Thankful Thursday!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

We had a short, but sweet week in High Ability.  We took a slight break from our regular lessons to focus on Thanksgiving fun.  Stealing the idea of another HA instructor, the students took a minute each day to write on a leaf, something they were thankful for.  Many wrote something each day and it was nice to see the things they are thankful for. 

Our LifeSkill focus for the week was initiative.  This one is so very true for me!  I just need to get started and then I'm off.

• The hardest thing to get is going.
• A journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step.
• Just Do It!

A lot of our Thanksgiving activities this week could be used across the different grade levels.  You'll see that as you read below.  

We only met one day for math this week.  For my fourth and first graders next week will be only one day again due to the early release on December 4th.  

Looking ahead to December, it is truly going to fly by.  Don't blink or you'll miss it!  Only ten days of HA!!!  Yikes.

Week of:

• December 1st-4th-Early release day on Thursday the 4th
• December 8th-11th-regular full week, whooohoooo!!!!
• December 15th-18th-no HA on Monday or Tuesday because I will be in Indy at a High Ability Conference.
• December 22nd-January 2nd-Winter Recess

Fourth Grade LA:

We did a really neat Thanksgiving lesson on the SmartBoard.  We started off with an educational video about the first Thanksgiving which showed live reenactments of the tools they used, the houses they lived in, how they gardened, etc.  Then the students had to match up the vocabulary with their terms where students had to physically move them into place.  We wrote on the board what we were thankful for, then played a Jeopardy-like game to review what we learned.    We also squeezed in a game of "I have . . . who has?" which was centered around Thanksgiving.  

Great interactive learning with technology!

Fourth Grade Math:
This group was given a new Thanksgiving logic problem to work on.  We stopped where we currently were in our logic problems to do this one.  Just when I think I've found a challenging one for them . . . they go and solve it in a day!  Not just one logic problem, but two!  Hats off to this group; I'm impressed!  I hope to wrap up our logic unit next week   

Second Grade LA:

We did a Thanksgiving themed mad lib to keep with the parts of speech study.  This group really got into it!  I sorted them using "button buddies" which for many we'd never done.  I could hear them explain the parts of speech to their partner if they didn't know what an adjective was.  I also heard a lot of laughter as they read their paragraphs back to each other.  We finished up with a Thanksgiving themed game of "I have . . . .who has . . . "  It's just like the math one we played with money except this time they called out Thanksgiving clues.  It was challenging, but fun nonetheless!  Oh, and we couldn't forget Edward.  We continued to read a little each day, so we're way past our lessons.  It's simply not a book you can just stop in the middle of.  They'll be fine when we jump back to work on them, just so they keep on reading.

Second Grade Math:
We did an activity from Kagen called Fan and Pick.  Students took turns pulling from a deck of task cards that each had different money amounts on it.  They each had a job to do, so everyone is engaged and learning.  It was great for review.  We also took time to do the Thanksgiving themed Jeopardy game which they enjoyed!

Third Grade LA:

We started by playing, "Would you rather . . ."  It was Thanksgiving themed where they were given two choices.  For example, would you rather get to lead the Thanksgiving Day Parade or get to eat Thanksgiving dinner in the White House with the president?  There were SO many others and many were difficult for them to decide on.  Ask them to tell you a few.  We had a good laugh and kept it going with Thanksgiving themed Mad Libs.  Usually the group will laugh out loud while reading the funny/mixed up stories at the end, but this group was giggly going into it.  They even laughed when asked to give them a noun.  It was contagious and we had a lot of fun.  We also played a Thanksgiving Trivia game where we learned many interesting facts, ask them to share one they learned.

Third Grade Math:
This group totaled up their shopping list for a large family Thanksgiving.  They had to figure out the total per pound for some items and then give a grand total.  I only had one group with the correct answer.  That left time for "Would you rather?"  It's a series of crazy Thanksgiving dilemmas they have to think about.  For example, would you rather wash your hair with mashed potatoes or take a bath in gravy?  They continue to work hard on their math facts and even though I hadn't planned on giving a test, they asked for one!  

First Grade LA:
We did a Thanksgiving ABC where they had to come up with something they were thankful for that began with each of the letters of the alphabet.  It really got them thinking and they even had multiple ones on certain letters.  This group also played, "Would you rather?"  It was fun to see their thought process when deciding.  For example, would you rather not be allowed to talk during Thanksgiving dinner or not be allowed to have a dessert on Thanksgiving?  Let's just say that many dinners would be very quiet if this were the case
 . . . mine included!  With a small group of three we played a Thanksgiving Jeopardy game.  They really did learn a lot of good facts in their classrooms which they remembered, but many new ones were discovered too.
We also fit in "I have . . . 
who has . . . ?  Have them explain what this is.

