Hopefully you are aware of a computer program called First in Math. This is a program that Addison has purchased for students to use to improve their math skills. Students are awarded points based on the games that they play in a day. Every day one student is awarded the "Player of the Day" and gets to wear a lanyard letting everyone in the school know of their accomplishment. Over the break Mrs. Gerber and I have challenged the students to continue to use the program. I will be checking both accounts daily and reporting back to this blog entry with the winners of the previous day. The top winner in each class will be having lunch with us on Monday as well as a little extra something special from us. (But I will post the top 3 winners each day.)
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Congratulation to Malaina for being selected as the Leader of the Month for September.
Before we left for the break, students were able to vote on their Leader of the Month for October. After 3 different voting sessions (due to ties) congratulations go to Eden. Great job ladies in being leaders in our class. Happy Fall Break!
I hope that everyone has a wonderfully relaxing vacation week. I find that I never have enough time to get the blog updated as frequently as I would like, so now that I have a moment I have put up bunches of pictures of recent visits to the science lab. I don't have pictures from classroom activities because I am always working with small groups and don't always remember! We have completed our study of the water cycle and will begin to study about weather and climate. We will study the different types of clouds, learn more about fronts, weather instruments (and make some in the science lab), and discover the difference between weather and climate. This will be the last unit in science before switching back over to social studies where our focus will be on Native Americans. In math we have been working on place value, addition & subtraction, estimating and rounding, and working on solving word problems. Coming up next will be learning about multiplication where we will multiply 3 or 4-digit numbers x 1-digit or multiply 2- or 3-digit x 2-digit. Students that are not fluent with their multiplication facts will struggle more than others. Please, please, PLEASE practice those facts on a nightly basis. As you are driving to different activities, quiz them on different facts. To make it easier, pick about 5 different facts and let those be the focus. Children can create flash cards with these facts and should continue to practice just those 5 before adding more into the mix. By introducing just a few at a time, students are set up for success and are not frustrated because they are stumped with each and every problem that they come across. Students also have access to First in Math to practice and I have bunches of math links for them to practice with. (There is a button on the right side of the computer screen.) We will start doing (non-graded) assessments on a weekly/bi-weekly basis to allow students to see how they are progressing on their facts. Do you know how hail is formed? I've always known the different types of precipitation, but until Mrs. Stewart told me of this activity, I didn't really know how hail was made. Do you really know how it is made? Ask your child (and hopefully they will remember!) We made these models out of playdough to remind us that hail actually came out of the clouds first as a drop of rain.
Just before we ended our unit on the water cycle, students had the opportunity to make a bracelet to show the water cycle with different colored beads.
During our last visit to the science lab we learned about cold fronts and warm fronts. Ask your child what we did and what is shown in the different pictures.
Are you an incredible dancer? An insanely skilled filmmaker?
Are you great at capturing the perfect image in a photograph? Are you intensely musical or an awesome illustrator? Then consider entering the PTSA’s Reflections Contest. Each year the PTSA sponsors an arts contest designed so that you can showcase your talents in one of six artistic areas: Dance choreography, Film production, Literature, Musical Composition, Photography and Visual Arts All you have to do is submit an original piece in one of the six categories that is inspired by the theme: “Let Your Imagination Fly” That piece will be judged at the school level and the winners in each category will receive award certificates and medals. Winning pieces will then be submitted to the county and or state level for further judging. Pick up a packet for further information on the categories, rules and entry forms. Don’t delay-projects are due by October 14th. For a look at last year’s winners, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA4KNZs5VuA For further detail please visit: http://www.georgiapta.org/for-pta-leaders/committee-chairs/reflections-leadership/ or contact Jennifer Powers at [email protected] We hope you will try and let your imagination fly! We completed our social studies unit with a test on Thursday. I still have those tests to grade and hope to have them finished sometime on Monday. I'll be sure to send out a text to let you know when you can see those grades in Parent Vue.
Since social studies is finished, we are moving on to science where we will discuss the water cycle, weather, clouds, and weather instruments. In math we have covered many different place value standards. We have touched on addition and subtraction and I will continue to work on it this week, adding in challenging magic squares and Exemplars (math problem solving) for students to solve. While we may be working on addition and subtraction, it is never too soon to begin practicing multiplication facts. In another week or so we will be starting multiplication and students are expected to know those facts. To help out, there is a button on the right side of the webpage with all different types of math links. Each student also has a log in for First in Math. Most students have at least started using it, but there are a few people that haven't. It is a fun way to get in some additional math practice. (Plus, we award the "Player of the Day" to the person that accumulated the most points the night before.) This week both classes went to the science lab where we learned about different types of clouds. The students made those clouds with shaving cream (something very cool that I never would have attempted inside my own room.) The kids had a blast! Now, let's see what they remember when we begin discussing clouds. :) In math we have been working on rounding, so on Thursday and Friday students got to rotate to 5 different math stations to practice their rounding skills in games.
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March 2020
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