Today was a great start to week 2! We started the morning with Addition Top-It, which is a game that provides the students with a chance to practice addition and comparing numbers. We followed that with some MEAP math review, using our SmartBoard Clickers (think handheld trivia machines from your favorite sports bar). Our focus was on exposing students to MEAP math problems as review, working our way through a step-by-step problem solving process (see below for the problem solving steps), and introducing the clickers.
Our read aloud during snack time today was Goldie Socks and the 3 Libearians, which is a fun take on the Goldilocks story, focused around reading and picking just right books. The follow-up to the story was a reading lesson about picking just right books using the five finger rule (see below for information about the five finger rule). We connected picking books to picking clothes that were a good fit. Books that are too easy are like clothes that are too small. Books that are too big are like clothes that are too big. Some day, they will fit... but they don't fit yet. We set expectations for our Read to Self (independent reading) time and then worked on spelling / phonics. This week, we are finishing our spelling homefun in class as a way to introduce the students to what they will be asked to do. Spelling Homefun for next week will come home this Friday on blue paper. More info to come on Spelling.
After lunch, we had a quick Rocket Math test (addition fact practice) and learned some lacrosse skills in PE. Our day ended with a visit from Mr. Stephenson, who shared with us Chris Van Allsburg's The Sweetest Fig.
There is a Writing Homefun assignment in folders tonight that is due this Friday.
Open House is this Thursday, Sept. 13 beginning at 6 pm. I've been telling you 6:30 pm for the last week, which is wrong. Sorry for the confusion. Hope to see you there!
Hopefully, your child has come home in the last couple of days talking about money and our classroom economics system. I've attached more information about this system. We use this system as part of our classroom management as well as using it to teach about a lot of important economics concepts (earning money, paying rent, buying, saving, spending, opportunity cost, scarcity, etc.). The students have the opportunity to earn lots of money by making good choices each day at school. This was a long email.
MEAP Problem Solving Steps
1. Read the problem (twice).
2. Look for key words that tell you what to do.
3. Do the math.
4. Think and check.
Five Finger Rule
1. Pick a book and open to any page. Start with a closed fist. 2. Read the page and for each word you don't know, put one finger up. 3. If you put all five fingers up before the end of the page, the book is too big (hard). 4. If you put up 1-4 fingers, the book is just right. 5. If you put up no fingers, the book may be too easy (I'm not a stickler on books that are too easy as long as the students are interested in them and engaged in reading them). 6. If the book is too hard, try a different book.
Our read aloud during snack time today was Goldie Socks and the 3 Libearians, which is a fun take on the Goldilocks story, focused around reading and picking just right books. The follow-up to the story was a reading lesson about picking just right books using the five finger rule (see below for information about the five finger rule). We connected picking books to picking clothes that were a good fit. Books that are too easy are like clothes that are too small. Books that are too big are like clothes that are too big. Some day, they will fit... but they don't fit yet. We set expectations for our Read to Self (independent reading) time and then worked on spelling / phonics. This week, we are finishing our spelling homefun in class as a way to introduce the students to what they will be asked to do. Spelling Homefun for next week will come home this Friday on blue paper. More info to come on Spelling.
After lunch, we had a quick Rocket Math test (addition fact practice) and learned some lacrosse skills in PE. Our day ended with a visit from Mr. Stephenson, who shared with us Chris Van Allsburg's The Sweetest Fig.
There is a Writing Homefun assignment in folders tonight that is due this Friday.
Open House is this Thursday, Sept. 13 beginning at 6 pm. I've been telling you 6:30 pm for the last week, which is wrong. Sorry for the confusion. Hope to see you there!
Hopefully, your child has come home in the last couple of days talking about money and our classroom economics system. I've attached more information about this system. We use this system as part of our classroom management as well as using it to teach about a lot of important economics concepts (earning money, paying rent, buying, saving, spending, opportunity cost, scarcity, etc.). The students have the opportunity to earn lots of money by making good choices each day at school. This was a long email.
MEAP Problem Solving Steps
1. Read the problem (twice).
2. Look for key words that tell you what to do.
3. Do the math.
4. Think and check.
Five Finger Rule
1. Pick a book and open to any page. Start with a closed fist. 2. Read the page and for each word you don't know, put one finger up. 3. If you put all five fingers up before the end of the page, the book is too big (hard). 4. If you put up 1-4 fingers, the book is just right. 5. If you put up no fingers, the book may be too easy (I'm not a stickler on books that are too easy as long as the students are interested in them and engaged in reading them). 6. If the book is too hard, try a different book.