Friday update

Hey there, sorry for the delay but I wrote a post earlier and was struggling to post it. Anyway we had a fabulous week. It wrapped up with the Pops Concert which is always a blast. Throughout the week we worked with data, experimented more with liquids, created informational pieces of writing, started some new book group books and so much more.

In math we have been working with data and tables. We have been using repeating patterns to practice multiplication. Through this study we have been using from a fictional planet of Rhomaar. These children accrue marbles at a certain rate per night for thirty nights. This accumulation of marbles is what we are tracking with data tables. Students are being very diligent working with tables and determining patterns.

 

We also have been working with liquids. We are experimenting with them to learn about how they get their shape. On Thursday we experimented with liquids and tried to permanently change their shape....a lot of bubbles and spilled water was the result.

Every morning we have a morning meeting, and in that meeting we always do an activity. Today's activity was one called hide-your-teeth. This activity is hilarious as students try to say one another's name with their lips stretched over their teeth. I hope the following pictures do it justice:

Well thanks another great week, and keep your eyes open for the conference sign up sheet, it is in your student's Friday folder. If you see your name on there you are all signed up, if you only see other peoples names, just add yours in and I will get you signed up. Have a great weekend.

 

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Trying to post

Tuesday update.

We had a fairly exciting Tuesday. Items of note are; new non-fiction book groups, working with data tables in math, and experimenting with the "shape" of liquids in discovery. The following shots are from this afternoon as students were exploring their new book group book choices.

 

Some

Some of the subjects students will be reading about are, zombie caterpillars, penguin protectors, surprising starfish, and the discovery of new species. Students were so excited about these new books that some dove for the one they were interested in!

During discovery we are working with different types of matter, and currently we are using inquiry to find different properties of liquid. The quote of the day in discovery came from Jasmine "...properties of matter is so awesome..."

 

today is 3/26/13

i read a book i like math

New blog app!

 

In math we are working with data and tables. The following photos show a transition from our work spots to our desks, as well as a large data table on our board.In math we are working with data and tables. The following photos show a transition from our work spots to our desks, as well as a large data table on our board.

 

 

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Weekly Wrap-up, and intro.

Hello out there.  We had an incredibly productive week last week.  We started on a new unit in discovery, learned about sound in 4 Winds, continued working with graphs and data in math, and worked on a new piece of reflective writing in literacy.  Oh, and we also made some fantastic origami cranes!

In Discovery we have started a new inquiry based unit.  In this unit we will be working on the properties of matter.  The first type of matter we are working with is liquid, and we have been investigating density of liquids, as well as surface tension (I will post some photo tomorrow).  We started this inquiry by putting water into a graduated cylinder, and slowly adding oil to the cylinder.  For an explanation of what happened check with your student.  After the oil was added to the cylinder we then added some dish soap, what happened next was unexpected and, again, is best explained by students.  As in our previous inquiry units we will be performing inquiries, or "thinkquiries" and reflecting about them.  The part that is new in this unit, aside from the content, is that we will be recording materials, creating hypotheses, making observations, and drawing conclusions.

In 4 winds this month we learned about sound.  we learned how sound travels and what causes it, as well as learning how it can be transmitted.  Check out these photos...

Remember when you stretched one of these from your bedroom window down to the back lawn, and thought you had created the coolest thing in the universe?  Well the reaction in our class was the same, students were so excited and interested in the travel of sound, and amazed that it could move along a string.

In math we have been working with data and graphs.  We have learned about different trends that we can find on graphs.  We have practiced adding data to a graph, and identifying when different things on happening on the graphs we have been working with.  Most of the graphs we have used have focused on temperature, and we have looked for increases, and decreases in the temperatures in different parts of the world, as well as, in East Montpelier.

In literacy we have a lot of things happening.  We are finishing up some pieces of writing, working on syllabication, practicing cursive letters, starting new pieces of writing and so much more.  The last few weeks for spelling we have been working in small groups within the whole class practicing identifying syllables in words.  We have learned about open and closed syllables and some common syllable patterns in English.  We are also working on word types and have been looking for and finding, adjectives, nouns, and verbs.  As for our new piece of writing we have begun an opinion piece of writing to assert which discovery unit was our favorite, magnets or electricity.  It will be interesting to see how many students are in each "camp."

Well that's all for now, please check back as we will be adding more later this week!

billy blog

today we started a new unit.we started sleding aigian. we are almost done graghs

today

Today
me and Elizabeth broke a world record of not fighting.
I enjoyed, (but got mad),making a motor.

I like today.
We had P.E.
We had math.
And we had writing.
_____________________________________________________________________________by____________________________ see you on Thursday  ___________
from Riley M.Reed

to day at school we did crsith and p.e it wus fun bekus in p e  wey plaed hooky and pirit tage thats it good biy

A new week and homework

Well for this new week, we are kicking off a new protocol for homework.  About this time every year the homework changes and gets a bit more formal.  Students will be required to engage in homework 4 mights per week, and each night will consist of reading, writing, and math.  This layout was created and agreed to collectively.  You will see a folder traveling with students which will have: a reading log, a notebook, and some math practice.  You will also find a reminder in that folder of what the homework protocol is, and the duration that is expected each night at home.  Below is a copy of the reminder, and thanks for your continued support.

Homework:

Math:  4 practice sheets per week, 1 per night.

Reading:  4 reading log entries per week, 1 per night.  Read 15-20 minutes per night.

Writing:  4 paragraphs per week, at least 1 per night.

Riley and Mia is doing blogging.
I am Riley.
 Mia is beside me.
We had Art.
Today is so fun.
Are school ends at 3:30.
We have Homework.
It is:
Reading
Writing
Math

today me and Riley are blogging.

Welcome back!

We are back!  I hope that all of you had a relaxing and refreshing break.  As we get back into "school-mode" we are getting excited about a bunch of new things.  We will be exploring new book group books.  Students are digging into some new non-fiction books, and we are reviewing some of the features that we use to navigate these texts.  Ask your student what their favorite feature is, and ask them what the verso-page is!  The following photos were taken during our first exploratory time with our books.

Some of the subjects are; Swifts, a crooked legged horse, and "the Asian unicorn."

We have also started working on division in math.  For the few weeks before break we were working on multiplying groups of numbers together, and now we are working on figuring out how many groups of numbers are contained within others.

Finally we have continued our investigation into the mysterious world of electricity and magnetism.  We are currently working on creating mini electric motors.  Through this work students are working on design questions to make these work, as well as understanding how these motors work.  The motors we are building function on the principle that a magnetic field is created when electricity passes through a coil of copper.  Talk to your students about the frustrating problems that they had to overcome to make these motors.