Working Hard!

Math may look a little different for your students then it did when you were a child. I hope these photos and blurbs on my blog helps bridge the gap between home and school.  

Big Idea: Subtraction is "The Difference Between Two Numbers"

Open Number Lines are a tool mathematicians can use to find the difference between two numbers.  Children are often more confident counting forward then backward.  You can see in the different examples below that they all arrive at the same answer for the subtraction sentence but they use different counting on strategies. They all show a deep understanding of place value.  We stress visually representing our math thinking. This deepens not only their math but they also learn new strategies and ideas from one another.

We are also working on improving our measuring skills.  

Fairy Tales-Cinderella Around the World

This week we traveled to:

                              Germany                                                                    Africa                 

                                                           

          and read two different Native American Stories from Canada and America

             

We are working on activities that have children focus on character traits.  The focus on character traits is also a large part of our Biography work in Reading.

Sharing-photos can really help children tell their family stories.  You can email me a photo and we can project it as your child shares.

Free Choice Time Fun-these students were very proud of their Lego creations!

Fairytale Fun

The children have been hard at work on our fairy tale unit.  During Writing time I read a fairy tale aloud to the class and they fill out a story map.  Then they are reading fairy tales on their own and filling out a story map.  

We have started to read many different multicultural versions of Cinderella.  So far we have read...

                              

                            

Ask your child how they are all the same and how they are all different!

First Week of January 2015

Before the winter break we worked hard writing story problems in math.  This week children shopped for problems.....

then they got to work solving them.

The student who solved this problem used an open number line to find the missing addend.  Notice that the student jumped past the target number, but then jumped back 1 to come up with the correct answer.  

Another student used simple symbols to stand for tens and ones.  To find the missing addend they first "drew" the amount they had to start with and then counted on by drawing tens and ones to get to the total.  Notice that placing the box in the number sentence for what we are solving for helps kids remember that the answer to the problem is not necessarily always after the equal sign!  This is an imporant strategy they have been using since first grade-you will see it in all three examples.

This student added 2 two digit numbers by first adding together the tens, then the ones, then putting the tens and ones together.  This method is the precursor to the "carry over" algorithm that will be taught next year.

To start our biography unit, the students first looked at all the books available to them.  Then they chose a book and made a reader's response journal to keep track of important information as they read.  The journals all have one page to work on while reading and two to complete when finished reading.  

During Word Study we are learning about open syllables.  All words are made up of a combination of different syllable types.  This week's sort was a challenge!  Their job was to sort them according the type of syllable in the first syllable of each of these words.  Can you figure out how they are sorted?

The first column all have open syllables as the first syllable, the second column has v-e syllables as the first syllable (magic or silent e) and the last has closed syllables as the first syllable.  Learning to hone in on syllables builds both better reading and spelling skills.

This year we will learn 8 syllables.  Click here for a poster reference.  It shows the syllables as well as how we mark them.  I will also link this on the main blog page.

Before we started to read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, we drew schema sketches about what we already know about China.  In computer lab we learned about ancient China using Brainpop Jr.  Coincidentally Time for Kids also had an edition all about Chinese New Year!

Super Chill-each day we began our afternoon with super chill and 1 minute guided meditation exercises.  Here is a link to the 8 we used at school.  As you can see the kids are really chilling!