Fifty-First Day of School

In Writing today, we added our opening. We learned that one way to write an informational opening is to describe the topic without naming it. Another word for opening is "hook," as we are hooking the reader into reading our text (Insects):

    They're creepy. They're crawly. They're everywhere! 

For our content curriculum, we discussed the circulatory system.

• The circulatory system is made up of the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries.
• Blood moves through the circulatory system bringing nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body.
• It takes approximately 1 minute for the heart to pump blood around the body and back.
• Bonus to students of parents reading the class notes: There are approximately 60,000 miles of arteries, veins, and capiliaries in the human body.

Fiftieth Day of School

In Writing today, we drafted closings. A closing is a signal to your reader that they have come to the end of the text. It can give a hint as to why the piece was written: 

• Insects are interesting creatures.
• Cars can take you where you want to go.

The closing can pose a question:

• What insects have you seen where you live?
• Where have been in a car?

Forty-Ninth Day of School

In Writing today, we added transitions. A transition is used to connect ideas together. Examples of informational transitions include: also, another, other, more over, but.

There is Math homework tonight.

Forty-Seventh Day of School

In Writing today, some writers took some time to add more facts to their work, while others continued drafting their first facts.

Math application problem:

Jonathan has 3 stickers. Marlin has 4 stickers. Anna Marie has 5 stickers. They each get 2 more stickers. How many do they each have now?

There is Math homework tonight.

Forty-Fifth Day of School

In Writing today, we planned our first 2 facts about our topic. The planning process is making a quick sketch of what we plan to write.

So far this year we have learned 3 long vowel spellings for encoding: ee (long 'e'), a_e  (long 'a'), and 'i_e' (long 'i').

Forty-Fourth Day of School

In Writing, we touched and talked 2 things we know about our topics. A template will be sent home so that parents may follow along with the lessons.

For our content curriculum unit, we explored the digestive system:

• The digestive system helps to break down our food into nutrients which can be used for processes by the body.
• After being chewed, muscles move the food down the esophagus into the stomach staying there for 2-3 hours until it is turned to liquid.
• It then passes into the small intestine where the nutrients are picked up by the bloodstream.
• The entire process can take 2-3 days.

Math application problem:

    

    Jordan had a set of 6 pencils. His teacher gave him another set with 7 pencils. How many pencils did Jordan have now? (Strategy: think 'doubles plus one').

There is Math homework again tonight.

Room 11 will be open tomorrow night for Family Math Night from 5-6 p.m.

Forty-Third Day of School

For Writing today, we completed the brainstorming  process by making a final selection of topic for our first informational piece. Everyone present was able to select a topic.

For Math, we took the fluncy quiz for parts of 9. Grades have been posted to Schoology.

In Reading, we were reintroduced to the Learning A-Z platform. Our first goal in the platform is to progress to level G. Once the first 3 students make it to level G, the class goal will move to level H. We were also told of incentives marked by badges earned. 

Forty-First Day of School

Math application problem:

    Marla and Carla are twins. Whatever Marla has, Carla has too. Marla has 4 dolls. How             many dolls do they have together?

   Together the have 10 stuffed animals. How many stuffed animals does Marla have?

    How many stuffed animals do they have altogether?

In Writing, we continued the brainstorming process while preselecting a few topics which would be first choice selections on which to write.

At-Home Project

Every year Room 11 has the tradition of electing a class president. This supports the government strand of our Social Science standards. Those students interested in running for Room 11 Class President 2022-23 will work on a speech at home to be delivered to the class on Monday, November 7, 2022. Speeches will be filmed using chroma key technology.

Students who would like to have their videos edited, will make sure they are not wearing any shade of green or yellow in any part of their outfit.

On this day we will also attempt to film our expert interviews if we are ready. This portion requires no at-home preparation and supports Speaking and Listening as well as Social Studies standards. Those students wanting their interviews to be edited will also need to remember not to wear green or yellow on that Monday. 

Forty-First Day of School

In Writing today, we brainstormed topics for our new informational unit. We will be writing "all about" essay. For the parents participating at home, the brainstorming process for this segment is for the writer to simply make a list of topics which they know a lot about. For example, the writer may feel they know a lot about panda bears:

• Giant panda bears have black and white fur.
• Pandas eat bamboo for approximately 10-16 hours per day.
• Pandas can swim and climb.
• Giant pandas live in China.

Math application problem (this story was very tricky for us do to reading comprehension levels even after explanation):

    May and Kay are twins. Whatever May has, Kay has too. May has 4 dolls. How many dolls     do they have altogether? Kay has 3 stuffed animals. How many stuffed animals do they            have together?

Thirty-Ninth Day of School

Math application problem:

    Jordan had 3 pencils in a container. His teacher gave him 4 more pencils to add to the                container. How many pencils were now in the container?

Grades for this problem have been posted to Schoology.

We are approaching the end of our first Math unit which means Math homework will come home with increasing regularity. Please continue to read with your child every day. Our new Writing unit (informational text) will start this week. Paper will be sent home for parents to follow along. This genre is considerably easier for students to learn.

Thirty-Seventh Day of School

Today we took our end of unit assessment in Writing. 

Unsatisfactory Notices were sent home. The district requires that a notice be sent out when a student may receive a score of 1 or 2 on the following progress report. At this time, it is not necessary for a student to know they are getting an unsatisfactory notice. Parents may send a note through Schoology if they want more information or if they would like their conference to be earlier rather than during Progress Report time.

Also today, students were tasked with finding out what special name the number 144 has.

Thirty-Fifth Day of School

In our content knowledge unit we discussed the muscular system.

• There are voluntary and involuntary muscles
• There are 650 muscles in the body.
• Muscles expand and contract.
• Muscles are attched to bones by tendons in order to help them move.

Math application problem (20):

Laura had 5 fish. Her mother gave her 1 more. Laura’s brother, Franklin, had 1 fish. Their mother gave him 5 more. “That’s not fair! He has more fish than I do!”

Grades for 19 and 20 have been posted to Schoology.

Note: It should have been mentioned at Back-to-School that we do not celebrate individual birthdays in class. We will take time out to celebrate 3 events in the year: the last day before winter break, the 100th day of school, and the last day of instruction.

Thirty-Fourth Day of School

Math application problem:

    Dylan has 4 cats and 2 dogs. Samuel has 1 mama bunny and 6 baby bunnies. Do they have     the same number of pets?    

Thirty-Third Day of School

Today we completed our 4th lesson in our violence prevention curriculum and learned what to do when we aren't successful at something we try.

We took a Math fluency quiz and grades are posted to Schoology.

Math application problem (Pets):

    Dylan has 4  cats and 2 dogs at home. Laura has 1 dog and 5 fish. Laura says she and Dylan     have an equal number of pets. Dylan thinks he has more pets than Laura. Who was right?

Rubric scores are posted to Schoology.

There is Math homework tonight.