~ FAST-FLYING FRIDAY ~

I cannot believe how fast another year is flying by on us again!  It is hard to imagine the first day of winter will be here next week on December 21st.  Although it seems we are already feeling it!   You will see below we are also approaching the half-way point to our school year - next Friday ends the 2nd Quarter.  Where has the time gone?

AROUND THE SCHOOL

December 22nd: End of 2nd Quarter

December 25th: January 7th:

Winter Recess
January 8th: School Resumes

January 15th: No School - Martin Luther King Jr Day

LANGUAGE ARTS

1st Grade: Magical Anagrams: This week we reviewed the definition of an anagram. We read the preview to our next story The Great Show and Tell Disaster by Mike Reiss. In the preview, we focused on the anagrams they gave us for two students: Brian was turned into a Brain and Kristen was turned into a Stinker.




Then, it was time for the students to see if they could discover what the teacher Mrs. Eaton was turned into in our story. In a few minutes, the students took the letters in her name and turned her into a Monster! As we read the story, we paid close attention to the illustrations and how he brought the anagrams to life.
After our story, the students were introduced to a new tool - the vocabulary map. We use this tool to better understand new and interesting words. We practiced filling it out with the word colossal. In this form the students not only discover the definition to a word, but they are introduced to the synonym, antonym, part of speech and number of syllables. It also allows them to work with the word further by writing it in a sentence. It was great seeing them take their time thinking of the perfect sentence for our word. Next week we will continue to work with anagrams.

2nd Grade: Socratic Seminar: This week the students learned about using a Socratic Seminar to hold a discussion. We went over how a proper seminar would work. The class would be split into 2 groups each one taking a turn in the inner and outer circle. When a group was in the inner circle they would hold a discussion on certain questions given to lead the conversation. While they would discuss it, the outer circle evaluates their discussion.
They fill out a form with ideas that were important, ideas they liked, and a wish they thought would have happened during the discussion. Then the two groups would switch allowing each group an opportunity to participate in the inner and outer circle. We do not have a large enough group to run the Socratic Seminar properly, so we modified the rules slightly. The class participated in both sets of questions for the inner circle. They also did their best at taking down their thoughts to the discussion, while it took place. This was a bit of a challenge because they were busy sharing ideas. If time allowed, this group could have talked for 15 minutes on each topic! It is great hearing them share their thoughts and ideas from the story.

HOMEWORK: In their journals they were asked to reflect on what Edward's journey taught them.

3rd Grade:  Annotations:  This week was all about independent practice for this group.  It was now their turn to complete a close read with annotations.  They made a selection from 3 biographies of Jane Goodall of their choice.  They were allowed to work on around the room as they read through and used their annotations on their reading packet.

  After each paragraph, they are also required to add a few words or sentences expressing the main idea.  I had some students that took off with this project and some that needed a little more guidance.  This brought up the idea of knowing when you are complete - I shared with them that when there is more writing on your paper than white space is when you know you are done or close to finished. 
 To help those that needed a little more assistance on what to write - we discussed using what our inner voice is telling us when we are reading to guide our annotations.  Our inner voice is what tells us WOW that was amazing, I never knew that before, this seems important, or this part is a little tricky.  It also helps make connections throughout our reading to our background knowledge on the topic.  

After a discussion on our inner voice, they were able to fill up more of the white space on our papers.  We discussed why annotations are important to us as readers.  We know that they help us develop deeper meaning to our reading.  We also shared how the notes can help us find the information quicker in a discussion.  Maybe when studying for a test it would allow you to focus on the important details verse rereading an entire selection again.  Next week, we will finish this section on Jane Goodall.

MATH

1st Grade:  Angles:  We started our week by reviewing angles.  They were able to name all three angles, define them, draw an example of each and find them around the room.  Next, we discussed different ways to identify attributes on a person.  

Some examples were hair color, glasses, hair length, a color a person has on, or their height.  This introduced us to our next game - One Loop.  I would place students into our loop and they would have to solve the mystery of what they had in common.  They rocked this game out!  

Next we played the One Loop Game with shapes.  They were divided into two teams.  Each team receives a set of shape with different attributes and labels.  Team A places a label for the loop under the circle, while Team B will hold up a shape to see if it matches the rule.  

