I know you're busy practicing those addition and subtraction facts, right?  Here is another game you can play at home to help increase your mathematical speed.  You can choose your own avatar and start earning carrots while you practice math!

Below are some Function Machines we've been playing with in class.  Try them out!

Other subject/predicate links can be found below:

We hope you are feeling better!  I wanted to let you know what our class was up to today, so read on to find out. :)

LANGUAGE:  After we checked Wordly Wise parts A and B, we discussed good story ideas.  Please check out the power point below.  

We concluded by making a list of ideas we have had that went well...and ideas that didn't go so well at all.  These didn't need to be story ideas but could be ideas like trying to rappel off of your playhouse in the backyard.  (Yes, this was one of Anthony's idea that didn't go so well!)  Soon, we'll be discussing how writers develop good ideas for their stories.
 

MATH:  We talked a lot about time today.  I asked the students to display certain times on their individual clocks...like this:

Show 1:00.

Now show what the time would be an hour and 10 minutes later.

Show quarter after 3.
Show three hours later.

Show 9:00
Show 3 hours and 15 minutes later.

Show 9:55.
Show 3 hours and 10 minutes later.


After a few examples like these, I posed this question:
Mandy is in school from 8:25am to 3:10pm.  How long is her school day?

The children worked in small groups to try and solve the problem.  There were several different answers, so I asked those who were able to correctly calculate the answer to explain their strategies.  Do you think you can figure it out?

A few other problems were solved together.  We calculated how much daylight we've been having each day over the last few days, realizing that as winter approaches, our daylight is slowly decreasing.

We also completed pages 25 and 26 in the math journal.

ROTATION: During our seatwork today, students were catching up on any of these tasks:  Critter Cam questions from yesterday's seatwork, poetry art, submarine viewers, and glogs.  Those who were caught up were able to explore the other ocean websites found here or create a fun glog.

During our small group lesson, the students finished reading the chapter in the Sea Monsters book about deep sea creatures. You should choose to read about one of the following creatures.  (Feel free to click the pictures for a more detailed description.)






There are a few paragraphs in the book for you to read and take notes on (using caveman speak) and afterward, don't forget to add an illustration in your note-taking booklet.

Later this afternoon, we had DEAR time and art with Mrs. Hillmer where she helped the class complete their "dot art" pages from Dot Day.

We hope you are able to come back tomorrow!  We've missed you.
:)Mrs. Neal

We sure missed you today! Please read on to find out how our day went. I’ve collected everything for you and will let you finish what you can over the next few days.

LANGUAGE: This morning, we reviewed the Wordly Wise definitions from Lesson 2. You can do that by playing with the flash cards found here.

Students entered the next five word wall words into their Spelling Dictionaries. You will find them posted on the pink sheet of paper on the board tomorrow so you can easily add them. The good news is, four of them are already in there, so all you need to do to those is highlight them. 

WANT

WAS

WRITE

WITH

YOUR

MATH: The lesson today was focused on number patterns and skip counting. You can see a few examples on the power point below. The students were very familiar with the frames and arrows format from last year, so you will probably recognize it.

We completed pages 23 and 24 in the math journal, too. Question four was kind of tricky…

Since the lesson went so smoothly, we had time to play the Number Grid Difference Game. You might remember we played a couple of rounds last week but never really finished the game. Today, we had new partners and tried again.

LIBRARY: Mrs. Edwards held a book talk on two of the Buccaneer Books: Strawberry Hill and Greetings from Nowhere.

After that, we held…rotation!

SMALL GROUP READING: Students continued reading in their Sea Monsters book about creatures that live in the deep. They were able to choose to read about one of two creatures: the Anglerfish or the Vampire Squid. Small groups read together and attempted to write in “caveman speak” and interesting or important facts they learned.  (Click the pictures to find out more.)

SEATWORK: Today, students went to this site to read about a few sea creatures that live in the ocean. The worksheet they completed can be found here.

Of course, we also had DEAR time this afternoon. And wouldn’t you know it, by the end of rotation it was 2:45. We tore out the math homework for today (Homelink 1-12) and were sure to take home Wordly Wise to complete parts A & B. Though you will find a homework sheet in your mailbox in the morning, you can always find a copy here on the blog.

We hope you come back to see us tomorrow! Take care and get well soon!

