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