Geez, it has been a long time...

..since I posted!  I apologize for the absence.  We have continued our hard work, and begun some very interesting investigations.

We are currently in the midst of some writing focus groups.  These groups are zooming in on different writing skills to really deepen student understanding of how and why authors use different devices in their writing, and different tools for editing.  One group is focused on creating structure for our writing to grow within, adding transition words to pieces of writing, and crafting enticing introductions and mindful conclusions.  Another group is working on adding figurative language to illuminate ideas and bring writing to life.  Our third group is working on following conventions while writing, these include scouring work for punctuation, and building dictionary skills.

Math has been quite interesting indeed.  We are continuing our work on multiplication and division.  Most recently we have been investigating the difference between 10 divided by 2, and 1/2 of 10.  That is to say that the former is, two even groups of five, while the latter is only 5.  This is a tricky but important concept to build to deepen number sense in students.  We have also been continuing our work on foundation facts, building fluency and automaticity with these.

The human body is our current focus in discovery.  We began by investigating the brain and it's different parts and functions.  From there, we have moved to the respiratory system.  Our work in this system is focused mostly on the lungs and their capacity, and we have been using an investigative approach to design our own experiments to measure lung volume.  This work has also led to engaging and lively discussions about states of matter, conservation of volume, and displacement.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and that you have a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend!

Dave