Frog eggs!
Here is the frogspawn my daughters and I scooped out of my neighbor's pond. They have already hatched into tadpoles. As you can see there are way too many for us to keep healthy at school. I returned extra tadpoles to the pond.
Here is what the tank looks like:
Students hard at working researching the life cycle of a frog.
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| "Look Ms. Lubic! This is exactly what our eggs look like!" |
Mrs. Davis and some third graders came to teach us about Tabata. Ask your child about it!
Math Problem Solving
Mathematicians solved the problem and then traded whiteboards to interpret and compare their work.
Some ideas to think and talk about:
Can you understand your partner's math work? Did they remember all the steps? Did you use the same or different strategy? Do you agree on the answer?
Then we made posters of three strategies that could be used to solve addition or subtraction problems. We practiced using the different strategies.
Notice that children are always making a box. Since the answer is not always after the equal sign this helps them remember what they were solving for.
Here are the three strategies for adding:
227 + 138 =
Using an open number line: you start with the first number, jump the amount being added and where you land is the answer.
Adding from the front end: you start by adding together the hundreds, then the tens, then the ones. Then you add all three of those together. By not using the short cut the algorithm of "carrying" yet they are developing a solid sense of number. For example, they know that the first 2 in 227 means 200.
Draw a labeled sketch: a large rectangle means hundreds, a straight line means tens, a circle or dot means ones. Draw each number and then add them up.
Here are the three strategies for subtracting:
260 - 144 =
Using an open number line: you start with the first number, jump the amount being subtracted and where you land is the answer.
Subtracting from the front end: you start by adding keeping your first number in tact. First subtract the hundreds, then the tens, then the ones. This is slightly different from addition- you need to keep that first number in tact!
Draw a labeled sketch: a large rectangle means hundreds, a straight line means tens, a circle or dot means ones. Draw each number and then cross our what you are subtracting.
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| Notice that when this child "trades" a ten for ones (see the arrow) when they do not have enough ones to subtract the 6 ones from their drawing. This is the number sense we want them to develop before moving to the traditional "trade" or "borrow" algorithm. |
Here is a student who tried all three methods to solve the problem:
Arbor Day- a CCS tradition fro K-4th grades
Most of the trees at CCS have been planted during Arbor Day. This year Mrs. Gerson's class led us in a song and read us a poem. They did a great job!
Charlie Prout of Horsford's Nursery donates the trees every year.
Fourth graders plant the new tees as well as fertilize and mulch all the trees at CCS.
We ended with another song!
We started a new read aloud:
