So, we have continued working hard and keeping our focus, while, at the same time, feeling the stoke for Boston! We have been working on decorating some team shirts, and have reviewed and sent home a letter with information about this trip. If you have yet to see this letter, please check with your student, and if you need another copy just let me know and I will send one home on Friday.
We have also continued working on deepening the understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division. That culminates today with an exploration with a balance and some cuisenaire rods. This investigation will help to solidify the notion that whole numbers and collections of component groups. For example, 3 tens will weigh nearly the same a 6 fives (I say nearly the same because the production standards of these rods is different than it used to be and they are very close to having correct proportional weights, but these weights are not exact).
In other news, I will be leaving for a paternity leave in the next few weeks. As of now, it looks as if I will be out starting the 23rd of May, but that might change. The long-term sub we have lined up has been in our room observing this week, and is getting ready to take over the action. Her name is Anna Paterson, and her mother is one of the teachers who already works with our class! If you have any questions about this please let me know and I will get the answers for you.
Have a relaxing and restful weekend.
-Dave
Friday, May 13, 2016
Friday, May 6, 2016
Gerry Cheevers and Art-man
An interesting title for this post I know, but we were on a small tangent this morning, and we ended up talking about Gerry Cheevers! Anyway we has a wonderful week. We worked on adding leads and conclusions to literary essays, investigated fractions with common and similar denominators, and continued our work with Lego Mindstorms Robots.
In writing we have been working on crafting essays that hinge on a thesis, and aim to prove this thesis to the reader. This week we worked on crafting leads and conclusions for these. In leads we worked to introduce the large theme that connects to our thesis, and "funnel" our readers toward the thesis statement. In conclusions we worked on reminding our readers of our thesis statement, humanizing our evidence, and giving our readers a follow up action.
We are also diving into adding and subtracting fractions with common denominators. Many students are grasping the idea that in order to add fractions denominators need to be the same. We are modelling this concept with fraction strips (these are just pieces of paper) that we can fold to illustrate different fractions.
Here are some authentic reflections from the week:
This week, we were working more with Mindstorms’ robots. We were trying to get them to find and follow a dark line. I was sick on Wednesday, and I have not done Robots since Monday.
Today has been a awesome morning! I loved waking up knowing that I would have time to get ready for school! I also loved that I had fun on the bus ride, that doesn’t always happen! I can not wait to Green Up today! I love Greening UP!
This week the ukers are staining their ukuleles (I’m one of them) and we’re still programing robots. Arlyn won’t be in library when we're doing library, but we’re doing digital passport with a sub.
This week we have been studying the human body and what parts of the body intrest us to study, senses, muscles, bones...etc… I am going to focus on the brain and the eyes, and how they connect. The first step would be what parts of the eye the light passes through, and about those parts. Next there would be how the light passes into the brain and sends the message to the body and the image appears.
As always have a restful and relaxing weekend.
-Dave
In writing we have been working on crafting essays that hinge on a thesis, and aim to prove this thesis to the reader. This week we worked on crafting leads and conclusions for these. In leads we worked to introduce the large theme that connects to our thesis, and "funnel" our readers toward the thesis statement. In conclusions we worked on reminding our readers of our thesis statement, humanizing our evidence, and giving our readers a follow up action.
We are also diving into adding and subtracting fractions with common denominators. Many students are grasping the idea that in order to add fractions denominators need to be the same. We are modelling this concept with fraction strips (these are just pieces of paper) that we can fold to illustrate different fractions.
Here are some authentic reflections from the week:
This week, we were working more with Mindstorms’ robots. We were trying to get them to find and follow a dark line. I was sick on Wednesday, and I have not done Robots since Monday.
Today has been a awesome morning! I loved waking up knowing that I would have time to get ready for school! I also loved that I had fun on the bus ride, that doesn’t always happen! I can not wait to Green Up today! I love Greening UP!
This week the ukers are staining their ukuleles (I’m one of them) and we’re still programing robots. Arlyn won’t be in library when we're doing library, but we’re doing digital passport with a sub.
