Monday -PE -ODS Luggage Drop off from 500-600. | Tuesday -Leave for ODS -Arrive at 8:35. We hope to depart at 9:00 | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday -We should return to school between 100-200. Please stay posted to email notifications. |
9/26--ODS luggage drop off 500-600
9/27-9/30 -- ODS Magruder
10/1 -- Fernhill's Birds and Brew Festival --just a fun community event, that fits with our current project
10/18 --Profile Story Due , Mentor Text (an example profile story)
Volunteer Needs
*Please contact me ASAP if you are able to help with any of these dates!*
10/6--12:00-2:00--We will be touring the Joint Water Commission
10/11-- 12:00-2:15--Help us place leaf packs in Scoggins Creek to survey for macroinvertebrates
10/25-- time TBA-- Help small groups find success as we collect our Fernhill Monitoring Project data
Project
This week our project work focused on wetlands and watersheds. We did some reading as to why the new construction at Fernhill is so important. The Fernhill Monitoring Project was also introduced. And, we had such a successful visit there on Tuesday! I loved seeing small groups visit different stations to learn more about the research we'll do there this upcoming year.
A watershed is an area of land where all the water from that land drains to the same body of water. Everyplace on earth is in a watershed and small watersheds fit into bigger ones and so on! Watch this video to see a quick overview and definition.
Ask, what's the order of our watershed?
Listen to you student explain the mapping activity we did and how you can read a map and landscape to determine watershed layouts.
Extend the learning by visiting local wetlands and other creeks, rivers and lakes. (Fernhill, Jackson Bottom, Hagg Lake, Gales Creek Campground, etc.) Or, attend the Birds and Brew Festival at Fernhill Wetlands.
Literacy
I finished reading assessments! I enjoyed getting a chance to read with almost every student (Chloe, our student teacher, read with a few Merlins.) Now, I look forward to kicking off our literacy program after ODS. The last part we read in Flush made us wonder if Noah's dad wrongly accused Dusty Muleman of water pollution. I look forward to our future discussions we'll have with about this book.
Also, we kicked off our first major writing project of the school year--The Profile Story Project. Each student will write a profile article about another Merlin in the coming weeks. The students picked up on the important characteristics of writing such an article--having a theme, interesting quotes, and involving all of our senses so we really get to know the star of the article.
Ask who are you interviewing and what will be the focus of your article?
Listen to your student explain why a theme is important in the profile article.
Extend the learning by writing profile stories on each other at home!
The sixth grade mathematicians really impressed me this week! They showed a great work ethic during our work periods. And, we ended our first block with a math challenge day. A math challenge is students working on a multi-step problem that reviews important content from the unit. We started by looking at anonymous student work from a few years ago that was impossible to follow. From there, we created standards of how we should show our work using the steps: Understand, Plan, Solve, and Check. Feel free to check out your student's work by looking for it in the 6th grade math folder--it's yellow. On Friday we started taking our first test. We'll finish it by Monday and after we return from ODS, we'll learn all about the end of test procedures.
Ask your mathematician to solve 5.876 + 3.73
Listen to your mathematician explain the math challenge about Carla buying a car.
Extend the learning by looking for ways decimal numbers are used in our everyday life.
5th Grade Math
I appreciate the positivity and enthusiasm this group of mathematicians has shown since we began 5th grade math. This past week was a mix of review and new challenges to not only develop fluency with the multiplication standard algorithm, but to also be able to explain and show the mathematical reasoning behind the algorithm. 5th grade mathematicians will continue to practice the standard algorithm for multiplication as we move into long division. We'll spend tomorrow reviewing division with remainder strategies. We'll continue our work with division with remainders and long division when we return from ODS. This unit will culminate with understanding the long division algorithm and the math reasoning behind it.
ASK your mathematician to solve 85 x 47 using the standard algorithm.
LISTEN to your mathematician explain the mathematical reasoning behind the algorithm.
EXTEND the learning by looking for ways that we use division and multiplication in everyday life.