Hello im Lauren, your weekly blog writer! So far this week has been great and we are ready to learn, even from that crazy week! In math, we are learning how to multiply in the standard algorithm and the area model form. Last week we started writing our personal narratives, this week we are editing and finding the heart of our stories. In writing we also learned how to use an arch to help find the resolution of our stories! We had started a science research group and we all are in groups and those groups all have one question to research. The type of questions we have all relate to our central idea which is how animals depend on each other and reducing our footprints on the earth. Its been super fun to collaborate together and research! to end the week, we had our buddies. and we read with them. and We also had an AWESOME science project, where we made a mechanical arms and tried to lift cups full of crayons with them! We learned so much and had a wonderful time doing it! We learned how to be better writers, great at math and of course awesome scientists! And now for a cheesy and somewhat funny joke! Q: What do you call a fake noodle A: An impasta Here some photos of us doing some research! Today we talked about multiplying decimals. While a lot of kids remembered rules such as "you move the decimal in the answer as many places as there are digits behind decimals in the problem" our goal today was to justify WHY that is true. We talked about inverse properties- how multiplying and dividing by the same number leaves you with the same value- a great foundation for solving equations in Algebra! From there we made sure we don't ever say, "The decimal goes away" but justify it with- "I make 3.2 into a whole number by multiplying by 10" Then at the end we avoid, "I just count over one space and put the decimal" and say, "I use the inverse of multiplying by 10 and I divide by ten, which moves the decimal one place the the left." I think it helps to avoid what I call "Math-Magic"- when students make numbers/decimals/variables appear and disappear without justification, which can lead to errors in higher level math. But... by the end, of the unit, students won't need to do every step we did today. Seeing patterns and using rules developed from these patterns is a crucial part of math learning. As we do more complicated decimals I'll be looking for those lightbulbs and students saying, "Oh, I can just place the decimal by...... this is justified by....." Happy Math!! If you are looking for links to the videos watched today, go to PYP and look under science. With all the days of school we miss in November, it was great to get so much done this week! Here's our week in review:
Math: We started our new "Module" with strategies to solve multiplication problems based on our base 10 knowledge. We continue to model our thinking in different ways. We debated the use of parentheses and when we do and do not need them. We introduced the vocabulary Commutative Property to describe multiplication expression's ability to move the numbers around. We had a Friday math quiz that went home with kids at the end of the day. It was the first one of the unit, so concepts are still new. Writing: We are now focused on ONE piece of narrative writing and how to revise it to make it a strong story. Students should be thinking about the "heart" of the story- what they want the reader to walk away with. Is it just a story about a crashed go-kart, or is it about realizing that even though you and your brother fight a lot, he really does care about you and what happens to you? Reading: We continue to read Home of the Brave as a class and think about developing strong theories about characters based on context clues. Students should be reading their own book 30 mins a night. PYP: We are full into our Sharing the Planet unit. Students started to explore non-fiction books related to our lines of inquiry. They will be developing personal interest questions to research further with a group. See the PYP page for more information about this unit. Special thank you to our Congressional Librarians for getting our library organized and labeled. We had some GREAT new books donated from the book fair and they are all displayed wonderfully and getting into hands of students. This might help with homework tonight- here are the problems we did in class today. |
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April 2015
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