~ FRIDAY, FRIDAY ~

AROUND THE SCHOOL

February 26th - March 9th:  ISTEP 3rd & 4th Grade
February 26th:  Six Flags Reading Logs Due Today
March 2nd:  Read Across America
March 11th:  Spring Forward
March 12th-16th:  IREAD *3rd Grade
March 15th:  Family Nature Night



LANGUAGE ARTS
We only met on Tuesday with Monday off for President's Day.


1ST GRADE:  ACRONYMS:  This week we looked closer at the illustrations in Wumbers and how they help give a clue to the Wumber.  We stopped when we reached a page full of acronyms!  This was a perfect opportunity to discuss what those letters were representing.  We looked at some of the acronyms included in our story:  ASAP, EMT, ER, TLC - some of these were tricky so I also referenced LOL.  After discussing the meanings of the letters we were able to come up with a definition for acronyms - they were shortcuts we use to represent a longer phrase.  We will continue to work with acronyms next week.

2ND GRADE:  THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX:  We started our week by filling out connections to what we read last week.  While working on assigned reading, they will either complete a connection worksheet or reading analyzer.  Our second grade language arts students study connections throughout their entire curriculum - I love to share this story with the students because of how many connections they will find throughout their reading.  Next we had a class discussion over chapters 3 & 4.  We discussed in detail what their thoughts were to Despereaux not fitting in and struggling to follow the mouse rules.  We also were introduced to his fascination with the light.  We ended our day discussing what might happen next since he broke the one rule even Despereaux obeyed - Never reveal yourself to a human.  Next week we will continue on with our novel study.

3RD GRADE: PERSUASIVE WRITING:  It was finally time to present our essays.  They were excited and ready to share.  This week each student presented their persuasive writing to the class.  Their fellow students used the rubric they followed to rate each piece of writing.  I like to let them see the grading to a rubric because it helps them understand the importance of meeting the criteria of the rubric.  They will see rubrics throughout their entire school career and the better of an understanding they have for it, the more success they will have in completing assignments.  We held a class discussion and it was nice to hear some people open up to other ideas shared - even if it was the opposite side.  We concluded that these books are made for two different audiences.  Me...Jane is a great introduction into Jane Goodall for a pre-k through 1st grade audience and The Watcher is better suited as a book for 2nd through 4th as a quick introduction into Jane Goodall's life.  This was a great lesson for comparing and contrasting, as they developed strong arguments to their feelings on the topic.


MATH




1ST GRADE:  NEGATIONS:
This week the students finished their Carroll Diagram Packet.  Then it was time for some review.  We want to concentrate on using proper shape names at this point in the year, so we had some SmartBoard fun to review shapes and their attributes!  

We had just enough time to introduce our next step with Carroll Diagrams - Negations.  When I started filling in the Carroll Diagram repeating the same two names for labels, they were quick to point out my error! 


 Until, I continued on and placed an X through one of  the duplicates.  Then they realized it wasn't an error and were excited to see our new way to sort using the Carroll Diagram.  


We will continue to work with negations next week.

Some Extra photos from last week - my phone didn't upload them all and too cute not to share! 

2ND GRADE:  ALL ABOUT FACES:  We reviewed our charts from counting edges, faces and vertices last week.  We only saw differences in our edges.  This error occurred more from them losing track of the edges they counted verse not understanding the edge on the shape.  We discussed faces and how they are the 2d shape we see while looking at one particular side to a 3d shape.  They stamped out the faces of 3d shapes, by tracing each face to one of our shapes.  This allowed them to see the 2d face on paper.  

It defined our chart from last week, where they identified a triangular prism had a total of 5 faces: 2 triangles and 3 rectangles.  Now they are ready to prepare for the Floor Design Challenge. 
 We reviewed the requirements and looked at the checklist they must complete to evaluate their design. Then we placed some shapes on the grid for a floor design, however it did not pass the requirements.  We switched out one shape and than it was perfect!  For the remainder of class, the students practiced different designs on their boards.  Next week they will create their final design.

3RD GRADE:  LOGIC FUN:  
This week we took our Chapter Check-up.  Just as I suspected, they rocked it out!  They have been doing very well with patterns in an array.   To have some fun, we tried a logic puzzle this week.  They took some time to complete it on their own.  However, they reached a point where they were stuck.  As a class, we began to work through the logic puzzle.  
They really need to look at the clues and then go back and look again.  It is a great activity to exercise their brains with these types of challenges.  We will be introducing different brain teasers for the students to complete, if they finish an assignment early.  We will finish solving this one together next week.  Next time they are on their own!
*We were so busy working out the logic puzzle together, we forgot to take photos this week!  Will try to take some extra photos next week.



4TH GRADE:  LOGIC FUN:  They needed some more time to complete their Chapter Check-ups.  After they finished, they were to complete a logic puzzle.  These are great activities to exercise their brains with these different challenges.  
 However, they reached a point where they were stuck.  As a class, we began to work through the logic puzzle.  They really need to look at the clues and then go back and look again.  We will be introducing different brain teasers for the students to complete if they finish an assignment early.  I feel confident after working through parts of this one together they are ready to complete them on their own.

Enjoy the Weekend!

Ms Losinski

~ HAPPY FRIDAY ~

We have a lot of information in the blog this week!  It is another another combination of two weeks with this blog.  I was under the weather last weekend and didn't get to post a blog with the snow day Friday.  It worked out perfectly because this was a short week for both groups with me being out on Monday and Valentine's Day fun around the school on Wednesday.