This week we have been studying the human body and what parts of the body intrest us to study, senses, muscles, bones...etc… I am going to focus on the brain and the eyes, and how they connect. The first step would be what parts of the eye the light passes through, and about those parts. Next there would be how the light passes into the brain and sends the message to the body and the image appears.
As always have a restful and relaxing weekend.
-Dave
Friday, April 29, 2016
The week after break...
...is always exciting, and this week was the same. We continued our work in writing, working on crafting a thesis and proving it to readers. We also have revisited fractions, as well as begun to look at the relationship between multiplication and division.
This week we also began an investigation with Arlyn. This work will focus on programming robots. We started by using Bee-Bots, and sequencing movements for these robots to use to navigate a maze. After that we moved on to Mindstorms robots, for some more in depth programming. We will also be using these robots to learn about our senses. We will be comparing our reactions to information that we receive to how our robots react to information that they receive.
Here are some authentic reflections from the week:
This week, Arlyn (the library/technology teacher) was teaching us how to program robots. We started with Bee-Bots, and on Tuesday we switched to Lego Mindstorm robots. Now, we are trying to use the light sensor on our Mindstorms’ to stop at the end of the board, which is white.
This week we had Mrs.Scott as a substitute teacher and we almost filled our bucket but yesterday we filled it! Know today we are going to have a longer outside time. We are also going to have some robot time later and it is in the library. We also made a lot of writing about the book The miraculous journeys of Edward Tulane one of my teachers favorite books.
This week we had a sub named mrs. Scott. It was fun because we played lots of games. I hope we have Mrs. Scott again soon.
This week was pretty cool because on Thursday I had I had baseball practice. I was very excited to meet my new coach and when I met him he was awesome, I have another practice today. And on saturday before I came to school I shot a 19½ pound turkey. His beard was 9 inches and his spurs were ⅞ of an inch.
Have a restful and relaxing weekend!
-Dave
This week we also began an investigation with Arlyn. This work will focus on programming robots. We started by using Bee-Bots, and sequencing movements for these robots to use to navigate a maze. After that we moved on to Mindstorms robots, for some more in depth programming. We will also be using these robots to learn about our senses. We will be comparing our reactions to information that we receive to how our robots react to information that they receive.
Here are some authentic reflections from the week:
This week, Arlyn (the library/technology teacher) was teaching us how to program robots. We started with Bee-Bots, and on Tuesday we switched to Lego Mindstorm robots. Now, we are trying to use the light sensor on our Mindstorms’ to stop at the end of the board, which is white.
This week we had Mrs.Scott as a substitute teacher and we almost filled our bucket but yesterday we filled it! Know today we are going to have a longer outside time. We are also going to have some robot time later and it is in the library. We also made a lot of writing about the book The miraculous journeys of Edward Tulane one of my teachers favorite books.
This week we had a sub named mrs. Scott. It was fun because we played lots of games. I hope we have Mrs. Scott again soon.
This week was pretty cool because on Thursday I had I had baseball practice. I was very excited to meet my new coach and when I met him he was awesome, I have another practice today. And on saturday before I came to school I shot a 19½ pound turkey. His beard was 9 inches and his spurs were ⅞ of an inch.
Have a restful and relaxing weekend!
-Dave
Friday, April 15, 2016
Thesis, evidence, and hexagon...
As we have worked toward the April break, we have been focused on the topics listed above, as well as others. During our literacy and writing time we have been working on crafting a thesis about the characters in our books. Once we have a thesis we have worked to prove it by citing evidence from the book. This evidence takes the form of lists of attributes about the character, character actions that connect to a theme of the book, along with well chosen quotes.
Hexagons...we have been using these to understand and illustrate circles and how they are measured. If you have a hexagon, and circumscribe a circle around it, the length of one side of the hexagon will be the same length as the radius of the circle. This can also be a helpful illustration as to why circles are measured in 360 degrees. The interior vertices of the six triangles that make up a hexagon, all have the measure of 60 degrees, and as there are six of these angles the sum of these...you get the idea.
