to work the wheel, the students began to decode our secret message.
2nd Grade: Eldorado: This week we wrapped up our unit on Eldorado. Last week, the students struggled with defining a theme. So we started with a brief discussion on what themes occur throughout literature. Then it was time for the students to fill in the main idea on their reading analyzer.
After completing the reading analyzer, we looked back at our first attempt of what the poem meant. For a second time, we reflected on the meaning of the poem with much more knowledge to complete this task.
Next, we looked at a VENN Diagram. The students were explained that we use this tool to help us compare and contrast. To learn how to complete a VENN Diagram the students compared our knight from the poem to an image of knight. They all seemed familiar with the VENN diagram, just a little shaky with our topic we used to complete it.
To end the week, the students were introduced to our novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. I explained to the students that this is a book study that will take us until winter break to complete. We began by making some predictions by using the title and cover. We will continue with our predictions next week.
3rd Grade: Human/Animal Interactions: On Monday, we reviewed our human and animal interactions. After a brief discussion, I displayed a page from our book showing a Dog Talk Quiz. They had to match an image of the dog with what they inferred it meant about the dog.
Then, they used the remainder of class time to complete Interpreting Dog Interactions. The students picked one Training Tip from the book and read through the steps. In their own words, they were asked to describe the process. To finish the worksheet, they described each generalization with the interaction of their training tip.
4th Grade: Changes in Vocabulary: This week we focused on our Greek and Latin Roots packet. They completed some questions based on a selection they read. This packet gave them information on our word parts: prefix, word root, and suffix. It also gave us the history of our words through the Greek and Latin languages and how those languages grew into our English language today. We will continue with our Greek and Latin Roots next week.
1st Grade: Unit Introduction: To review from last week, we played a matching game identifying the following shapes: triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, & hexagon. Then, we looked at our Think Deeply question.
A Think Deeply question is where the students correspond with Imi and Zani throughout the year. The questions are based on the math concept from the lesson. For this question, we were looking at strategies for winning Zani Lingo.
We held a discussion reviewing what we knew about the rules of Zani Lingo, leading us to our strategies of how to win the game. This information allowed us to respond back to our friends Imi and Zani.
While we wait for a response from them, we used this time to play another matching game. I also used this time to point out our word wall displaying all of our shapes. 1 student has been using this tool as a reminder of sides for our new shapes. I challenged the students to identify how many quadrilaterals were on the word wall. They found 4: a square, rectangle, rhombus and trapezoid.
2nd Grade: Symmetry: This week we worked with triangles and manipulated them into a pattern on a square. Each student was given a 3x3 square and asked to figure out the number of lines of symmetry. They quickly discovered the answer was 4.
We then looked at our square and discovered there were 8 triangles in it. Then, they were given 2 different shades of paper to fold and cut out the triangles, along the lines of symmetry. Next, they had to recreate a design within a 3x3 square using the triangles they cut out. Next week, we will look for our lines of symmetry in our designs.
3rd Grade: Repeating Patterns: EUREKA! We wrapped up repeating patterns! I know it was a long process as we went through the procedures of our first Think Deeply, but they did it! This week we looked at the second Think Deeply with the lesson and answered it together step-by-step.
They have a good foundation of what is expected of them and will improve with their writing throughout the year. They still wont be completely on their own with these. When a student completes a Think Deeply, I will look over it and lead them if they need to add onto their thoughts. Our end goal, is to have them successfully completing them individually by the end of the year. The students were all very excited to know we will be starting our next lesson next week.
4th Grade: Equivalent Fractions: We did not meet on Thursday because of a 4th Grade Presentation. On Thursday, we began our Think Deeply. The Think Deeply will be the wrap-up to each lesson. It is a time where the students are given a question to solve based on our lesson.
This is where they must think like a mathematician because they must explain the math concept by writing out the steps. Before they write, we will always have a discussion reviewing the math concepts. Today's discussion tied the creating of fraction strips together with equivalent fractions. They were all excited to learn how simple it was to find an equivalent fraction the mathematical way.
We practiced the rule of multiplying the numerator and the denominator by the same number with smaller fractions. However, I challenged the group to try one with a larger fraction. SUCCESS! A student gave us the fraction of 15/25 that we multiplied by 5/5 to get our equivalent fraction of 75/125. This allowed them to see a simple way to find equivalent fractions. They were thinking like mathematicians this week as they mastered this concept. They will complete their Think Deeply question next week.
WEEKLY LIFE GOAL: Truthfulness
LANGUAGE ARTS
1st Grade: Coat of Arms: This week we took the time to examine our product we created for our Coat of Arms project. To help us add to our definition of a connection, we discussed what each patch should have displayed. 