Mrs. Neal

We’re so sad you were unable to come to school today! Below, you’ll find a summary of our day:

MORNING WORK: Math boxes page 22

Math money sheet (which will be sent home with you)

READING: I will share a few more genre descriptions with the students today. We’ve already discussed Realistic Fiction and Mysteries. Please check out the power point below to see which genres we will discuss today.

MATH:  We completed pages 20-21 in the Math Journal with partners.  It was fun practicing with the fake coins and dollars.  Maybe your parents will let you use real money!
You can use the poster below to help you solve the problems.

SCIENCE: This afternoon we learned about the different zones in the ocean. I realize you are already knowledgeable of these zones and the creatures that live in them. The power point you see below is one we will share after we watch a couple of videos on Brain Pop. Tim and Moby will be talking to us about the Ocean Floor and Underwater Creatures. To view these at home, however, you would need a subscription to Brain Pop. I can show them to you at school when you return next week.

After we view these, the students will make a subviewer. The directions will be on the subviewer itself. The creatures labeled on the subviewer are described, but their colors are not. If you click here, here, and here, you can see pictures of the creatures so you’ll know what colors to use.

Today is also individual picture day. Don’t worry, we’ll have make-ups in October. You will also miss Spanish, PE, and Music.

We have missed you today! Enjoy your trip, read a bit, and we’ll see you Monday!

The students started logging into Glogster this week.  We are working on an "All About Me" glog.  It will look similar to this:

Students can visit Glogster by clicking here.

For those of you who will be absent tomorrow, here is a brief overview of how we will spend our day.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

In the morning, we will check our Wordly Wise homework, parts C & D.  I will also help the students prepare for part E. (Uh, oh!)  We will read the story together and then follow these somewhat complicated directions.

Since part E is meant to be challenging, most of the responses to the questions are meant to be answered using a vocabulary word from the lesson we've been studying.  Each of the 15 Wordly Wise vocabulary words should be used only once throughout part  E.  Also, if you see a vocabulary word used in any of the questions, no vocabulary word is necessary in the respective answer.  This is hard for the children to grasp, so here is how I will help them. 

1.  Use a yellow highlighter to highlight every vocabulary word (marked in bold) that you find written in the questions.  This week, you will find these words to highlight:  

2. Now, go back to the story about Sequoya and highlight these same words located in the paragraphs in yellow.

3.  There now should be some vocabulary words remaining in the story that are in bold print, but not highlighted. 

4.  Highlight these words in a different color.

5. These remaining vocabulary words will be utilized in the answers to questions # 3,4,6,8,10,11, and 13.

I know this is confusing, but I will help the children out by providing them with a document they can answer all of part E on.  They will not need to answer the questions in the book, but rather on the document located here.

READING:  

I will also spend some time introducing the fluency rubric they will be expected to follow for their Poetry Project. (Click here to see it.)   The students have selected their poems to recite and will be working on their artwork to complement their poems as well.  The children will be given the choice of creating their artwork on Kid Pix or Kerpoof, or they may hand draw their art if they prefer.  Kerpoof is a new Web 2.0 program they will need to learn how to use.  You can find the link to Kerpoof here (near the top part of the page). Students will need a username and password that I can email you individually if your child would like to try it at home.  Directions for Kerpoof can be located here. The children are already familiar with Kid Pix, but they won't be able to access the program at home.  Our biggest challenge is to get the students to save their work in the appropriate folder.  :)

MATH:

We will be talking about probability.  Please view the slides from the lesson below:

We will complete pages 10 and 11 in the Student Math Journal, too.

SCIENCE:
We will be reading from our Sea Monsters book in small groups and practicing taking notes using "caveman speak".  We might have time to start illustrating in our flipbooks as well.

Please read over pages 30-34 if you have selected the Giant Squid to research.  Read over pages 38-43 if you have selected the Octopus to research.

ROTATION:
During rotation this is what the students will work on:
Small Group Instruction:  Taking notes on the Sea Monster creatures
Seatwork: Beginning your poem artwork (hand-drawn, Kid Pix, or KerPoof)
DEAR time:  Read, read, read!

This just about summarizes our day.  You will miss visiting Mr. Shane, Mrs. Hershman, and Senora Maldonado.  I'm sure they'll help you catch up where necessary.

We will miss you! 

Earlier this week, we talked about how our class rotation would work.  The students developed some great ideas of how they should sound when silently reading in the library.  See below (and click for a larger view):

They also discussed what they would look like while visiting the library:

Part of our rotation includes working in small groups at the students' desks. They discussed how differently the room should sound when completing seatwork:

As well as what it should look like:

I love their ideas!