Authentic reflections:
This week has gone by fast but it was a blast. We also worked on triangles and hexagons to and we got them wrong or right and nobody picked a fight. This week in pe we played man hunt with you and we had a large playing ground where we could run and have fun. This leads up to April break with lots fun but everybody had fun in this last week of school. And we had a blast with our friends but in this last week school nobody went boo hoo hoo.
This week has been an awesome week at school, I had GOTR and there was the school talent show, but one one thing that I most liked doing this week at school was learning how to make a hexagon out of triangles. After we made the hexagon we made a circle to see how precise are hexagon(s) were. That was very fun! What we did at girls on the run this week was an activity which includes running in the hallways. Then we got ready to go on a run (we were stretching.) Also this week I went to the talent show, it was really, really good. Today I am going to see the talent show again at school. That was my awesome week at school.
This week in Library we have been working on our book trailers. Some people decided to partner up with others and form a team. First we chose a book, I chose Gregor the Overlander written by Suzanne Collins. Then we made a planner filling out the scenes, what they would say, and how we would make them. Finally we are starting to take pictures of our scenes and doing the writing work. To actually finish the project we upload the videos and images onto WeVideo. Most of our projects end in a ? to leave the people who are watching the presentation with a mystery. This makes them want to read the book and find out how the mystery ends, just like a movie trailer. With in the presentation we can choose different fonts to emphasize the feeling of the book, for example, scary, sad, happy… etc…
In math we have been drawing triangles.& we made hexagons it was off by a few inches and then we made a circle around the hexagon.
This week I was happy because we were doing nature journaling and I was doing lots of cool stuff in football like intercepting the ball and making touchdowns! We were learning some cool stuff like in literacy we were talking about forest fires and how they can spread. I was amazed when Mr.Willard told us the story about when the guy was going to get swallowed by blazing hot fire, but listen to this he made another fire and got in the ashes is it that crazy! The best thing was the talent show.
Enjoy your April break, and we will see everyone again on the 25th!
-Dave
Hexagons...we have been using these to understand and illustrate circles and how they are measured. If you have a hexagon, and circumscribe a circle around it, the length of one side of the hexagon will be the same length as the radius of the circle. This can also be a helpful illustration as to why circles are measured in 360 degrees. The interior vertices of the six triangles that make up a hexagon, all have the measure of 60 degrees, and as there are six of these angles the sum of these...you get the idea.
Authentic reflections:
This week has gone by fast but it was a blast. We also worked on triangles and hexagons to and we got them wrong or right and nobody picked a fight. This week in pe we played man hunt with you and we had a large playing ground where we could run and have fun. This leads up to April break with lots fun but everybody had fun in this last week of school. And we had a blast with our friends but in this last week school nobody went boo hoo hoo.
This week has been an awesome week at school, I had GOTR and there was the school talent show, but one one thing that I most liked doing this week at school was learning how to make a hexagon out of triangles. After we made the hexagon we made a circle to see how precise are hexagon(s) were. That was very fun! What we did at girls on the run this week was an activity which includes running in the hallways. Then we got ready to go on a run (we were stretching.) Also this week I went to the talent show, it was really, really good. Today I am going to see the talent show again at school. That was my awesome week at school.
This week in Library we have been working on our book trailers. Some people decided to partner up with others and form a team. First we chose a book, I chose Gregor the Overlander written by Suzanne Collins. Then we made a planner filling out the scenes, what they would say, and how we would make them. Finally we are starting to take pictures of our scenes and doing the writing work. To actually finish the project we upload the videos and images onto WeVideo. Most of our projects end in a ? to leave the people who are watching the presentation with a mystery. This makes them want to read the book and find out how the mystery ends, just like a movie trailer. With in the presentation we can choose different fonts to emphasize the feeling of the book, for example, scary, sad, happy… etc…
In math we have been drawing triangles.& we made hexagons it was off by a few inches and then we made a circle around the hexagon.
