~ FANTASTIC FRIDAY ~

Around the School

December 3rd - 6th - Santa's Workshop
December 7th - Winterfest 
from 5:30 to 7:30
December 12th - E-Learning Day
December 21st - End of 2nd Grading Period
December 24th - January 7th - Winter Recess
January 8th - Class Resumes

We only met one day this week because of the snow day on Monday.

2nd GRADE:  THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE:  

  It has been a crazy few weeks of activities around the school, which has affected our 2nd grade schedule.  We utilized this week as a catch up day, since it has been 2 weeks from our last class.  I read aloud the previous two assigned chapters.  We held a discussion on all of their reading and had lots to discuss.  We have reached an emotional part of our novel where we see a physical connection permanently break.  This led us into a discussion on if we still have a connection with a person after they pass away.  We decided that we still have our memories and photographs to help us remember this person.  The memories allow us to still have a connection with someone even though they are gone.  We had some time left at the end of class to look over our final set of predictions.  We will continue with this step next week.

This week the students were assigned to read Chapters 20 and 21.


3rd GRADE:  ANNOTATIONS:
  This week the students were introduced to annotations.  Annotations are different codes and symbols we use combined with notes to help us in close reading.  We combine annotations with notes in the margins to help us comprehend our reading.  We looked over the different symbols they gave us on a bookmark for annotations.  We also discussed using annotations on different forms of writing.  When you are given a paper to keep - mark it up because it is yours to keep.  If you are given a paper or book you must return, use sticky notes to keep track of your notes.  Next week we will practice using our annotations.



4th GRADE:  CHANGE IN LANGUAGE:
  This week we looked at how our language has changed over time.  I quickly showed them are vocabulary maps and discussed the origin box on this handout.  We also discussed how the meaning of a word can change just by adding a prefix or a suffix onto a word.  The students explored a packet on Greek and Latin words to see the change in our language.  They will continue exploring the change in language next week.

  

2nd GRADE:  INTRODUCTION TO AREA: 

 This week we looked over the chapter check-ups.  To wrap up measuring in length we played a round of Kahoot which covered most of the material from Chapter 1.  Next, we moved onto the new math concept for chapter 2 - it will be all about area. 

Dru and Teller need our help in discovering how many sleeping bags can fit comfortably in tents.  I displayed for them a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper and we discussed why this would be called a square foot.  We measured each side to see that each length is exactly 12 inches.  

We also discussed how to properly label a number when referring to area by using the 2 as the exponent.  To end the day, we worked on a range of an area to comfortably fit one sleeping bag.  Each student made a guess to how many square feet they thought we needed and this became our range to test out.  We had time to test out the lowest number in our range of 15 square feet.  We will look at the largest number they gave next week.

We will continue to explore area next week.

3rd GRADE:  AREA:

  This week we looked over the chapter check-up.  Then, we moved onto the new math concept for chapter 2- area.  We briefly looked at area at the end of chapter 1 with perimeter when selecting the largest pen.  We concluded one way to determine the inside space was to count the squares.  
To continue with this concept, we looked at the area of irregular shapes.  Each student outlined the shape of a fried egg.  First, they were asked to estimate the area of their shape.  Then, they needed to find a way to calculate the actual area.  Most of them already had a number of whole squares from this being their strategy to find their guess.  We looked at a trick of drawing a square or rectangle within the irregular shape and then applying the formula for area - a definite time saver!  Now they needed to find a way to incorporate their partial squares into their area.  They went about this in two different ways: One way was to piece the partial squares together like a puzzle.  The second way was looking at the partial squares as fractions and combing the partial squares in this way.  Some of my friends combined both strategies.  We will continue exploring area next week.

4th GRADE:  ORDERING FRACTIONS:

  We started with a mini-review of ordering fractions, since we had a large gap with break.  Then, we looked at two fractions and compared them by finding common denominators.  This was a review for us as we talked about this strategy earlier in the year.  

Next, they finished their independent practice with ordering fractions.  To end the week, we looked at question 5 from their worksheet - they were asked to order 14 fractions.  As a class we sorted the bags using benchmarks to work with the fractions in smaller groups. 

 This allowed us to have 3 smaller groups of bags to sort -a set between zero and a half, a set between a half and one whole and the last set over one whole.  The class split into 3 groups and organized these 3 different sections.  They were able to sort out all the bags on the first try!  We will wrap up ordering fractions next week.

Have a Great Weekend,

Ms Losinski