This week in....
WEEK OF APRIL 24TH-28TH
Math
Reading/
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We have been printing our pen pal letters from Nebraska and decorating our envelopes for them. We also had children's day and made posters for a contest and there was a winner in each class, the winner in our class was Carlos! Every student got to vote for their favorite poster and the winner got a small prize that was 10 blue paws and the other kids that did a poster got 1 blue pa! The week was really fun for our classroom in Writing and SEL!
-Sofia, Penelope
-Sofia, Penelope
WEEK OF APRIL 3RD-7TH
Although we worked on the math portion of the PARCC this week, we started a basic review of fractions.
How to write a fraction and what pieces of a fraction mean: 3/4 -3=Number of shaded parts on a fraction model -4=Number of equal sized parts in the whole model |
Habitat research
Students have finished up their habitat/ animal research booklets. Students read about how certain animals can survive in specific habitats due to their body structures and the functions they serve. On Friday, we started our final "Create Your Own Animal" project! |
Writing a model persuasive speech
As a class we have been brainstorming a topic to write a model persuasive speech for together. We tackled "hooks/leads" this week and how to catch a readers or audience's attention. |
Test taking strategies and how to remain calm and focused during test taking time.
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WEEK OF MARCH 13th-17th
Spiral Review
Topics: Place Value Expanded Form Written Form Base Ten Blocks Rounding Time Multi-step word problems Three Digit Addition/Subtraction Multiplication Division Fractions Last week, we started a review of content learned in previous grades on top of reviewing content learned in 3rd grade so far. |
Finding evidence in nonfiction text to support claims.
Most of our reading continues to revolve around nonfiction and has been based on our new science unit. The last few weeks we have focused on structures and functions of animals (Ex: A cheetah uses their powerful legs in order to catch their prey.) This week, we started to dig into the topic of habitats! We started with the Arctic and the Desert. SCIENCEStudents are working on a habitat and structure book. Students identify animals that live in the habitats discussed. They choose one animal for each habitat, providing a claim and evidence for why that animal lives in that habitat.
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Reasoning
This last week we have worked on answering a question with a claim and providing reasoning to support it. Claim, Reasoning, and Evidence and three important vocabulary words we are using throughout our other subjects. Persuasive Speeches: Students will be researching for facts and evidence to add to their speech in order to support their claims/reasons. *Bonus: Learning how to write a letter. We recently received Pen Pal letters from a 3rd grade class that attends the school I worked at in Nebraska. Students loved reading letters personally sent to them and learning about someone that lives in a different state. We are taking the opportunity to learn how to write a hand-written letter and how to expand on ourselves, but also ask questions to someone else. |
Learning to identify, label and express their emotions in kind and healthy ways.
Also working describing the importance of being aware of one’s own feelings and being sensitive to the feelings of others. |
WEEK OF FEBRUARY 27th-MARCH 3rd
Reviewing Division strategies:
Many of the division strategies we have been focusing on the last few weeks tie directly to the multiplication strategies we have previously learned. For example: -Making equal groups from our given dividend and divisor -Creating an array from our given dividend and divisor -Using our skip counting facts Most importantly, we continue to compare and contrast the ideas of multiplication and division to see the connection between the two operations. Division Vocabulary includes: Dividend, divisor, and quotient |
Finding evidence in nonfiction text to support claims.
Most of our reading continues to revolve around nonfiction and has been based on our new science unit, animal structures and functions. (A cheetah uses their powerful legs in order to catch their prey.) Students are working on reading an author's claim and researching in books or online to find the evidence that supports their statement. SCIENCEStudents have begun exploring structure and function found in various animals.
Essential questions students have been asked to think about: Why do animals have different structures? How do the functions of these structures help an animal? |
Deciding on our 3 claims/reasons that support our persuasive speech.
Our persuasive speech topics: Longer lunch More recess time Class pet More choices for lunch Students will be researching for facts and evidence to add to their speech in order to support their claims/reasons. *Bonus: Learning how to write a letter. We recently received Pen Pal letters from a 3rd grade class that attends the school I worked at in Nebraska. Students loved reading letters personally sent to them and learning about someone that lives in a different state. We are taking the opportunity to learn how to write a hand-written letter and how to expand on ourselves, but also ask questions to someone else. |
Learning to identify, label and express their emotions in kind and healthy ways.
Also working describing the importance of being aware of one’s own feelings and being sensitive to the feelings of others. |
WEEK OF JANUARY 30th-FEBRUARY 3rd
Introduction to Division!
This week we started looking into what division truly is and how it is related to multiplication. We want students to be able to compare and contrast the two ideas and see the connection. New division vocab works include: Dividend, divisor, and quotient. We are simultaneously working on mastering our multiplication facts and strategies but we are now focusing on learning division strategies as well. |
Whole Group: Reading nonfiction articles/text and using "Taking Notes" strategy to practice identifying important information.
Social Studies Integration: This week we dug deeper into "Buyers vs. Sellers" and "Producers and Consumers". Students worked with groups to discuss how the separate groups are related to each other in terms of how our economy works. Small Group: Reading our small group non-fiction books or non-fiction articles and practicing our newly introduced "Taking Notes" strategy. |
Completing research for personal Q&A book and creating Q&A slides books.
