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| Making a comprehension salad. It takes text + THINKING. Ask your child about this. |
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| Mrs. McGraw (our literacy specialist engaged us in a comprehension lesson last week |
I can’t believe it is already the middle of October. Time is flying and we sure are having fun!
Math
- We completed the Unit 2 test, it’s coming home with your child
- Began Unit 3 yesterday
- Goal of coming weeks--finish memorizing x facts for single-digit numbers
- We’re taking a series of 50-facts tests for multiplication.
- Correct answers are counted only up to the first mistake (and not counted thereafter), so your child may at first receive a low score. If this happens, don’t be alarmed. Before long, scores will improve dramatically. Help your child set a realistic goal for the next test, and discuss what can be done to meet that goal.
- You can use the x & / fact triangles (in their math tab) to quiz your child on the basic facts and test your child’s progress
- In this unit we’ll get an early start in algebra, which is integral to the Everyday Mathematics philosophy.
Reading
- Integrating with Ecosystems study in Science, we started the novel: There’s an Owl in the Shower by Jean Craighead-George.
- Book about a boy named Borden ( he’s the son of a logger)
- Borden’s father laid off during timber ban to protect Northern Spotted Owl
- Allows for great comparing/contrasting the different perspectives of loggers/developers and environmentalists
- Used a literature based GLAD pictorial to activate students’ prior knowledge about Northern Spotted Owls and loggers.
- Nearing the end of our class read aloud, Maniac Magee. Ask your child what’s been happening and ask for examples of how Maniac “paid tuition” for the boy’s he’s been living with.
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| Owl in the Shower Pictorial now hanging on our wall |
Writing
- We’re deep in to the revising/editing/publishing process for our first unit
- I’ve been conducting revising and editing conferences with each student on their piece
- Ask your student about the story they’re publishing and about their progress in relation to the writing process
- We’ve talked about different proofreading marks to use when editing. Ask your child to show a few
- Once everyone has published we’ll have an author’s chair celebration of all our work
Science
- Studied the words ecosystem and predator on our class CCD (cognitive content dictionary) Ask your child about the routine we follow with vocabulary words on the CCD
- Played an outdoor game: the Food Chain Game. Have your child explain what we did and learned from the game.
- Involved each student being a seed, mouse, or owl. Object was to learn dynamics of how food chains
- Had fabulous hands-on Science to Go in school enrichment lab called “Washington Wildlife.” Students examined many forest animals, discussed how they adapt to their environment, keys to survival, and how they fit in a food web.