We were looking for symbols or a representation of what the patch was connecting to the student.
On Tuesday, we moved onto our next lesson. The students were introduced to the secret message. Every time we move onto a new lesson, we will work on decoding a secret message. This week they were introduced to the Caesar Cipher Wheel. After learning how to work the wheel, the students began to decode our secret message.
We will continue practicing this decoding technique next week.
2nd Grade: Eldorado: This week we wrapped up our unit on Eldorado. Last week, the students struggled with defining a theme. So we started with a brief discussion on what themes occur throughout literature. Then it was time for the students to fill in the main idea on their reading analyzer. 
After completing the reading analyzer, we looked back at our first attempt of what the poem meant. For a second time, we reflected on the meaning of the poem with much more knowledge to complete this task. 
To end the week, the students were introduced to our novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. I explained to the students that this is a book study that will take us until winter break to complete. We began by making some predictions by using the title and cover. We will continue with our predictions next week.
3rd Grade: Human/Animal Interactions: On Monday, we reviewed our human and animal interactions. After a brief discussion, I displayed a page from our book showing a Dog Talk Quiz. They had to match an image of the dog with what they inferred it meant about the dog. 
Then, they used the remainder of class time to complete Interpreting Dog Interactions. The students picked one Training Tip from the book and read through the steps. In their own words, they were asked to describe the process. To finish the worksheet, they described each generalization with the interaction of their training tip. 
I asked the students to be observers this week. I would like for them to come back to class and share an interaction they observed outside of class and be able to describe it with our 3 generalizations of an interaction.
4th Grade: Changes in Vocabulary: This week we focused on our Greek and Latin Roots packet. They completed some questions based on a selection they read. This packet gave them information on our word parts: prefix, word root, and suffix. It also gave us the history of our words through the Greek and Latin languages and how those languages grew into our English language today. We will continue with our Greek and Latin Roots next week.
MATH
1st Grade: Unit Introduction: To review from last week, we played a matching game identifying the following shapes: triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, & hexagon. Then, we looked at our Think Deeply question.
A Think Deeply question is where the students correspond with Imi and Zani throughout the year. The questions are based on the math concept from the lesson. For this question, we were looking at strategies for winning Zani Lingo.
We held a discussion reviewing what we knew about the rules of Zani Lingo, leading us to our strategies of how to win the game. This information allowed us to respond back to our friends Imi and Zani. 
While we wait for a response from them, we used this time to play another matching game. I also used this time to point out our word wall displaying all of our shapes. 1 student has been using this tool as a reminder of sides for our new shapes. I challenged the students to identify how many quadrilaterals were on the word wall. They found 4: a square, rectangle, rhombus and trapezoid.
We will start a new lesson next week.
2nd Grade: Symmetry: This week we worked with triangles and manipulated them into a pattern on a square. Each student was given a 3x3 square and asked to figure out the number of lines of symmetry. They quickly discovered the answer was 4. 
We then looked at our square and discovered there were 8 triangles in it. Then, they were given 2 different shades of paper to fold and cut out the triangles, along the lines of symmetry. Next, they had to recreate a design within a 3x3 square using the triangles they cut out. Next week, we will look for our lines of symmetry in our designs. 
3rd Grade: Repeating Patterns: EUREKA! We wrapped up repeating patterns! I know it was a long process as we went through the procedures of our first Think Deeply, but they did it! This week we looked at the second Think Deeply with the lesson and answered it together step-by-step.
They have a good foundation of what is expected of them and will improve with their writing throughout the year. They still wont be completely on their own with these. When a student completes a Think Deeply, I will look over it and lead them if they need to add onto their thoughts. Our end goal, is to have them successfully completing them individually by the end of the year. The students were all very excited to know we will be starting our next lesson next week.
4th Grade: Equivalent Fractions: We did not meet on Thursday because of a 4th Grade Presentation. On Thursday, we began our Think Deeply. The Think Deeply will be the wrap-up to each lesson. It is a time where the students are given a question to solve based on our lesson. 
This is where they must think like a mathematician because they must explain the math concept by writing out the steps. Before they write, we will always have a discussion reviewing the math concepts. Today's discussion tied the creating of fraction strips together with equivalent fractions. They were all excited to learn how simple it was to find an equivalent fraction the mathematical way. 
We practiced the rule of multiplying the numerator and the denominator by the same number with smaller fractions. However, I challenged the group to try one with a larger fraction. SUCCESS! A student gave us the fraction of 15/25 that we multiplied by 5/5 to get our equivalent fraction of 75/125. This allowed them to see a simple way to find equivalent fractions. They were thinking like mathematicians this week as they mastered this concept. They will complete their Think Deeply question next week.
Ms. Losinski
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