Another great week!

This week saw a lot of focused work in our room.  Throughout the week students have reflected on work they have done, thought about our learning intentions and set goals for action that they need to take during work time.  This sort of authentic engagement always results in quality work, and this week proved this.
Students have been working on two pieces of writing.  Both of these are pieces of non-fiction writing, but the focus and purpose of each is different.  One of the pieces of writing is about land-forms.  In this piece students have worked on researching different land-forms, citing sources, and paraphrasing information.  The other piece of writing is about Vermont.  In this piece students chose a topic related to Vermont that interests them.  These topics range from the Vermont state symbols, to the Green Mountains, and span everything in between.  This piece of writing is focused on creating an engaging piece of informational text that engages readers as well as teaches readers important and interesting facts.  Our reflection during writing time hinged on thinking about the steps needed to complete these types of writing pieces, self-assessing what parts students have already done, and then determining next steps to follow in order to complete the task at hand.
In math we have continued work on multiplication. Our big focus has been on solving multiplication expressions using the standard American algorithm and procedure.  We have been working on solving expression with 2 and 3 digit multiplicands, and 1 and 2 digit multipliers.  Through this work, we are practicing using the basic foundation facts (1-digit X 1-digit) and place value to help us solve problems.
During our reflection time, of which we have three daily, we are thinking about the interactions and thoughts we have with one another during our time at school.  This practice is to increase self-awareness, and help students understand that the way they treat one another has a direct impact on their own well-being.  This process is one that is embraced by many of the students, as they all see to look forward to it.
As always, I hope you have a restful and enjoyable weekend, and if you need to contact me please feel free to!

-Dave

Zoinks! So much happening....

The past weeks have seen a lot of action. One action filled day was yesterday, our first winter fitness fun day of the year!  This was a resounding success, as I chatted with students this morning nearly all had glowing reports, and we still have 4 more of these days to look forward to!  We had students who had never skated before gliding on the ice, and kids enjoyed beautiful ski conditions at Bolton, while some nordic skied at Morse Farm, and still others enjoyed sledding and snow games here at school!

We also have been working hard in our classroom.  We are in the midst of an informational writing unit, and are creating some books about Vermont.  We have worked hard this week on adding stories and elaborated text to our writing, rather than just presenting a "dry toast" piece of writing rich with only facts.

Dividend, divisor, and quotient have been our words of the week!  We are working with division and understanding and identifying these parts of a division expression are terribly important.  For a refresher (if you need one) check with your student and they will fill you in about which is which.

We are looking forward to another fantastic week next week, and please remember that there is no school for students on Monday and Tuesday.  If you need to contact me, please feel free anytime, and as always, enjoy your weekend!

Dave