First Grade Math:

I sent home the Addition Gobble Bump game for you to play with your child.  They had their Thanksgiving Feast during our time, so we didn't get a chance to play it.  The directions were also included.  All you need are three dice and 10 markers each to use.  Enjoy!

For All:

Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving as much as I am?  I hope you enjoy your time with your family and if you're traveling, be safe.  

Yours in education,

Mrs. Koedyker

Funny Face Friday!

Hello!  So good to see you again, thanks for checking in.

It's been a really cold week, but we're keeping warm in here lots of critical thinking and mental hard work. 

The LifeSkill focus this week was Sense of Humor.  

• A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.  (Ronald Dahl)
• A sense of humor keeps problems in the right perspective.
• From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere. (Dr. Seuss)
• The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer up someone else. (Mark Twain)

Fourth Grade LA:

We spent time researching our famous person.  They gathered information from www.biography.com and their "Who was . . .", "Who is . . ." books.  They are filling out a worksheet on them, but it's higher thinking than just stating facts.  They have to list some of their obstacles they faced, what were their major contributions, and what personal characteristics allowed them to make these contributions.  The information is there, but they need to infer.  I love where they have to find the connection between themselves and their person.  Ask your child.  I read many neat ideas.  We are also talking about their works sited page.  They will be required to list their sources and we'll talk about what are reliable sources among this time of technology.

Fourth Grade Math:
The logic craze continues!  I've moved my "coaches", aka those who are finished, onto a new logic problem.  We'll see how they do on this one.  The rest of us continue to figure out The Cabbage Band.  They definitely have gotten over their fear of them.  Many thought of problems like these as unsolvable, but now they take them head on which is a great sight to see!  I actually overheard one student say, "My brain hurts!"  We must be doing something right in here.  I really admire this group and all their hard work.  They work well together and have learned to teach their peers without just flat out giving them the answers and they are adamant that they don't WANT answers.  
We're having a really great year!

Second Grade LA:

We worked on sentence analysis where they had to identify the different parts of speech in a sentence.  We started with finding the complete subject and complete predicate before identifying the other words.  Our class was split as to if they enjoyed doing this or not.  It'll get easier the more we do it.  

Then, they could NOT wait to read chapter five of Edward.  I warned them that it was going to be a major cliff hanger.  They were aghast when I went to stop, so they talked me into reading a page more of chapter six.  I do touch base often as we read to either explain or act out a word to help with understanding.  They are able to count on their peers to explain many of the words which is great!  Next week a fun game of Edward Jeopardy Chapters #1-5.  Can't wait!

Second Grade Math:
We finished our money math stations from last week.  A few needed to finish, but those who were already done didn't mind.  They jumped right back into their extreme dot to dot that they keep in their folder.  We used the doc cam to go over and review their answers.  Students were excited when they got to come up to write their answers.  It's fun because their actual hand is seen on the screen.  A big step up from the days of an overhead if that's what you learned on, lol.  I continue to reinforce how the order you add the money in will make your job easier or tougher depending on how you do it.  We also played "I have . . . who has?"  This one was with money.  They each had ten cards with coins they needed to add, then an amount at the bottom.  They had to figure out their money before calling out . . . "I have fifty-three cents, who has sixteen cents?"  If done correctly, we make it through the pile with none left over.  
They LOVED this!!!!

Third Grade LA:
They did a nice job of highlighting the major parts of Myths, Legends/Tall Tales and Fairy Tales.  They worked together to fill our their three-way Venn Diagram.  It wasn't a simple task.  They needed to find overlaps between two, yet ways they were unlike any of the others.  They also came up with things all three had in common.  These are posted on our HA board for you to see!  We also did a grammar lesson that focused on pronouns.  I had to start out with our School House Rock video on pronouns.  We did an activity together where we identified the pronouns and the nouns they went to.  I then had them work on an independent activity and they did well on this as well.  I'm excited about the lesson for next week.  It's a neat one!

