I am so proud of the students for working so hard this week. It tends to be a crazy time of year, but they have managed to stay focused and well behaved all week. We have been disinfecting desks all year, but 2x a day now as I want everyone to stay healthy for vacation! If you have disinfecting wipes and/or hand sanitizer, we would be so appreciative of you could send it in as we are running low! Thank you!
We have been working on long division as our newest math concept. As I mentioned in conferences, the new Pearson math program has been an adjustment for me as a teacher. With my particular group of students, I have found that the division chapter (topic 5) has been incredibly difficult to work through as each student brought in different strategies that worked from 4th grade. After a lot of thought, consults with other teachers/ math specialists, I have been using this mantra in class "use what you know & feel comfortable with"... If your child is struggling on any homework (especially math), please encourage him/ her to estimate and then try it. The year of the Eraser is perfectly fitting in right now. I showed this amazing clip (thank you to Mrs. Lowerre for sharing this with me!) today to illustrate this thinking:
https://youtu.be/vEVd0QMjCc8
Fail Harder is a great way to look at any facet in life. If students don't make mistakes, they cannot learn as deeply as they are capable of. We talk about "sweating" in school/ life and persevering because then you will go places. It's a work in progress, but each student is making strides. Math workshop for this week has centered around students teaching one another and sharing out division strategies to the class. Light bulbs are going off, and each child will get there- at his/ her own pace. The standard algorithm (aka-- the way we adults learned division) is a 6th grade standard, but is one 5th grade "exposes" students to. Do not worry if your child doesn't divide our way-- yet. "The Big 7" or "partial quotients" is perfect right now. Let's also keep in mind that it is December 17 and the fact I have engagement on my side despite holidays, stress, illness, etc... I couldn't be more proud.
This video also applies to report cards- which come out on Tuesday, 12/22. We talked about how if a student had perfect scores in each category in term 1, there is no room for growth. In order to grow and get better, it is important to have goals that push us. Thank you so much for always reinforcing this at home.
Secret Snowflake ended this morning. I am beyond thrilled with this year's quality. The students were so diligent about thoughtful gifts/ cards. This is the first year where more students did not know who had them as Secret Snowflake. Usually by Thursday (in prior years), the majority couldn't hold it in any longer. We had a lot of awesome surprises this morning! Each student made a thank you note for his/ her SS-- and even the quality of these has been so impressive.
Fish in a Tree Global Read Aloud was a HUGE success. The students learned so much about themselves throughout this process- as both learners and friends. The book projects blew me away as each one was unique and represented the student who chose it. We had dioramas, extra chapters, letters to movie makers, iMovie trailers, playlists for which songs should be in the movie, Stop Motion videos, Mine Craft representations of the setting, board games, collages, movies turned into QR codes... simply amazing and life changing from start to finish. I cannot wait to see what they will push themselves to do with our new read aloud!
On our horizon...
- Zimbabwean wire toys and ornaments on sale 12/21 & 12/22 at lunch time
- Read aloud is El Deafo by Cece Bell... the first graphic novel read aloud for me (and probably at Dale Street). I bought it on iBooks and am able to project through our AppleTV so that I can zoom in on each frame. The students are eating it up... if you haven't read it, I strongly suggest it!!
- Assessment on division next week-- short check in that the students will be able to use whichever strategy they choose
- Classroom Holiday party- Wed., 12/23
- Researching famous explorers in SS and Writer's Workshop
Learning about different perspectives of different explorers and Native Americans, why the Europeans wanted to explore, and what makes historical figures "influential" (not necessarily a nice person)
- Science- moving on to weather!
- Reader's Workshop... using graphic novel as platform to demonstrate thinking about reading. This has been amazing so far as the students are SO motivated and engaged during every responding to reading session. They are able to show multiple perspectives and dive even deeper through their own comic creations. I have several students who have already surpassed the 40 book challenge goal- and many close to it! This is a book loving group for sure!
