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