Hi all,
What a fun week it's been! Spirit Week was a huge success.... I loved seeing a classroom full of the color of the day. It's the little things that really solidify the cohesiveness in this learning community. We also had Science Safari on Thursday that was a ton of fun. Simply put, we all got to play with science. I will be forwarding on some pictures and videos to you of your kiddo (if I got any).
Math
This was such a great week in math. The Module pre-test went well. Kids feel confident adding numbers using the standard algorithm. They are however, very slow. I also noticed many student forgetting to include regrouped values. There are several approaches I took to tackle these two problems. I introduced Number Talks with addition. This is a time when I pose a problem on the board and ask the kids to solve it mentally. Students share strategies and we discuss how we can manipulate the addends to make it easier to find the sum. I also introduced CGI problem solving. This is a new way to how to solve word problems.... the trick? No numbers. By looking at the word problem with no numbers, the kids are forced to consider the context and what the best plan find a solution. The discussions are amazing! I also got everyone on to Xtramath to continue working on that fact fluency. The less brain power they spend on making sums the more brain power they have to tackle complex, multi-step word problems.
Next week, I will continue this process with subtraction.
Science
We continued our unit with matter, but focused on the different states of matter and how they can change from state to state. We also did an investigation on physical changes of matter by creating mixtures and solutions. A big thank you to Neha, Samya's mom, for saving the day and bringing in powdered drink mix!
I bumped the matter brochure I discussed in last week's update to next weekand we will talk about nutrition in health.
Have a great weekend!
What a fun week it's been! Spirit Week was a huge success.... I loved seeing a classroom full of the color of the day. It's the little things that really solidify the cohesiveness in this learning community. We also had Science Safari on Thursday that was a ton of fun. Simply put, we all got to play with science. I will be forwarding on some pictures and videos to you of your kiddo (if I got any).
Math
This was such a great week in math. The Module pre-test went well. Kids feel confident adding numbers using the standard algorithm. They are however, very slow. I also noticed many student forgetting to include regrouped values. There are several approaches I took to tackle these two problems. I introduced Number Talks with addition. This is a time when I pose a problem on the board and ask the kids to solve it mentally. Students share strategies and we discuss how we can manipulate the addends to make it easier to find the sum. I also introduced CGI problem solving. This is a new way to how to solve word problems.... the trick? No numbers. By looking at the word problem with no numbers, the kids are forced to consider the context and what the best plan find a solution. The discussions are amazing! I also got everyone on to Xtramath to continue working on that fact fluency. The less brain power they spend on making sums the more brain power they have to tackle complex, multi-step word problems.
Next week, I will continue this process with subtraction.
Science
We continued our unit with matter, but focused on the different states of matter and how they can change from state to state. We also did an investigation on physical changes of matter by creating mixtures and solutions. A big thank you to Neha, Samya's mom, for saving the day and bringing in powdered drink mix!
I bumped the matter brochure I discussed in last week's update to next weekand we will talk about nutrition in health.
Have a great weekend!