Third Grade Math:
We are working hard on learning all about fractions.  This is where their facts come in handy when learning about equivalent fractions and reducing fractions.  This group is eager to learn new things and is doing a great job with a tough concept.  When starting on reducing fractions, I walked them through, showing them how.  They then did the next row on their own.  I quickly saw that they were ready for more, so I sent them on.  They are looking for the greatest common factor (GCF), but they know what to do if they don't start out with it.  I'm impressed!  Their ice cream cones are getting taller.  Some have a couple scoops and are working towards their next goal.  Keep practicing those facts.  We did a fun and exciting lesson on the Smartboard comparing fractions.  They had to bring together all they knew to get the correct answer.  
We compared fractions with like and unlike denominators.  
How could you not like math using technology?!?!?!?

First Grade LA:

We wrapped up our Pig Latin lesson to talk about their opinion.  We discussed how opinions are not wrong if they are different from their neighbor; they are just their view on something.  We bridged into persuasive writing and their opinion to the question, "Should all first graders learn Pig Latin?"  This group's decision was unanimous in that all first graders should NOT learn Pig Latin.  We used a graphic organizer to support their opinion which we will continue on next week.  We learned a great song to help them remember the parts of a persuasive writing using the hamburger model.  I recorded a video of two students singing it.  We'll see if it uploads . . . never posted a video before.  

First Grade Math:

This group worked in button buddies to come up with their own story problem.  They first chose a card that showed them the operation (add/subtract), then they selected a setting card of what their story was to be about.  They rolled the dice two times to come up with their numbers.  This group really got into the drawing part of their story problem.  Under their picture they wrote out the story problem.  I plan on putting these up on our board, so keep an eye out for their hard work!  We finished these up on the second day and then I gave time for their extreme dot to dot which they've been begging for.

Yours in Education,

Mrs. Koedyker

Follow the Plan Friday!

Welcome back and thanks for checking in!

We were all relieved for a regular week in HA.  All classes were seen and we got so much accomplished. 
 
The LifeSkill focus was on organization.  It was interesting to me to hear them talk about how they are organized in certain areas of their life.  Some are organized at school, but their room is a disaster.  Others thrive on organization and don't function well when it's not.  They even rated themselves on a scale from 1-10, of how organized they were .  . . ask them their number.  I loved seeing what they were.  Some were surprising and others easily guessed, lol!

• Feel the sensation of organization.

Fourth Grade:  

On day one we had several things to wrap up.  They presented their "bio" posters to the class.  Just an informal presentation on their bio word, word parts and illustrations.  We then diagrammed sentences which I remember from middle school and still absolutely LOVE!  By fourth grade, they are all very familiar with the parts of speech, but finding and identifying them brings it to an even higher understanding.  

They mixed up articles and conjunctions, so I was forced to bring out my old faithful Grammar Rock videos.  Remember?!?!?!?  We watched the conjunction one, but they are begging to see the rest.  I'll work them in each day until we've seen all the grammar ones that apply.

Finally, they have all chosen a person to do their biography report on.  We have spent a lot of time just reading and learning all about their subject which they really enjoyed.  Ask them who they chose.  An interesting fact they learned?  Many were anxious to share them with me.  Most facts I'd never heard of.  I'm glad they are taking to this.

I could not wait to begin the lesson on logic.  Little did I know when I introduced it last year, it would take off like wild fire.  I believe this year is even worse!  I displayed a series of clues about The Cabbage Band.  Their job is to determine the full name of each band member, the instrument each played, the brand of equipment each used, plus each member's favorite magazine.  I modeled the spreadsheet we'd be using and how to go about using it.  Originally we were going to do it as a group, but quickly changed when I saw they were chomping at the bit to get started.  I gave them the option of working solo, in pairs or in a small group with me.  They did what works best for them and got right to work.  A few even finished!  I'll have another one ready for them next week as the others, myself included, finish up.  I'm really enjoying this group!  They are excited about learning, respecting each other and truly coming prepared to take on whatever I serve up. 

Second Grade:  

I'm not exactly sure if their excitement for Edward is due to my love of the book, or if they truly are loving it.  Regardless, I'm going to run with it and keep the enthusiasm going.  I know the book will eventually "hook" them, but we've only just started our journey.  I read the first three chapters to them then they read the fourth chapter on their own.  Lots of conversations are happening with the rich vocabulary.  I want to make sure they are following along and not getting lost with some of the unfamiliar words.  They are journaling as we go along and I'm enjoying reading and responding to their entries.  I did this back when I taught fifth and also third grade and forgot how important it is.  I learn so much from them through their writing and it's a great way for them to love writing.  It's not graded or judged, just a wonderful life habit to get into.  

