Monday -PE | Tuesday -O&A to Fernhill Wetlands | Wednesday -Art | Thursday | Friday No School |
- 10/9 No School
- 10/12 Outdoor School letters due
- 10/12 Book orders due -Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub -One-Time Class Activation Code: FYB2R
- 10/16 No School
- 10/22 & 10/23 Goal Setting Conferences, No School
Volunteer Needs
- 10/6 from 12-2:30 We need volunteers to help with our O&A to Fernhill Wetlands
- 10/13 from 12-2:30 We need volunteers to help with our O&A to Fernhill Wetlands. You'll be overseeing a research group.
News of the Week
Bridges
It’s been fun to see groups construct their bridge. It’s no easy task gluing toothpicks together. Adding to the difficulty is constructing a 3D bridge, when the design is only 2D. But, through the bumps, beautiful designs are beginning to emerge. We also kicked off our first month of Classroom Economy. Students updated budgets and paid me rent!
Ask, how is your group doing in terms of working as a team?
Listen to how your child earns money through our classroom economy.
Extend the learning by investigating or visiting local bridges!
Literacy
In writing, we spent a lot of time working on letters to our future selves—trying to remind us why we should be student leaders for Outdoor School when we are in high school. I will collect the letters and send them to the student when they are in 10th grade. These letters may also be sent to local legislators convincing them to fund the bill passed this summer allowing all students to have the opportunity to attend outdoor school.
I’ve enjoyed trying out different types of poetry with the Merlins. Last week we dabbled in “small poems” and Tanka poetry—a Japanese style of poetry. During out O&A, Rachel led a poetry group too. They did lie poems! We’ll continue to learn different types of poetry, try it out and eventually build a portfolio of poems to be shared at our Poetry Slam, in November. Setting the stage for poetry is our continued reading of Love that Dog. We didn’t make as much progress as I had planned last week, so stay tuned for what happens in the story.
Ask, what did you like better the Tanka poems or the small poems? Why?
Listen to your child’s reasons for wanting to return (or not) to ODS as a student leader
Extend the learning by reading favorite poems together as a family.
6th Grade Math
It's been nice to get into the swing of things for 6th grade math. A few routines I'd parents to know is that part of the math homework is to look ahead to the next day’s lesson—write the date, title of lesson and any vocabulary. Another class routine is to take a proficiency check each day. It’s a way for me to see what misconceptions there are from the previous lesson. Kids are suppose to keep these in their yellow math folder, so feel free to look there as a way to gauge your child’s understanding.
Last week we learned about the Order of Operations: Exponents, Multiplication & Division (left to right) and Addition & Subtraction (left to right.) We also reviewed strategies for multiplication—they now have a resource packet in their binder. And, we played a game called Roll 5, to practice the order of operation steps we have learned so far. This week we’ll review steps for division, learn about the parenthesis steps and actually wrap up our first unit!
Ask, how would you solve 16 – 4 x 2 1 ?
Listen to how your child feels about order of operations.
Extend the learning by writing equations that require you to use order of operations. See if you all get the same answer.
5th Grade Math
Last week, 5th grade mathematicians worked on learning additional routines for this year. This included the organization of their math journal, a spiral notebook in which students solve problem strings and record vocabulary. Students also completed their first problem string-practicing a multiplication strategy called double a dimension, double an area. The goal of this problem string was to help students who have not automatized relationships among facts. This strategy is an application of the associative property and an important step toward multiplicative thinking. To set goals for this unit, students completed unit pre-assessments. Students ended the week learning a new workplace game- the Multiple Game.
This week 5th graders will participate in the year's first investigation problem. This is a multi-step, multi-answer problem with a real-world context. Through the week, student pairs will work several periods to find many solutions, share strategies and ultimately, create a poster showing their mathematical thinking. The investigation ends with a math forum, where student pairs present posters and the class discusses the problem in depth. Students will get scored pre-assessments back in order to reflect and set learning goals for the unit.
Ask, what expression represents a prism with a base 6 by 2 cubes with 2 layers?
Listen to your child describe his or her goals for this unit.
Extend the learning by writing a numerical expression to represent the following statement. Make sure to include any grouping (such as parentheses) you need to make the expression work: To find 9x26, I find 10 times 26 and subtract 1 group of 26.