This week I was happy because we were doing nature journaling and I was doing lots of cool stuff in football like intercepting the ball and making touchdowns! We were learning some cool stuff like in literacy we were talking about forest fires and how they can spread. I was amazed when Mr.Willard told us the story about when the guy was going to get swallowed by blazing hot fire, but listen to this he made another fire and got in the ashes is it that crazy! The best thing was the talent show.
Enjoy your April break, and we will see everyone again on the 25th!
-Dave
Friday, April 8, 2016
Working, working, working...
This week, as usual, saw a lot of focused work in our classroom. We continued our work reading historical fiction, we learned to write thesis statements, and we graphed and analyzed some data. During our literacy time we have been focussed on reading historical fiction, the title we are using is The Little House in the Big Woods. This book really lends itself to learning to digest and "unpack" historical fiction, it is rich with details and vivid imagery. We have been reading chapters, and using outside sources to increase the understanding that we have about the setting, time, and actions in the book.
We have also been using this book during our writing time.We have been using the characters in this book as a basis for learning to craft thesis statements and to back these up with evidence. We practiced one of my favorite skills on Thursday, identifying quotes to use. Students gained the understanding that a quote from a book can be more than a piece of dialogue, but any text from a book. We also worked on the length of quotes that can be used for maximum effect.
During our discovery and math time we have been working on division, as well as graphing data collected as we roll mini-skateboards down cardboard ramps. The data we collected was ramp angle, and the speed that the skateboard travelled. We translated this data into a graph, and are working on interpreting the results.
Authentic reflections from the week:
This week, in Writing/Reading, we were working on a thesis. We also learned to “angle” a story. On Monday, I had the chair. The book that the whole class is reading is called Little House in the Big Woods. We finished reading The Magician's Elephant yesterday.
This week in math we measured the speed of ramps in our math journals. And it was fun because of the measuring why the measuring because the measuring can be fun for learning. Well that's the week bye bye!
This week in Art, we have been finishing our HUMAN BODY unit. So far we have made flexible proportionate paper human body models, then we traced in a position onto a piece of paper, decorated them, cut them out, glued them to a colored paper sheet, and did some more decorating. My picture is of Gabrielle Douglas in the 2015 all around tournament. Right above the Picture on the red paper it says “This Girl is on FIRE” then I made a “Fire” out of tissue paper.
In this week we have done lots of fun stuff like in reatech we are doing a new challenge with cunects. It is fun to do it because we made the cars and we test stuff out and then record it on a graph. And today we have pe and we are doing a relay fun game called chipp reck,we have to have lots of focus in this game and you have to be aware of the stuff that you yous like if you have a scooter and you do not know how to get to the other side you have to think what will be useful, and you need to be helpful if people need help getting over to the other side, and you need to see what people have in mind. In art we are still working on our project, and I am almost done with mine! I really like math because we are doing some fun graphing speed and digress, I think I did a good job doing it.
I hope you have a restful and relaxing weekend.
-Dave
We have also been using this book during our writing time.We have been using the characters in this book as a basis for learning to craft thesis statements and to back these up with evidence. We practiced one of my favorite skills on Thursday, identifying quotes to use. Students gained the understanding that a quote from a book can be more than a piece of dialogue, but any text from a book. We also worked on the length of quotes that can be used for maximum effect.
During our discovery and math time we have been working on division, as well as graphing data collected as we roll mini-skateboards down cardboard ramps. The data we collected was ramp angle, and the speed that the skateboard travelled. We translated this data into a graph, and are working on interpreting the results.
Authentic reflections from the week:
This week, in Writing/Reading, we were working on a thesis. We also learned to “angle” a story. On Monday, I had the chair. The book that the whole class is reading is called Little House in the Big Woods. We finished reading The Magician's Elephant yesterday.
This week in math we measured the speed of ramps in our math journals. And it was fun because of the measuring why the measuring because the measuring can be fun for learning. Well that's the week bye bye!
