Happy Holidays!
I wish everyone a wonderful, restful winter break. May you enjoy special memories with your family and friends if you celebrate Christmas!
Math
We began Unit 3 just before Thanksgiving. This unit focuses on place value of 2- and 3-digit numbers. In the first investigation, the students were introduced to "Sticker Station," which is an imaginary store that sells stickers in strips of tens, singles, or sheets of 100 stickers. Students used this context, as well as money (dimes, pennies, dollar bills) and cubes organized in towers of 10, to think about how numbers are composed. Students have discovered that someone can have 32 stickers from "Sticker Station" four different ways:
1. three 10 strips and two singles (30+2=32)
2. two 10 strips and 12 singles(20+12=32)
3. one 10 strip and 22 singles(10+22=32)
4. zero 10 strips and 32 singes(0+32=32)
Students also played a game called Roll a Square and solved addition and subtraction story problems that involved multiples of 10 and ones. Click on the link below to see how students are to solve story problems, using the RSW strategy. I emphasize students solve problems in a way that makes sense to them, and we have wonderful math talks that enable students to share their solutions and the strategies they use. You would be very impressed with our conversations about mathematics! The students took the assessment for the first investigation, and this came home last week.
This week, we've been doing work in the second investigation. The students have been solving story problems based on situations involving the imaginary Sticker Station store. An important aspect of our work has been to make sure students understand a problem before they begin trying to solve it! We use "math theater" to act out the problems. This information helps students realize if the action in the problem is to join amounts of stickers (addition situation) or separate amounts of stickers(subtraction situation), and helps them write the equation that matches the problem's action. Through "math theater" students also seek to recognize which part of the equation is unknown. For example, equations for different join situations could be: result unknown (ie. 10+10=?), the change unknown (ie. 10+?=20), or the start unknown(ie. ?+10=20). Of course, the RSW steps for solving story problems are also important for students to understand what to do with story problems!
The solution strategies students use to solve problems about the Sticker Station reinforce the use of place value. Many students are moving away from drawing pictures to solve sticker problems to decomposing numbers in the equation into tens and ones. By recognizing tens and ones, students use their knowledge of basic addition and subtraction facts to solve problems with much larger numbers. For example, 32+58=? can be solved by adding the tens (30+50=80), then adding the ones (8+2=10), then adding 80+10=90. Students who can decompose in this way can use a number line to solve or simply manipulate the equations to solve. You would be amazed to hear students explain their thinking to one another! Our math talks are fascinating!
In addition to solving story problems and having wonderful math talks, the students have played several games, including Get to 100 and Close to 20. Make sure to check out the benchmarks your child is working toward in the next two investigations in this unit.
Writing
The children continue working on writing non fiction books that teach. They learned to identify their audience before they write and anticipate questions their audience might have about their topic. We discussed how good introductions should hook their readers right from the start, and we looked at mentor texts to see how published authors introduce their subjects. The students discovered that asking a question and stating the topic with a grabby first sentence are two good ways to hook their audience. They also noticed that descriptive language will help readers visualize their informational writing just like it did in their small moment writing. The children revisited favorite non-fiction books and identified a text feature they want to try in their writing. They learned that choosing the right paper for their writing is very important! Ask your child to tell you what text feature(s) they have included in their non-fiction writing!
Science - Insects!
The children have enjoyed learning about insect lifecycles. They've discovered insects go through complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult) or incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult). The children have also learned that insects have three body parts -- head, thorax, and abdomen -- compound eyes, six legs, antennae, and sometimes wings. Ask your child to sing you the song s/he learned to remember this!
In addition to observing the insects they are personally caring for, the students have participated in many activities to support their learning. For example, they looked at plastic insects to determine what was wrong with them, and they discovered the legs were not coming out of the thorax as they should be and they didn't have compound eyes as they should. They also built a scientifically correct insect using model magic, and they completed two activities to identify an insect's lifecycle and determine whether it went through complete or incomplete metamorphosis. Ask your child to tell you which type of metamorphosis our insects go through.