This has been a continuous process but students are making a lot of progress for their Question and Answer books! Grammar/Language: Started in on a mini unit about synonyms and what tools to use when we are looking for "juicier" words. |
Identifying what zone we are in when we arrive at school and what we can do to get ourselves into the "green" zone.
Also, learning to identify other's emotions and what zones they might be in. Zones of Regulation: This is an approach to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete zones. Red Yellow Green Blue For more information see: Zones of Regulation Website |
Week of January 23rd-27th
Students focused on combining all of their knowledge to solve 3 multi-step word problem.
We had our end of the unit of the assessment Wednesday through Friday. Students did extremely well! |
Whole Group:
Monday/ Tuesday: Finishing up learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. Rest of week: Reading nonfiction articles and using "Taking Notes" strategy to practice identifying important information. (See Writing Column -->) Small Group: Reading our small group non-fiction books or non-fiction articles and practicing our newly introduced "Taking Notes" strategy. |
Completing research for personal Q&A book and creating Q&A slides books.
Mrs. Snyder, J. Low's Literacy Coach came in this week and taught a lesson on the strategy of "Taking Notes" while we read informational text. This strategy will help students while researching their topic for their Q&A Book. Thanks Mrs. Snyder! We are now implementing this strategy into our researching process. |
Students worked in groups to express their knowledge of the different Zones of Regulation. This was done by conducting plays, acts, or through media projects.
Zones of Regulation: This is an approach to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete zones. Red Yellow Green Blue For more information see: Zones of Regulation Website |
WEEK OF JANUARY 17TH-20TH
Students focused on explaining why they solved a problem.
For example: Henry had eleven dollars. For his birthday he got eighteen more dollars but spent ten on a new game. How much money does he have now? Solving: 11 + 18 = 29 Explaining: First I added 18 dollars to 11 dollars because the story told me he got 18 more dollars. The words got and more tell me that I need to add. *The assessment for this math skill will be Wednesday through Friday.* |
To elaborate on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Holiday - during this week we focused our Reading & Social Studies time on celebrating MLK's life, accomplishments and understanding what he wanted for the future of the United States.
At the beginning of the week, students used their "generating questions" skills to ask questions about MLK they did not know. Throughout the week students produced more questions about what they would like to learn more about as we gained knowledge through our reading passages. Skill Focus: Asking questions about a nonfiction text/subject. |
Completing research for personal Q&A book and creating Q&A slides book.
-Students have been continuously researching their good or service. -Some students have completed their research and have started their Q&A slides book. Q&A Books will be completed in order to present to parents at February conferences. |
Review of Zones of Regulation.
This is an approach to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete zones. Red Yellow Green Blue For more information see: Zones of Regulation Website |
Week of January 9th-13th
Explaining HOW and WHY they solved a multi-step real life word problems using addition and subtraction.
-Students focused on explaining why they solved a problem. For example: Henry had eleven dollars. For his birthday he got eighteen more dollars but spent ten on a new game. How much money does he have now? Solving: 11 + 18 = 29 Explaining: First I added 18 dollars to 11 dollars because the story told me he got 18 more dollars. The words got and more tell me that I need to add. |
Whole Group:
Reading and learning about: -Goods vs. Services -What is a Producer? -What is a Consumer? Small Group: Reading separate non-fiction books for our groups. Topics including: Baseball/softball, Owls, The Moon, Dinosaurs Skill Focus: Asking questions about a nonfiction text/subject. |
Completing graphic organizer of facts for personal Q&A book
-Students have been continuously researching their good or service. Some examples include: -Police Officer -Money -Crayons -Therapy Dogs -Students are excited to be researching and learning about what interests them! It is a great sight to see. Q&A Books will be completed in order to present to parents at February conferences! |
Reviewing morning meeting routines. Students were asked what they wanted to explore more about while talking in morning meetings.
Majority of students decided they would like to learn more about feelings; their own and understanding and being able to identify their classmates' feelings. |
Week of January 3rd-6th
Solving multi-step real life word problems using addition and subtraction.
-Students practiced showing their work in multiple ways: 1. Standard way 2. Drawing (base ten blocks, picture addition, or tally marks) |
Reading and learning about:
-Wants vs. Needs -Goods vs. Services Asking questions about a nonfiction text/subject. Students worked in groups through scavenger hunts to find different wants, needs, goods, and services. Together, students discussed and debated why something would be considered a want or a need, and then a good or a service. -Thursday and Friday: Students started generated questions to prompt research for their Q&A book in writing. |
Start of Q&A book
Research a "Good or Service" of student's choice. -Students have been researching different goods and services. -Thursday: Students chose a good or service that interested them that they would like to research further. |
Review of classroom, hallway and lunch/recess
specials expectations. |
Week of December 12th
Reviewing strategies to multiply:
-Repeated Addition -Making Equal Groups -Building Arrays Working on solving word problems with the operations of addition and subtraction. |
Digging deeper into non-ficition text features and how they help us when we read.
-Titles -Headings -Photos -Captions -Graphs -Tables -Diagrams -Labels -Timelines |
Continuing to research our non-ficition topic of interest for our Google Slides book.
Deciding our 5 "chapters" or subtopics within our large topic or main idea. |
Appreciation during the holiday season.
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