To continue with our unit on money, we found out how much each of our names are worth.  We began by writing our first, middle and last names.  Then we used a chart to translate each letter into money (cents).  A is worth 1 and Z is worth 26.  I had them add up their names one at a time (first, middle and last).  We had a chance to practice adding multiple numbers.  I pointed out that they needed to be organized when writing these so that their ones and tens stayed aligned.  We also worked on which numbers to add first to make the mental math easiest.  We found our names grade total by adding them all together.  The following day they visited stations which had money on a flash card.  They were to add them up as they walked around with their clipboards.  I worked with a few to step them through which ones to add.  

We'll finish and review next week.  

Third Grade:

We read a third genre of story telling and discussed/highlighted parts that were exaggerated.  The specific type has yet to be revealed, but we did go back and summarize the other genres we've talked about.  Over several weeks we have read various myths, tall tales and legends plus this week's.  Next we started on a three way Venn diagram where they decide which have things in common.  Funny, they remember using the diagram the first week of HA when we had each one of them as the subject during our "get to know you week."  

We finished up our Hershey Chocolate Fraction Packet.  Fractions are a tough one to grasp, but they are working hard.  One minute they will understand when ordering fractions from least to greatest with a common denominator, then switch it to different denominators and they're thrown.  We have different learners in here . . . some who need to see the fraction as a picture and others who just need to see the fraction.  We'll make room for all!  

They also are working hard to make their ice cream cone (AKA-learning their multiplication facts).  Again we have them in all areas.  All have passed their times 2's, a majority are on times 3's or 4's, and one is on his times 6's.  They've got what it takes!

First Grade:

We had a challenging time with our Pig Latin.  I really could see their wheels turning as they translated a word into Pig Latin or vice verse.  We took the lyrics to a song we would be listening to and translated them into Pig Latin.  This can be frustrating to them, but we work together.  They started making up their our melodies because they knew these were the words to a song, lol.  The song was from a long ago time by Lead Belly called Pig Latin Song.  I tried to copy the link for you with no success.  You can google it if you're curious.  Your child would enjoy listening to it with you.  They may even sing along!  They also took their connection paper and translated it into Pig Latin for the class to decipher.  For example, curtain and window became urtain-cay and indow-way

The boys were excited to use our "doc cam" to go over their answers from the previous week.  We reviewed the equation and sum or difference from the problems posted around the room last week.  They reason they enjoyed this so much is because they can actually see their own hand as it writes on the screen.  They all did well and even graded the paper with a special mark or picture that they came up with.  One the second day, we worked on sequencing numbers using the Smartboard.  They were numbers that went up by 2, 5, and 10 both forwards and backwards (gave them a hundreds chart to help with their figuring).  The great part is they physically move the numbers into place.  It's great for any grade, but especially for first with all their energy!  We saved the last five minutes to work on an extreme dot to dot which is all the rage of my upper grades.  I selected one that was around 300 for this group.  They got a good start and will continue when we have time.

Yours in education,

Mrs. Koedyker

Thumbs Up Thursday!!!

Welcome back to our Yost HA blog!

Thanks for taking the time to check in and see what great things your child is doing!  It was great to see that my students missed our class as much as I did. I stopped in one day last week to gather some things and a few questioned me as to what was going on and when we'd start back up.  I'm SO happy to be back teaching again =)

Our week is not quite back to "normal" due to conferences.  With the early dismissals, I would have missed my first and fourth grade math kids this week due to scheduling.  Thanks to the quick thinking of my fourth grade LA group, who are also ALL in my math group, they didn't miss.  I switched them up and had the math group come Tuesday.  One day is better than none.  Great problem solving!  

I went a little "picture crazy" this week due to having extra time with the early dismissals, so enjoy!

Our LifeSkill focus this week was on cooperation.  A couple groups came into class to find a puzzle waiting for them in their learning club.  They were to work together to solve the puzzle before we began our work.  Fun!  

Many of our activities and projects in HA use cooperation.  It's critical that students are able to work well together to produce their best work.  I see wonderful cooperation in here! Especially since I taught High Ability last year, my students know my expectations, what needs to be done and they get right to work.  We are able to do SO much in such a little amount of time.  

A few of the quotes discussed:

• If everyone is moving forward together, then the success takes care of itself. (Henry Ford)
• Pat others on the back, not yourself.
• Great discoveries and achievements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. (Alexander Graham Bell)
• Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.