Reading
The children have been working hard to read non-fiction informational text to grow knowledge. For the past three weeks, the children have focused on growing knowledge by learning the "lingo" of a topic. One strategy we discussed was to anticipate the vocabulary they expect to see in a book. Then the students read to confirm the words they thought they'd see and add new vocabulary to their schema. They record the new vocabulary and new learning about the topic in their reader's notebooks. Ask your child to tell you the strategies s/he is using to learn the lingo of a topic!
Another strategy we discussed is that readers become experts by reading more than one book about a topic. They notice parts in different books that go together and add to what they know in their reader's notebooks. They also spot differences between books. This can sometimes show how different authors feel about the topic.
Finally, we celebrated our non fiction reading by retelling about the topic and conducting a "Celebration Museum" about the non fiction books we've read so far in our class. We will continue reading non fiction when we return from winter break.
We've also read An Orange For Frankie, a fiction books by Patricia Polacco. We revisited strategies we've already discussed for fiction reading such as finding story elements, understanding characters, and making inferences. Students wrote their thinking about our read alouds, in their Readers' Notebooks.
Next week, students will receive a Winter Break Reading Challenge. I encourage them to keep reading! For every 20 minutes they read they can glue a "marshmallow" on their cocoa mug. Students who read 20 minutes at least 10 times will get a special treat when they return from winter break!
Word Study
We studied open and closed syllable words last week and contractions this week. The students learned that contractions are a shortened way to write words, and they did “surgery” on words to make them into contractions.
Next week the children will study homophones: words with one sound but different meanings and different spellings. These words are very tricky and will need to be revisited many times before they are mastered. They will read a book about homophones, draw pictures to help them remember the meaning of each word, and do an art project to test their memories! Thank you for supporting your child with slightly different word work homework both weeks!
Cursive Handwriting
The students are doing a great job learning to write cursive! They have learned many lower case letters and are having a great time in the process. Ask your child to tell you about this!
I wish everyone a wonderful, restful winter break. May you enjoy special memories with your family and friends if you celebrate Christmas!
Math
We began Unit 3 just before Thanksgiving. This unit focuses on place value of 2- and 3-digit numbers. In the first investigation, the students were introduced to "Sticker Station," which is an imaginary store that sells stickers in strips of tens, singles, or sheets of 100 stickers. Students used this context, as well as money (dimes, pennies, dollar bills) and cubes organized in towers of 10, to think about how numbers are composed. Students have discovered that someone can have 32 stickers from "Sticker Station" four different ways:
1. three 10 strips and two singles (30+2=32)
2. two 10 strips and 12 singles(20+12=32)
3. one 10 strip and 22 singles(10+22=32)
4. zero 10 strips and 32 singes(0+32=32)
Students also played a game called Roll a Square and solved addition and subtraction story problems that involved multiples of 10 and ones. Click on the link below to see how students are to solve story problems, using the RSW strategy. I emphasize students solve problems in a way that makes sense to them, and we have wonderful math talks that enable students to share their solutions and the strategies they use. You would be very impressed with our conversations about mathematics! The students took the assessment for the first investigation, and this came home last week.
This week, we've been doing work in the second investigation. The students have been solving story problems based on situations involving the imaginary Sticker Station store. An important aspect of our work has been to make sure students understand a problem before they begin trying to solve it! We use "math theater" to act out the problems. This information helps students realize if the action in the problem is to join amounts of stickers (addition situation) or separate amounts of stickers(subtraction situation), and helps them write the equation that matches the problem's action. Through "math theater" students also seek to recognize which part of the equation is unknown. For example, equations for different join situations could be: result unknown (ie. 10+10=?), the change unknown (ie. 10+?=20), or the start unknown(ie. ?+10=20). Of course, the RSW steps for solving story problems are also important for students to understand what to do with story problems!