This week in Art, we have been finishing our HUMAN BODY unit. So far we have made flexible proportionate paper human body models, then we traced in a position onto a piece of paper, decorated them, cut them out, glued them to a colored paper sheet, and did some more decorating. My picture is of Gabrielle Douglas in the 2015 all around tournament. Right above the Picture on the red paper it says “This Girl is on FIRE” then I made a “Fire” out of tissue paper.
In this week we have done lots of fun stuff like in reatech we are doing a new challenge with cunects. It is fun to do it because we made the cars and we test stuff out and then record it on a graph. And today we have pe and we are doing a relay fun game called chipp reck,we have to have lots of focus in this game and you have to be aware of the stuff that you yous like if you have a scooter and you do not know how to get to the other side you have to think what will be useful, and you need to be helpful if people need help getting over to the other side, and you need to see what people have in mind. In art we are still working on our project, and I am almost done with mine! I really like math because we are doing some fun graphing speed and digress, I think I did a good job doing it.
I hope you have a restful and relaxing weekend.
-Dave
Friday, March 25, 2016
A productive week!
This week was very productive, it was also our first week of the SBAC assessment. All students in this class took this task very seriously and really worked hard to be diligent during this assessment.
Also, this afternoon you will have a conference schedule in your Friday Folder. We have been reflecting on our work this year, and practicing presenting claims and evidence to one another in preparation for our student led conferences. Please remember that your student will be coming with you for these conferences, and they will take about 30 minutes. If you still need to add your name to the schedule, please just choose a time that has fewer than four families on it, and I will do my best to get you that time. Please note, that at this point Monday timeslots are "closed."
As usual we will end this update with some authentic reflections from the students.
This week we did some Sbacs. In the morning we did some in the morning we stopped at question 25 and then in the afternoon, we did the rest and there was 43 questions. We did more Sbacs on Thursday.
This week he have parent teacher conferences I am sharing my math my writing my reading. I think they'll love it. I am going to do my best.
I had lots of fun this week because of the 2 stars and a wish I, think that it was fun doing that because I was really thinking of what I wanted to put on the computer. I am also excited about the book trailer because me and Wyatt are going to do Revolutionary War on Wednesday. I am pumped up because we have it all figured out.
This week has been awesome but my favorite day was thursday! I was so happy on thursday morning, I discovered how to play “Hot Cross Buns” on the ukulele! I can't wait to learn some more songs. On Thursday I also started a project with Greta in library, were making a book trailer. And today Friday I have been having a good day so far. So by, by, it was nice to talk. I didn’t have a lot to say this week.
Have a restful and relaxing weekend.
-Dave
Also, this afternoon you will have a conference schedule in your Friday Folder. We have been reflecting on our work this year, and practicing presenting claims and evidence to one another in preparation for our student led conferences. Please remember that your student will be coming with you for these conferences, and they will take about 30 minutes. If you still need to add your name to the schedule, please just choose a time that has fewer than four families on it, and I will do my best to get you that time. Please note, that at this point Monday timeslots are "closed."
As usual we will end this update with some authentic reflections from the students.
This week we did some Sbacs. In the morning we did some in the morning we stopped at question 25 and then in the afternoon, we did the rest and there was 43 questions. We did more Sbacs on Thursday.
This week he have parent teacher conferences I am sharing my math my writing my reading. I think they'll love it. I am going to do my best.
I had lots of fun this week because of the 2 stars and a wish I, think that it was fun doing that because I was really thinking of what I wanted to put on the computer. I am also excited about the book trailer because me and Wyatt are going to do Revolutionary War on Wednesday. I am pumped up because we have it all figured out.
This week has been awesome but my favorite day was thursday! I was so happy on thursday morning, I discovered how to play “Hot Cross Buns” on the ukulele! I can't wait to learn some more songs. On Thursday I also started a project with Greta in library, were making a book trailer. And today Friday I have been having a good day so far. So by, by, it was nice to talk. I didn’t have a lot to say this week.
