It was another fun week for the Flying Water Hippo Dragons! We finished up our states of matter unit in science with root beer floats! The students were able to use the liquid (root beer) and solid (ice cream) to create a gas on top of their treat. It was quite a treat! Some students even experimented further at home. I'm looking forward to our next science unit in term 2.
We are also wrapping up our second unit with math. Unit 1 assessment will go home this week (sorry it took so long, we had to figure out what pieces of data we were using for Term 1). We've been working on lots of mental math strategies and breaking down the parts of a word problem. In Unit 3 we'll break down addition and subtraction strategies further. How can you move the numbers around in your head to solve problems. The end game will also include a traditional way to solve problems (like we learned in school). So look at this next unit as a way to strengthen their understanding of how numbers work with each other - not a replacement of traditional strategies. After that, we're moving on to time and measuring in January. We've got a lot of work to do! In reading, we started our guided reading groups. The more students can be exposed to reading, the more practice they are getting, and the stronger they will become with those skills. We've got a lot of animal stories coming up. Next week - our theme will revolve around owls! There will even be some optional owl activities and readings to do at home. Upcoming Events: 🦃 Thanksgiving Eve - Wednesday, November 25th: Half-Day 🦃 Thanksgiving Break - Thursday, November 26th + 27th: NO SCHOOL A Look Ahead: 🦉 Reading will have an owl theme, we will also have optional remote stories and activities 📝 Wrapping up patterns and completing the Unit 2 assessment 🐞 Looking at Lady Bug books (an award for picture books)
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It was a busy week in our science world for Cohort A! I won't give too much away because Cohort B will be experimenting all next week. We're looking at changes in states of matter. Some changes can be reversed and others cannot! This week we will also be wrapping up our states of matter unit. I will be sending out an email for permission to do Root Beer Floats. The root beer will be caffeine free! We are going to use the root beer (liquid) and ice cream (solid) to see if we can create a gas. If students aren't allowed to have the Root Beer Floats, I will respect that and they can watch what happens to create their models.
I will be sending home a lot of projects and assessments this week. The students are graded on a scale of 1 - 4. Typically, a 4 means they have mastered the skill without support, a 3 requires minimal support with a close first attempt, a 2 requires support with the first attempt being quite off, and a 1 means they are unable to do the skill even with support. I typically conference with students before I send things home so they have goals and direction on where to focus as the term continues. The term will be ending on December 4th. After December 4th, I will be reaching out to offer parent teacher Zoom conferences. So be on the lookout for more information on that! We started doing Guided Reading groups instead of reading a whole group story. It was so nice to work with a small group at a time! Students will be reading just right books in class and working on strategies to go back and answer various types of questions. We'll also start to support that answer with evidence from the stories. As a result, we won't have time to read the stories in class. There will be reading assignments on the remote days so students are still getting a double dose of comprehension practice. Next week is another short week. The assignments will be slightly different. From here to the end of the year there are days off all over the place. I appreciate the flexibility as I try to juggle remote activities and in person instruction lessons. Upcoming Events: 🦅 Veteran's Day - Wednesday, November 11th: NO SCHOOL A Look Ahead: 🗳️ Reading will have a Veteran's Day theme, we will also have optional stories ➕ Using tools for larger numbers and exploring turn around facts 🍺 Review, changes in matter, and a celebration! |
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April 2021
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