The solution strategies students use to solve problems about the Sticker Station reinforce the use of place value. Many students are moving away from drawing pictures to solve sticker problems to decomposing numbers in the equation into tens and ones. By recognizing tens and ones, students use their knowledge of basic addition and subtraction facts to solve problems with much larger numbers. For example, 32+58=? can be solved by adding the tens (30+50=80), then adding the ones (8+2=10), then adding 80+10=90. Students who can decompose in this way can use a number line to solve or simply manipulate the equations to solve. You would be amazed to hear students explain their thinking to one another! Our math talks are fascinating!
In addition to solving story problems and having wonderful math talks, the students have played several games, including Get to 100 and Close to 20. Make sure to check out the benchmarks your child is working toward in the next two investigations in this unit.
Writing
The children continue working on writing non fiction books that teach. They learned to identify their audience before they write and anticipate questions their audience might have about their topic. We discussed how good introductions should hook their readers right from the start, and we looked at mentor texts to see how published authors introduce their subjects. The students discovered that asking a question and stating the topic with a grabby first sentence are two good ways to hook their audience. They also noticed that descriptive language will help readers visualize their informational writing just like it did in their small moment writing. The children revisited favorite non-fiction books and identified a text feature they want to try in their writing. They learned that choosing the right paper for their writing is very important! Ask your child to tell you what text feature(s) they have included in their non-fiction writing!
Science - Insects!
The children have enjoyed learning about insect lifecycles. They've discovered insects go through complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult) or incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult). The children have also learned that insects have three body parts -- head, thorax, and abdomen -- compound eyes, six legs, antennae, and sometimes wings. Ask your child to sing you the song s/he learned to remember this!
In addition to observing the insects they are personally caring for, the students have participated in many activities to support their learning. For example, they looked at plastic insects to determine what was wrong with them, and they discovered the legs were not coming out of the thorax as they should be and they didn't have compound eyes as they should. They also built a scientifically correct insect using model magic, and they completed two activities to identify an insect's lifecycle and determine whether it went through complete or incomplete metamorphosis. Ask your child to tell you which type of metamorphosis our insects go through.
Reading
The children have been working hard to read non-fiction informational text to grow knowledge. For the past three weeks, the children have focused on growing knowledge by learning the "lingo" of a topic. One strategy we discussed was to anticipate the vocabulary they expect to see in a book. Then the students read to confirm the words they thought they'd see and add new vocabulary to their schema. They record the new vocabulary and new learning about the topic in their reader's notebooks. Ask your child to tell you the strategies s/he is using to learn the lingo of a topic!
Another strategy we discussed is that readers become experts by reading more than one book about a topic. They notice parts in different books that go together and add to what they know in their reader's notebooks. They also spot differences between books. This can sometimes show how different authors feel about the topic.
Finally, we celebrated our non fiction reading by retelling about the topic and conducting a "Celebration Museum" about the non fiction books we've read so far in our class. We will continue reading non fiction when we return from winter break.
We've also read An Orange For Frankie, a fiction books by Patricia Polacco. We revisited strategies we've already discussed for fiction reading such as finding story elements, understanding characters, and making inferences. Students wrote their thinking about our read alouds, in their Readers' Notebooks.
Next week, students will receive a Winter Break Reading Challenge. I encourage them to keep reading! For every 20 minutes they read they can glue a "marshmallow" on their cocoa mug. Students who read 20 minutes at least 10 times will get a special treat when they return from winter break!
Word Study
We studied open and closed syllable words last week and contractions this week. The students learned that contractions are a shortened way to write words, and they did “surgery” on words to make them into contractions.
Next week the children will study homophones: words with one sound but different meanings and different spellings. These words are very tricky and will need to be revisited many times before they are mastered. They will read a book about homophones, draw pictures to help them remember the meaning of each word, and do an art project to test their memories! Thank you for supporting your child with slightly different word work homework both weeks!
Cursive Handwriting
The students are doing a great job learning to write cursive! They have learned many lower case letters and are having a great time in the process. Ask your child to tell you about this!