Hope you all have enjoyed your Halloween!
This is the first BLOG post since prior to conferences.
It was so good to sit with each of you and speak to you
personally. I felt we had wonderfully collaborative conversations that
will hopefully continue on this positive trajectory. I hope to always
have this kind of open conversation with you throughout the year. Please
do not hesitate to contact me regarding any questions, concerns or ponderings.
Here's a quick catch up on what's been happening in our room:
Here's a quick catch up on what's been happening in our room:
In our BIG number studies, we worked with a 10,000 chart and we are currently counting popcorn in hopes to reach one million. It is taking longer than originally suspected. As you have probably seen,
we are working on the US Traditional Algorithm for addition. In today's world of math, we are finding that the kids are better able to
understand and apply these algorithms after they have built a stronger conceptual
basis. Having a better grasp on number sense and place value, the
abstract steps of the algorithms are better understood. Even still, much
practice helps to solidify the skill. Next week we will begin working with the subtraction algorithm. We are also working with story problems and working on lining up the numbers in correct columns as we practice concise and clear notation.
Even though many students required some extra time to meet the due date, everyone finished their Character Bags and we are more than half way through the presentations. I am quite pleased with how everyone's bag turned out. It has been fun to learn about new books through each other's bags. The characters chosen are very rich and interesting.
We have also successfully finished our most recent narrative. We learned the Writer's Process, we learned the rhythms of our daily writing lives, we learned to generate writing ideas and to find interesting topics or moments in our daily lives that are worth writing about. We focused on choosing just one of those moments and developing it into something that would create a picture in the reader's mind. We focused on zooming in on the scenes of each little moment and to make sure that it was written in complete sequential sentences that flowed. We found the heart of our story and worked to convey to the reader why it was a story worth sharing. We have much to learn, but I am quite proud of just how far they have come in just these few short weeks.