Team A would say yes or no to the shape shown. If the shape matches the rule they would place it in the circle, but if they were wrong they placed in on the outside of the circle.  They had a blast with this game.  Somehow each time the guessing team managed to pick a correct shape almost every time!  We said they must be mind readers.  We will continue to look at shape attributes next week.




Enjoy some extra photos from the week - we had lots of fun!

2nd Grade:  Chapter Check-up:  The students needed some more time to finish their thoughts with the Think Deeply question from last week.  We started by reviewing the key points that should be in their response.  We focused on the basic unit and how they positioned four different shapes to form 1 new hexagon. Then they finished their thoughts to Dru and Teller.  We had time to discuss a Think Beyond card that brought up the idea of how a square can go by many names.  We drew a square and wrote down the attributes to it.  

Then, we went over to our word wall and looked at each name that identified a square. This let us discuss how it can fit each definition.  This helped them to see it visually verse just discussing it.  Next, it was time for our chapter check-up.  The chapter check-up allows me to see where the students are with our information before moving onto the next chapter.  If I see we need to review any information based on their results, we will take some time to discuss those topics before moving onto chapter 2. 




3rd Grade:  Hundred's Chart:  This week we took some time to look at our patterns that our multiples formed and analyze them.  We identified the columns they were in and if they were moving in a vertical or slanted line.  If they were able to see a pattern with the multiples they would identify that too.  An example of that would be that all the multiples of 5 ends in a 5 or 0.
  They recorded these results with their 100's charts.  Next it was time to compare all the charts together.  We identified all charts that displayed a vertical pattern: 2, 5 & 10.  Then we explained why the multiples have this pattern.  One example was when we count by 10's the multiple always falls in the 10's column.  This idea is similar with our 5's as well with the multiple always falling in the column of our 5 or 10.  To finish this sheet, the students worked in small groups to finish analyzing their 100's charts. 

Some extra pictures from the week.



 
4th Grade:  Common Denominators:  This week the students continued working with their benchmarks to place a set of fractions in order.  We made a large number line on the board that the students could come up and work out any of the fractions they were struggling with in determining their position.  This allowed them to talk it out with me, as they still worked to solve it.  I saw their confidence grow the more they were able to solve them.  


Next, the students were asked to decide which fraction represented a larger amount of candy they would receive in a bag.  They decided to take the improper fractions and turn them into mixed numbers and then place them in order with their benchmarks.  This allowed them to quickly identify that one fraction represented 1 & 1/2 and the other was slightly more than a half.  
Our next set of fractions the children again chose to solve by changing the improper fraction to a mixed number.  However, this time they were each 1 part of their fraction away: 1/6 & 1/10.  Before talking out the solution, we took a vote to which candy bag the students would prefer.  
Then, we went back and discussed that when fractions are very close together they must consider the size of the fraction pieces.  As soon as I stated this, I had students immediately remember and visualize this making them want to switch their vote.  Being 1/10 of a fraction away from a whole than 1/6 made the fraction 19/10 our larger amount of candy.  
We had just enough time to let the students take our 4 bags of candy and place them in order from smallest to largest.  1 student quickly caught on that this was practice to them placing the 14 bags from their worksheet in order for next week.  We will continue working with ordering fractions next week. 



Have a Great Weekend,

Ms. Losinski  

~ FREEZING FRIDAY ~

AROUND THE SCHOOL

December 22nd: End of 2nd Quarter

December 25th: January 7th:
Winter Recess
January 15th: No School - Martin Luther King Jr Day


LANGUAGE ARTS

1st Grade: Word Ladders: This week was all about word ladders! We went over the history and steps to completing them last week. We had a quick reminder and they completed a packet for independent practice. They zoomed through most of the packet! The last page was a little tricky so we worked through some of them together.


Next, the students completed a worksheet where they cut out four letters and created a word. To complete this, they spread out around the room to keep their new word a secret. Now onto decoding our secret message. In order to decode this message, the students would need a mirror.
First, they looked at the message on their own. Next, they turned around and looked in the mirror. They were shocked to see the message reflecting back at them! I showed them another trick to use if they don't have a mirror - holding the paper backwards and up to the light. Like magic the message would appear!

I shared with the students that Leonardo De Vinci used mirror language to keep his notes to his inventions a secret. We regrouped and I placed four post-it notes on the board with the letters: T, P, S, & O. One at a time the students came to the board and arranged the letters to show the word they created earlier. I was surprised to see they all came up with a different word: POTS, STOP, and TOPS.
Together, we shared that we could also make the words SPOT and POST. I explained to the students that an anagram is a word or phrase made by rearranging the same letters of another word or phrase. To end the day, we discussed why anagrams might be magical. We will continue to explore anagrams next week.

