Hello students and families!
Here is a glimpse into our wonderful week.
Math: We are working hard to find good-fit strategies to solve 2- and 3-digit addition and subtraction problems. Some students use an open number line, while others are developing their skills in using the Trade First or Counting Up algorithms. We practiced the strategies during guided M.A.T.H centers. We also worked on proving our answers using math manipulatives, fact families, or using a different strategy.
Reading: Our class LOVED kicking off our next reading unit, and are becoming super sleuths! Here are some clues about our unit:
-The stories all have a gumshoe (or sleuth, or detective)
-There are multiple suspects
-Suspects have possible motives and provide alibis
... If your deduction is that we are reading mystery books, you are correct!
We kicked off the unit by introducing important vocabulary (see bold words above, and our mystery word wall in room 31). Then, we read three great stories that contain mystery story elements while filling in our case files. Students did a wonderful job of putting the evidence together. We look forward to more mystery reading next week, and will start practicing guided reading rotations!
Literacy: To bridge our reading/writing learning, students presented their adaptations of Three Billy Goats Gruff as mini-plays. One narrator read the "new and improved" story while the rest of the group acted out the dialogue, action, and happy ending. This will help us to write our own folktales!
Writing: Now that we have read and studied traditional literature, we are working on our own folktale adaptations. Students chose the tale they are going to change and started working on a planning sheet. Then, they are drafting the tale using a checklist to keep track of the important parts of the story. Although we can be creative, the story has to be recognizable and contain some of the same elements as the original. We learned about expectations for Writer's Workshop, how to have a writing conference, and what to do when we have writer's block.
Science: We had a great presentation from a Newton arborist who keeps the trees in our community healthy. We learned facts about trees around the Franklin school, such as their roots go down a couple of feet into the ground, but spread out up to 3x the length of the tree! We also reviewed the parts of a tree, and that the rings count the number of years a tree has been growing/alive. We saw an example of a tree that lost a branch, but was able to produce its own "band-aid" and continue growing. We will continue learning about trees next week!
Check out pictures from our tree presentation and Reader's Theater - we can't wait to try it again!
Here is a glimpse into our wonderful week.
Math: We are working hard to find good-fit strategies to solve 2- and 3-digit addition and subtraction problems. Some students use an open number line, while others are developing their skills in using the Trade First or Counting Up algorithms. We practiced the strategies during guided M.A.T.H centers. We also worked on proving our answers using math manipulatives, fact families, or using a different strategy.
Reading: Our class LOVED kicking off our next reading unit, and are becoming super sleuths! Here are some clues about our unit:
-The stories all have a gumshoe (or sleuth, or detective)
-There are multiple suspects
-Suspects have possible motives and provide alibis
... If your deduction is that we are reading mystery books, you are correct!
We kicked off the unit by introducing important vocabulary (see bold words above, and our mystery word wall in room 31). Then, we read three great stories that contain mystery story elements while filling in our case files. Students did a wonderful job of putting the evidence together. We look forward to more mystery reading next week, and will start practicing guided reading rotations!
Literacy: To bridge our reading/writing learning, students presented their adaptations of Three Billy Goats Gruff as mini-plays. One narrator read the "new and improved" story while the rest of the group acted out the dialogue, action, and happy ending. This will help us to write our own folktales!
Writing: Now that we have read and studied traditional literature, we are working on our own folktale adaptations. Students chose the tale they are going to change and started working on a planning sheet. Then, they are drafting the tale using a checklist to keep track of the important parts of the story. Although we can be creative, the story has to be recognizable and contain some of the same elements as the original. We learned about expectations for Writer's Workshop, how to have a writing conference, and what to do when we have writer's block.
Science: We had a great presentation from a Newton arborist who keeps the trees in our community healthy. We learned facts about trees around the Franklin school, such as their roots go down a couple of feet into the ground, but spread out up to 3x the length of the tree! We also reviewed the parts of a tree, and that the rings count the number of years a tree has been growing/alive. We saw an example of a tree that lost a branch, but was able to produce its own "band-aid" and continue growing. We will continue learning about trees next week!
Check out pictures from our tree presentation and Reader's Theater - we can't wait to try it again!