AROUND THE SCHOOL

February 19th: President's Day - No School
February 20th: Donations Due for          Jump Rope for Heart
February 21st:  Author Visit - Carolyn Crimi
February 22nd: Science Fair 6-7PM
February 26th - March 9th:  ISTEP 3rd & 4th Grade




LANGUAGE ARTS



1ST GRADE:  LIPOGRAMS:  This week we finished our lipograms.  We came back together as a whole group and came up with a strategy to pick our letter for the lipogram.  We looked at our piece of writing and counted out how many words we would change per each of our 5 letters. 
This led us to use the "I" because we only had to change 2 words.  They needed a quick reminder that we could change a phrase and not just one word.  Together we worked through the second lipogram.  They began the third one on their own and it was great to see them strategies on the letter to choose.  This gave them some time to brainstorm different words as they selected their letter for their lipogram.
  Next it was onto our next lesson. 

First, they completed a worksheet as an introduction to our next lesson.  They had to come up with 1 to 3 numbers or letters to represent the sounds of different words.  This was a little tricky at first, but when we went over it, it made much more sense.  This led us into our next secret message. 

The reverse cipher wheel - which told us that Numbers can stand for sounds in words.  We referred to their introduction worksheet to the word before = BE4 and anyone = NE1.  This explained are secret message perfectly!  Next we previewed the story Wumbers by Amy Krouse Resenthal.  This book was full of examples of numbers acting as a sound in a word.  We read the story once through and looked back at it a second time to complete a chart on the different wumbers we identified.
We will continue this lesson next week.




2ND GRADE:  THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX:  The students were introduced to their new Novel...The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.  This week we worked on some introductory activities for our novel. 
We started with our predictions.  Again, they looked at the cover and made a prediction to our entire story.  Then we completed a new prediction tracker.  This one has us agree or disagree with a statement and then we must find proof throughout the story to go with the statement. 

This will either make our first statement true or we will have the option to change it based on our evidence.  Then we worked on an activity comparing the idea of light and dark, which will be a theme throughout the story.  Lastly, we brainstormed what it means to be a hero.  It was interesting to see the different ideas to define a hero.  We ended our introductory unit by completing our Venn Diagram comparing ourselves to a friend.  After being introduced to some of the themes they will see in the story - they were finally ready to begin our story.  This week we started our new novel.
HOMEWORK:  Please read chapters 3 & 4.  They have a sheet to write down any questions as they read.  Plus, one to track connections.



3RD GRADE:  PERSUASIVE WRITING:  This week we reviewed our T-Charts together.  While walking through each one, we would vote on which story the children preferred with each element. 
This was a great way for the children to see visually which book they should select with the persuasion paper.  We reviewed the rubric the children are using while composing their paragraphs.  This led us into a brief review into our hamburger model.  If they students follow their hamburger model, they will reach most of the points automatically with the rubric. 

As a class, we composed a thesis statement for each book.  Then they used the remainder of their time to complete their hamburger model and turn it into a paragraph. 


When they finished their paragraph we practiced peer editing.  The students traded with a partner as an extra set of eyes to look over their grammar.  Next week we will share our persuasive writing.


MATH

1ST GRADE:  We continued to practice our tree sorting skills.  Our tree branches have grown and we were sorting multiple attributes on a tree.  They really enjoyed our tree sorting game! 

Next we changed gears from tree sorting to using a Carroll Diagram to sort our shapes.  The students discovered that the author Lewis Carroll not only wrote books, but was a great mathematician.  

The purpose of the Carroll diagram is to allow us to sort shapes in a visual graph.  It is another way for the students to compare and contrast the different shapes and attributes. They are all doing very well with the new way of sorting.  

We will add onto this concept next week.  




2ND GRADE:  3D SHAPES:  To focus on our 3D shapes we completed some SmartBoard activities.  First, we completed one that helped us name our 3D shapes. 



Then we worked on one that helped us count our attributes to the number of faces, edges and vertices.  This was perfect practice that we completed together because it led into their independent work. 

On their own, they had to use a shape and complete a chart filling in the numbers for the attributes for that shape.  






We will continue to work with our 3D shapes and their attributes next week.
  



3RD GRADE:  ARROW PATTERNS:  This was a fast lesson!  The students were introduced to arrow math for solving patterns of a group of numbers in an array.  We worked on this idea when we discovered the plus and minus rules of a number on the 100's chart.  
This time it was changed with the students given a smaller set of numbers arranged in a 7 by 5 array.  The students needed to figure out the rule of what each arrow symbolized.   After they completed the patterns for the arrow, the students were given a number and then told to follow the arrow pattern and fill in the number.  They were given a challenge and we discussed what a pattern would look like if it cancelled out the pattern.  
This concept to undo a number led us into our Think Deeply response.  On their own they were asked to explain how to undo arrow math and to show two examples of this.  


They were very quick to realize that if you have arrows going in opposite directions they cancel each other out.





4TH GRADE:  REVIEW:  Over the past two weeks, we have completed chapter 1.  In small groups, they investigated for the  solution of their Think Deeply.  The Think Deeply question, required them to write out how they solved the problem - using words, pictures and equations.  

They have grown tremendously with their responses and amount of details they are including in their Think Deeply questions.  Next it was onto some review before the Chapter Check-up.  



We completed a few different SmartBoard activities to practice for the check-up.  We reviewed equivalent fractions and the ordering of a set of fractions.  Then it was time for the chapter check-up.  The check-up allows us to monitor where they are at with the material we have covered before moving onto our next unit.  



If I see there is an area where all students struggled, we will take the time to review that material before moving forward. We will move onto our new chapter next week.

Ms. Losinski