~ 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

~ FREEZING FRIDAY ~

AROUND THE SCHOOL

February 7th:  Early Dismissal at 1:45
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
*We will be in school on February 16th, as a make-up snow day*

Kindergarten Testing:

This first week has been used to screen all kindergarten students at Yost using the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT).  It's actually a fun test for the kids taken in the Computer Lab.  Students who score a certain score on the screener will be taking the full CogAT test in the following weeks.  CogAT is one of the pathways to being identified as being high ability or having the potential to being high ability.  CogAT picks up on that "potential" HA student.  It shows how they think . . . that out of the box thinking . . . .ability to make connections that others of their age are unable to do.  These students often go undetected in the classroom.  They don't have to be your high readers and often times are not.  The other test used to identify an HA student is their end of the year NWEA scores (95th percentile or higher).  We will have this data at the end of the school year.  The third piece of potential data used is the teacher component using the Scales for Identifying Gifted Students (SIGS).  It's important to look at all three pieces of data as a whole before identifying students.  For those of you who may have older children in the program, our program is changing . .. for the better.   All you need to know is it's what's best for kids, so we know we are moving in the right direction.  More details to follow . . . 

LANGUAGE ARTS



1ST GRADE:  LIPOGRAMS: 
This week it was time for the students to create their own lipograms.  To begin this process, we wrote a beginning, middle and ending to summarize our story E-Mergency.  
The challenge to creating our lipograms was they had to use one of the 5 most used letters:  E, T, A, O & I.  As a group, we created the lipogram for the beginning - we thought "A" would be a wise letter to choose, as we would have to change only about 5 words.  They did a great job creating this lipogram together!  Now it was time for them to try it on their own.  We will continue to work with lipograms next week.



2ND GRADE:  EDWARD TULANE:  This week we finished our journey with Edward Tulane!  The students did a great job with our first novel study.  This week the students reflected on our question from last week - is a connection lost when it is broken?  Before writing, the students created a web and brainstormed 3 ideas to support their answer.  This was a challenge at first cause most came up with two reasons and were struggling to find their 3rd piece of evidence. 
 As a class, we revisited each of Edward's connections that were broken and discussed what happened with that connection:  meeting again later in life, always having the memories live-on with you, or the lessons a friendship may teach you.  This helped spark some ideas for their 3rd detail.  After they completed their reflections, each student shared their thoughts with the class.  Next week they will be introduced to our new novel study - they are VERY excited!


3RD GRADE:  COMPARE & CONTRAST:  This week the students continued to complete their T-Chart for their author comparison.  When everyone finished we read the ending note of each, so they could complete the last comparison.  We had a few minutes to discuss some of the major differences to our stories.  Although they our both biographies on Jane Goodall, one focuses on her life work and one is teaching us the message to reach for your dream.  We saw a major difference in length and details between the book.  This made most students quickly prefer The Watcher as it had more information to share with us. 

 However, it brought up a different debate on if it was an appropriate picture book for all of our younger audiences or if we would lose their attention.  This was leading into the importance of them being able to convince me to their side.  Next week they will begin to write their persuasion papers.  I am excited because it looks like we will have both books represented.

MATH



1ST GRADE:  SHAPE ATTRIBUTES: 
It was time to write our response to our Think Deeply question.  This was very similar to their independent work from earlier in the lesson.  They were given a 2-loop game to solve.  They had to identify the labels, place shapes in all three sections of the loop and place one shape on the outside of the loops.  This time they had to explain what qualified a shape to fit into the overlap of both circles. 


 Imi and Zani sent us a memo needing us to explore sorting math attributes using a tree diagram.  The one loop game sorted shapes by one attribute.  A benefit to the tree diagram verse the one-loop game was the ability to sort more than one attribute at once. 






 We will continue working with the tree diagram next week.

2ND GRADE:  INTRO TO 3D SHAPES:  This week we wrote our Think Deeply response to Dru and Teller.  They needed our help in explaining the differences between a cube and a square.  

As a class, we wrote all the attributes to a square and cube together before they completed this assignment independently.  These guys were Rockstars in explaining the cube!  They described it using all of the proper terms:  12 edges, 8 vertices and 6 faces. 

 I was very impressed that they were also able to give me the correct numbers for our shape.  We had some time to look at our Think Beyond cards this week, which let us have some more bubble fun!  This week we created a hypercube.  They were looking forward to this experiment.  

We were able to create bubble shapes inside each of our 3D shapes too!  Then they each took a turns with some more bubble fun.  We will begin our new lesson next week. 

3RD GRADE:  PUZZLING PUZZLES:  
This week it was time for our Think Deeply question.  The students were asked to pick one of their puzzling puzzles they solved and explain the steps they used to solve it. Plus, they were to describe any patterns they saw with it.
  As a class, we had time to complete a Think Beyond card. 
 They students had to solve a puzzle using numbers between 700-730 without any numbers in the grid as a hint.  The second part of the question had us look for multiple solutions, which they were able to find them all.  To end the week, they completed the math cards.  We will begin a new lesson next week.



4TH GRADE:  MAKING SENSE OF FRACTIONS:  This week we started our first step to solving our Think Deeply question.  For part one they were allowed to work in groups.  The students had to solve a layout for the Gazette.  They had to solve for the missing fraction piece, which was the largest because it was the main article.  Then they had to find away to arrange the 5 articles on the front page of the newspaper.  This was a challenge because they were given fractions with different denominators.  They had to solve for a common denominator before they could solve for the layout. 



Both Groups successfully completed part one and created their layouts for their newspaper.
 Next week they will write their responses individually as part 2 of their Think Deeply.

Enjoy the Weekend,

Ms. Losinski