- next writing unit beginning in January: Persuasive/ Argument-Based
Thank you- as always- for so much support this year. I feel blessed to work with this intelligent, unique, and kind group of students. Stay tuned for report cards... 12/22/15.
Thanks,
Kerry
We have been working on long division as our newest math concept. As I mentioned in conferences, the new Pearson math program has been an adjustment for me as a teacher. With my particular group of students, I have found that the division chapter (topic 5) has been incredibly difficult to work through as each student brought in different strategies that worked from 4th grade. After a lot of thought, consults with other teachers/ math specialists, I have been using this mantra in class "use what you know & feel comfortable with"... If your child is struggling on any homework (especially math), please encourage him/ her to estimate and then try it. The year of the Eraser is perfectly fitting in right now. I showed this amazing clip (thank you to Mrs. Lowerre for sharing this with me!) today to illustrate this thinking:
https://youtu.be/vEVd0QMjCc8
Fail Harder is a great way to look at any facet in life. If students don't make mistakes, they cannot learn as deeply as they are capable of. We talk about "sweating" in school/ life and persevering because then you will go places. It's a work in progress, but each student is making strides. Math workshop for this week has centered around students teaching one another and sharing out division strategies to the class. Light bulbs are going off, and each child will get there- at his/ her own pace. The standard algorithm (aka-- the way we adults learned division) is a 6th grade standard, but is one 5th grade "exposes" students to. Do not worry if your child doesn't divide our way-- yet. "The Big 7" or "partial quotients" is perfect right now. Let's also keep in mind that it is December 17 and the fact I have engagement on my side despite holidays, stress, illness, etc... I couldn't be more proud.
This video also applies to report cards- which come out on Tuesday, 12/22. We talked about how if a student had perfect scores in each category in term 1, there is no room for growth. In order to grow and get better, it is important to have goals that push us. Thank you so much for always reinforcing this at home.
Secret Snowflake ended this morning. I am beyond thrilled with this year's quality. The students were so diligent about thoughtful gifts/ cards. This is the first year where more students did not know who had them as Secret Snowflake. Usually by Thursday (in prior years), the majority couldn't hold it in any longer. We had a lot of awesome surprises this morning! Each student made a thank you note for his/ her SS-- and even the quality of these has been so impressive.
Fish in a Tree Global Read Aloud was a HUGE success. The students learned so much about themselves throughout this process- as both learners and friends. The book projects blew me away as each one was unique and represented the student who chose it. We had dioramas, extra chapters, letters to movie makers, iMovie trailers, playlists for which songs should be in the movie, Stop Motion videos, Mine Craft representations of the setting, board games, collages, movies turned into QR codes... simply amazing and life changing from start to finish. I cannot wait to see what they will push themselves to do with our new read aloud!
On our horizon...
- Zimbabwean wire toys and ornaments on sale 12/21 & 12/22 at lunch time
- Read aloud is El Deafo by Cece Bell... the first graphic novel read aloud for me (and probably at Dale Street). I bought it on iBooks and am able to project through our AppleTV so that I can zoom in on each frame. The students are eating it up... if you haven't read it, I strongly suggest it!!
- Assessment on division next week-- short check in that the students will be able to use whichever strategy they choose
- Classroom Holiday party- Wed., 12/23
- Researching famous explorers in SS and Writer's Workshop
Learning about different perspectives of different explorers and Native Americans, why the Europeans wanted to explore, and what makes historical figures "influential" (not necessarily a nice person)
- Science- moving on to weather!
- Reader's Workshop... using graphic novel as platform to demonstrate thinking about reading. This has been amazing so far as the students are SO motivated and engaged during every responding to reading session. They are able to show multiple perspectives and dive even deeper through their own comic creations. I have several students who have already surpassed the 40 book challenge goal- and many close to it! This is a book loving group for sure!
- next writing unit beginning in January: Persuasive/ Argument-Based
Thank you- as always- for so much support this year. I feel blessed to work with this intelligent, unique, and kind group of students. Stay tuned for report cards... 12/22/15.
Thanks,
Kerry