This past week, we had sbacs Wednesday and Thursday, and I think I did really well. First of all, on Monday I skipped school so I thought I would miss sbacs, but then, when I got back on Tuesday, I notest it started on Wednesday. I think my favorite day was Thursday because first we got band, and we completed more of the piece we are playing, “Prelude and Allegro”, and second, Madyson and I are partners for a book trailer in Library, and we are doing the book called “Sisters” by Raina Telgemeier and we are off to a really good start! We are going to use ourselves for the pictures. (Madyson is Raina because she looks older and has dark hair, and I have blond hair like Amara and I look younger.) We also did some sbacs that day too and I think I did better than on Wednesday!
Thursday rocked! Happy Easter! :) Have a restful and relaxing weekend.
-Dave
Friday, March 18, 2016
Another great week!
We had another great week this week! A few of our ranks suffered some injuries last weekend, but all have returned to our midst. This week we have been working in small writing groups, learning different approaches to reading historical fiction, practicing division with 2 digit dividends and 1 digit divisors.
This week you will notice that your student is bringing home a sign-up sheet for conferences. Please return these at your nearest convenience so I can get everything scheduled. These conferences will be student led, so your student will be coming with you, and giving you the information about their progress. In this set-up there will be multiple conferences happening at once, with a bit of time at the end for you to check in privately with me, as well as to do some quiet reflection to share with your student about your experience.
Authentic reflections from the week:
This week I have been waiting for Mister Willard and Miss Arlyn to make a speed contraption to test our ramps and skateboards in a, good way. In writing I have been focusing on elaboration and cause and effect. At recess we have been playing football with 5 graders and the 6 graders. In Literacy we have been reading Little House in the Big Woods separate and misster Willard has been reading us Turtle of Oman and we just finished it on 3-17-16.
This week we did another division test but we did not get timed we just did it with some math tools. Then when we were done with it we would tell Mr. Willard and then he would tell us to check it. Then when we were done with checking it we would go and give it to Mr.Willard and then he will check it and then if all 56 of them were right then we will have some chose reading or to read the book called Little House In The Big Woods and if you are done with that you might have to do some choice time.
This week, in math, we were counting by 4’s,6’s and 8’s (to help with division.) I also had the chair!
Have a restful and relaxing weekend!
Dave
This week you will notice that your student is bringing home a sign-up sheet for conferences. Please return these at your nearest convenience so I can get everything scheduled. These conferences will be student led, so your student will be coming with you, and giving you the information about their progress. In this set-up there will be multiple conferences happening at once, with a bit of time at the end for you to check in privately with me, as well as to do some quiet reflection to share with your student about your experience.
Authentic reflections from the week:
This week I have been waiting for Mister Willard and Miss Arlyn to make a speed contraption to test our ramps and skateboards in a, good way. In writing I have been focusing on elaboration and cause and effect. At recess we have been playing football with 5 graders and the 6 graders. In Literacy we have been reading Little House in the Big Woods separate and misster Willard has been reading us Turtle of Oman and we just finished it on 3-17-16.
This week we did another division test but we did not get timed we just did it with some math tools. Then when we were done with it we would tell Mr. Willard and then he would tell us to check it. Then when we were done with checking it we would go and give it to Mr.Willard and then he will check it and then if all 56 of them were right then we will have some chose reading or to read the book called Little House In The Big Woods and if you are done with that you might have to do some choice time.
This week, in math, we were counting by 4’s,6’s and 8’s (to help with division.) I also had the chair!
This week we worked on counting by 4’s,6’s,and 8’s. In reteach this week we reflected on how we were kind honest and honorable with our actions. We also did a lot of writing this week like writing in cursive and you were also allowed to write normal.My favorite parts about this week are:
1.writing in cursive
2.hanging out with friends
3.learning all I can
So that’s the week talk to ya next time! Have a restful and relaxing weekend!
Dave
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