Important Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday 11/3: No School
Wednesday 11/4 Early Release 11:40 & Parent/Teacher Conferences
Thursday 11/5 Early Release 11:40 & Parent/Teacher Conferences
Parent/Teacher Conferences: I look forward to sharing your child's progress so far this year with you. A conference appointment reminder notice was sent home early last week. If you need to change your appointment, please let me know.
Reading:
We are continuing to read aloud
Wonder in class. Lessons each day focus on tracking evidence from the text about characters. Together we then create theories about each of the main characters in the book based on the character's actions, reactions, and what they say. We have had some surprising twists in how characters act. Theories that we made about particular characters in the beginning of the book are now changing. We look forward to reading on to help us determine the motivation for these actions. We have also learned about Precepts or rules to live by. In the book, fifth grade students are given a precept each month to think about and respond to. We have also discusses and responded to these same precepts. September Precept: When given the choice between being right and being kind. Choose kind. October Precept: Your deeds are your monuments.
Wonder has a very unique text structure in which the reader experiences the book from several different characters' point of view. We have discussed how this impacts the information that is revealed to us. We practiced writing from Auggie's point of view by writing a letter from Auggie reacting to Jack. Your child typed his/her letter in their Google Drive. They can access this from home to share their letter with you.
RJ Palacio has also included another unique feature in her book. At the beginning of each section of the book she has included a portion of the lyrics from a particular song or poem. As good reader's we ask why the author has included this feature. We listened to each song and then read the lyrics closely to determine what the song is about. Then we looked for words or phrases that connected to the section of the book that we have just read. Finally, we have had some very interesting discussions about why we think RJ Palacio included the lyrics of these songs in her book.
Book Talks:
We are about half-way through our schedule of book talks. I am so impressed with the book talks given so far. The students are well prepared and are excited to share their book. Thanks to these book talks we have many new books on our reading wish list.
Writing:
Students have just about completed their personal narratives. I am so proud of all the hard work they have put into their extensive revisions. We have talked about how published authors go through many revisions before their final piece of writing is complete too. Students focused in on the "heart" of their story, in other terms the most important part of their story or the turning point in their story. We have used many revision strategies to elaborate on this part of the story. One of the strategies that I think students enjoyed the most was adding figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, to help their reader feel the emotions in the story. Students enjoyed creating playful and intriguing comparisons.Finally students worked on editing their writing. We discussed some important skills such as paragraphing and special punctuation rules.
Math:
After finishing Topic 3: Multiplying Whole Numbers in which students mastered the standard algorithm for multiplication we took a close look at a few of the 8 math practices or habits. We revisited some of our work and problem solving tasks from September looking closely at how we communicated our thinking. Students realized that very little of their math thinking was shown on their paper or poster. We discusses expectations for showing math thinking when solving problems. With-in this concept students also learned to use writing to explain or defend the choices they make when problem solving. We then learned how to give feedback to others and were able to help each other improve our written math communication skills. In the end students revised their original work using our new checklist for showing math thinking. Students learned the importance of communicating their work clearly so that others can understand their ideas. Many times students solve problems in different ways and it is important that another person can understand their thinking.
Next, we moved on to Topics 4 and 5: Division of Whole Numbers. Students have been using
Daddy, Mommy, Sister, Brother, Rex, and Cocoa to help them learn the standard algorithm for division (aka long division). So far students have practiced dividing by 1-digit divisors. We will move onto 2-digit divisors next. In both division and multiplication procedures students have been continuing to use estimation and check methods to check their final answers for reasonableness.
Students are encouraged to work nightly on Xtramath.org to continue to grow their math fact fluency. Recalling basic math facts quickly and accurately will help students when multiplying and dividing larger numbers.
Social Studies:
We finished off our ancient civilization unit by comparing the Maya, Aztec, and Inca. Students discovered that there are many characteristics that all three civilizations share as well as many unique features to each civilization.
Science:
We have started our first science unit on Earth Materials, Students will be learning about rocks and minerals, soil composition, and about the systems and processes of our earth. We will also review related science concepts learned in previous years in preparation for Grade 5 Science MCAS.
Other News:
-We had our first community meeting on 10/ 15 that focused on our core value: being physically safe.
-We meet our 1st grade buddies for a short time to help build our school community by helping them with technology.
- We meet again with our 1st grade buddies this Friday for orange and black day and a special snack.
-Friday morning we had a special morning meeting spiderweb group challenge task. Students focused on teamwork strategies, collaboration, and patience.
- Friday we discussed reading fluency and practiced reading with expression in small groups with the play:
The Headless Horseman
-Students participated in an Extra PE Session: cup stacking challenge
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| Spider web Challenge |
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| The Headless Horseman |
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| 1st Grade Buddies ! |