Math Resources for All Grades:  At Yost and in High Ability, we are stressing that students learn their facts.  I've tutored several older students who really run into a road block with their general math because they don't know their facts.  We need to make sure we build a strong foundation to build on.  Below are a couple great sites to help you at home.  The first one is for practicing their facts.  

http://www.aplusmath.com/Flashcards/

I mentioned this last year on my blog, in Duneland we have access to a wonderful resource called IXL.  The username is the students first initial, last name, then the last five digits of their student ID.  Your child may even have it memorized.  If you are interested in this and don't know this number, email me and I'll get it for you.  The password is yo12345.  I strongly suggest you check it out if you haven't already!

https://www.ixl.com/signin/duneland

Fourth Grade:  With our one day of LA this week, we worked on "bio posters".  The students took what they learned from previous lessons about roots, prefixes and suffixes to make an educated guess as to the meaning of their "bio word".  They were given several choices of words starting with "bio" that they had to define their word, define word parts and illustrate.  Then they moved onto the beginnings of our next project.  I gave them several choices of great biographies suggested by Mrs. Borelli.  At this point they are just choosing a person and reading about them.  Exciting stuff!  Can't wait to delve into the lesson.

My math group started off with a problem of the day.  It's always such a great way to get their mathematical minds thinking.  We then wrapped up our oragami cubes.  Many were excited to finish and get their cube up on the board for conferences.  Make sure to stop by whenever you're in the school. Those who were finished went onto an extreme dot-to-dot.  You can find them on Amazon if your child is one of those who can't get enough of them.  They have all kinds.  I even have a few kids who grab them for other fourth graders who are not in HA.  It's out of control, lol!!!!

Second Grade:  Last year, when we went to the High Ability Conference, I was thrilled to see one of my all time favorite books as part of their curriculum.  We have just started our journey with Edward and I can't wait for them to experience and "taste" this book as a good friend of mine put it.  Some of them made a funny face when they took me literally.  We began by making predictions about the story and the character.  We also analyzed the word journey by making a vocabulary map.  I read aloud to them the first couple of chapters, but eventually they will read a chapters on their own.  Lots of BIG vocabulary, so we discuss as we go, so it's not one they can just be set free to read.  Pick it up if you have a chance, so you can talk about it with your child.  It's a keeper.

  

We began our unit on money by listening to the poem Smart by Shel Silverstein. It's a great poem which has a boy trading up his money not by the value, but by the number of coins thinking he has more.  We listened to the poem read by Shel Silverstein himself, but also watched this quick clip of the same poem.  I shared a few of my other Shel poems.  There's nothing like hearing him read his own poems.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8QpsV7BThc

They then started to work on a packet where they had to break the poem down into values and number of coins.  We finished up with writing a kind note letting the boy know what he did wrong and what he needs to keep in mind. This group always asks to work on their extreme dot to dot when we have a few spare minutes.  It's great!

Third Grade:  We've moved from reading/retelling myths onto legends and tall tales.  We read Johnny Appleseed before discussing several questions about the story.  They each chose a legend to read then a tall tale to retell.  We've begun our discussion about the difference between a myth, legend and tall tale.  We'll continue that next week when we do a Venn Diagram.  I'm always so proud of this group.  They work very hard and have such insight into what we're doing.  I always look forward to working with them.

The students are working hard to pass their weekly timed tests by a number fact (x's 2's, 3's, 4's, etc).  Now they are all working at their own pace to master their facts.  You can see their progress outside of our door.  
We began our unit on fractions by reading The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar Fractions Book.  I read only the beginning since I saw that I was loosing them by just reading.  We needed to get into the lesson!  Students gathered with their clip boards to do a Hershey packet where they colored a Hershey bar and answered questions.  It's a fun way to talk and learn about fractions.  Who can go wrong with chocolate!

  
First Grade:  We've moved onto deciphering another type of message.  It was a secret message written using the telephone keypad.  They had numbers and arrows they needed to figure out the key to reading it.  It didn't take long; much easier compared to their Caesar Cipher.  We are working up to learning and speaking in Pig Latin next week.  We've just started to analyze words and look at their vowels and syllables.  Kids always love this!  We only met once this week in order to see my math group.

We started off with our Problem of the Day.  The first grade one was a bit too easy for them, so we moved up to second grade.  It was a challenge for all, but once we walked through it, you could see the light bulbs go on.  For our activity, I put different story problems around the room for them to solve.  It included both addition and subtraction problems.  Equipped with their clip boards and paper, they traveled around the room to solve.  Once they found their problem, they needed to write the equation and solve it.  We only met once, so we'll go over their work next week.  They did have time to Find It . . .you can ask them what that is.

Have a great three day weekend!  Thanks for stopping in to check out our classroom during conferences.  I appreciate it.  It was great to meet and see many of you again.

Yours in Education,
Mrs. Koedyker