2nd Grade: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane: We are so close to the finish line with our novel study. Before finishing our reading, the students revisited their predictions one last time. They now had 23 chapters to help them answer these questions.

They took their time filling them in using all of the information up to this point in the story. To end the week, we had just enough time to read our story together. It was exciting to see the shock and delight in their faces after reading some of their predictions.

It was magic to my ears hearing all the students tell me they enjoyed the story! Especially since some were not as excited for the project in the beginning.






Over the next few weeks, we will complete some assignments with our novel.

3rd Grade: Jane Goodall: The students needed some more time to finish their rotations on Jane Goodall. Then we took some time to research Jane further. Before moving onto our next lesson, it is important the students have a strong background knowledge on Jane Goodall.


Next, the students were introduced to annotations. I shared with them that they will be working with close reading and using annotations to mark up their pages. The students were given a bookmark to help them remember some symbols they will use in class to code their annotations.



We looked at a biography on Jane Goodall and used it to model close reading using annotations. For the second paragraph, the students raised their hand when they had an annotation to add to our paper. Next week the students will practice using annotations on their own.

MATH

1st Grade: All About Angles: We started our week by defining an attribute. An attribute is a characteristic we can give something. We looked at ourselves and discussed our hair color as an attribute. This became a little silly because of the debate of some of our hair colors!


Then we switched gears to math attributes. We discussed how sides and vertices are two math attributes that help us to classify shapes. We used those two attributes to identify the 5 polygons on the floor. Then we switched gears to focus on our new attribute - angles.

We discussed that the vertex is a point where two sides meet on the outside of the shape and came to a conclusion that it does not move. The angle is the measure of this area on the inside of a shape and it is a attribute that changes. This led us into identifying our 3 types of angles: acute, obtuse and right angles.

Some students became a little confused thinking the right angle had to be on the right side of the shape. This led us into a discussion on how it was just a name given to describe this attribute and the position has nothing to do with identifying it. We identified that acute angles are small, obtuse angles are large and right angles form an "L".

Now they were ready to investigate angles. We went on a hunt for angles around the school. We discovered that we are surrounded by right angles everywhere! We started to focus on searching for acute and obtuse angles. Enjoy some pictures below from our angle hunt.

2nd Grade: Smile Gallery: This week they finished their murals for Dru and Teller. After completing their murals, each student displayed their design for us to discuss them. We identified the basic unit with the shapes they used and discussed if it was a true tessellation. We discovered that no one had a true tessellation because each design had gaps! As a group, we identified a basic unit that we could have used to create a true tessellation.

We also discovered that the triangle grid limited the way they could start their shape affecting the outcome of the tessellation. To end the week, it was time to answer our Think Deeply question.
Dru and Teller needed us to answer some questions about a tessellation another student sent them. We had a discussion on basic units and our different transformations. Then it was time for the students to respond. We will continue with their responses next week.

Our Smile
 Gallery Murals

3rd Grade: 100's Chart: This week we started to look at patterns with a 100's chart. The students will create a chart for their multiples from 2 to 9. Together we colored in our multiples for the 2's. After identifying the multiples, the students will look for and write down the patterns they see with the their charts. We discussed the different ways to identify columns and rows on the chart. This way we will have a universal way to discuss our patterns as a class.


I displayed my next chart with part of the multiples filled in for the 3's. After identifying the pattern, we used that information to complete the rest of the chart.




The students continued to identify and color in the multiples for 4-9 independently. We will continue to work with these patterns next week.





4th Grade: Comparing Fractions: This week we reviewed the first two rules we identified when comparing fractions. Then, we discussed a new strategy of comparing fractions with benchmarks. The students discovered that we could use 0, 1/2, 1, and 1 1/2 to place a set of fractions in order without numerators or denominators in common. They completed an activity by creating fractions ranging from 1/99 to 98/99.



Then each group had to place 5 fractions in order from smallest to largest using benchmarks. When finished the teams switched sides and decided if the other teams fractions were in the correct order. We discussed the results together. Then they began to complete their independent practice using the benchmark strategies.

Taking some time to evaluate the other groups order of fractions.





Have a Great Weekend,

Ms. Losinski