Week in Review: February 15-19

This week in math we have continued to learn strategies for the 6s and 9s multiplication facts. We also worked on using our multiplication skills to solve word problems, including how to use strip diagrams. All of this practice is done through games with partners, online with Think Through Math, in small groups with the teacher, and through whole class dry erase responses. I try to mix it up so they never get bored!

In science, we wrapped up our study of the water cycle with students presenting their poster or reader's theater project, and then creating some unique Thinglinks. Once we finish those up, I will post them online for you all to see!

In language arts, we are continuing to practice test taking strategies for reading passages, as well as editing and revising skills. Students also began working in small groups or partnerships to write a feature news article based on their PBL research. On Friday, we reviewed synonyms and antonyms with some fun sorting races!

For social studies, we took a fascinating look at advertisements and discussed the techniques that advertisers use to get consumers to buy their products. This will help students as they design an advertisement for their own Economics Fair product.

Students are looking forward to next week's trip to the Wildflower Center on Friday. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Only 3 weeks until spring break...this year is just flying by!!

Week in Review: February 8-12

In math this week, our class was introduced to the Think Through Math program. They can log on at home through the link on my Websites page and practice their math skills any time. Think Through Math is very motivational as the kids earn points they can use to create a unique avatar, donate money to a charity, or share with our class to reach a class goal. More importantly, it is a great learning tool as students can skip sections they already grasp by successfully completing a pre-test, and they can get help as needed when they struggle with a skill. We are going back to multiplication in math, specifically focusing on the 8s, 9s, 6s, and 7s facts. We will be applying these facts in more complicated problem solving situations, so the more fluent they are with fact recall, the easier it will be for them.

We wrapped up our food chain and environments unit with a test in science on Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday, students took a look at the water cycle and chose to either create a poster of the water cycle, or formed a group to practice a reader's theater about the stages of the water cycle. I have seen some very creative things going on and can't wait for them to share next week!

In social studies, we are still studying economics as we prepare for our Economics Fair. Next week, our focus will be on advertising as we analyze magazine ads, and students design their own ads for their product.

In language arts, we finished up our imaginative stories by illustrating them and recording a storybook with an app called StoryKit. Unfortunately, we were not able to publish and share these due to email setting on the iPads, but I got a chance to enjoy each story as the students finished them up. We also reviewed some reading skills such as main idea / supporting details, cause and effect, and using non-fiction text features to help us find important information.

Recording stories with illustrations

Sorting cards into main idea categories

Working on illustrations for the imaginative stories

Friday was a fun day as we celebrated Valentine's Day a couple of days early. During writing time, we played some Minute to Win It style games including heart lava relay race, pass the tissue heart, and candy heart straw transfer. Math was all related to Valentine's day as we estimated and solved word problems based on candy and flowers and all other things related to the holiday. And of course, we ended the day with a party and exchanging Valentines.

 Have a great three day weekend! Remember there is no school for the kids on Monday!