Think It Through Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Between the snow day, early dismissal and the testing of kindergarten for HA, it was a bit of a mixed up week.  I saw my LA groups only once (snow day) and my 1st and 4th grade math groups once (early release).  We'll just be flexible and pick up where we left off next week.

The LifeSkill we discussed this week was common sense.  Some had a discussion about the morning message, if they've said or done something they wish they hadn't.  They were honest to admit that they had. . . .haven't we all?

• There's nothing common about common sense.
• Think before doing something just to impress others.
• Fill what's empty.  Empty what's full.  Scratch where it itches.  (Alice Roosevelt-Longworth)

Fourth Grade LA:

They continue to work hard on their Google Slides.  I'm really impressed with how quickly they've caught on.  A few work on it at home and one even shared it with me with a message via email.  That's wonderful!  They are beginning to think about actually presenting it.  They need to go 2-3 minutes, so they are working presenting past just what is showing on their slides.  I plan on working with them so that their slides flow and tell a story instead of just random facts. 

Fourth Grade Math:

Math honestly blew by today!  We started late due to kindergarten testing, but this group really comes in ready to learn.  They follow my lead well and we really do get a lot accomplished.  This was the first time my group took a Math Master timed test.  I started them with 100 multiplication facts in five minutes and had many pass.  Congratulations to Garrett, Klaire, James, Lia, Taylor, Ben, and Riley!!!  (The red squares are fourth grade and the orange are third grade, wow!)  They will receive a Smartie when they return and move onto 90 division facts.  A majority of my group are really close to finishing, but I do have a couple who need to learn their facts.  There are so many apps and websites where they can practice.  I encourage them to do this.

Second Grade LA:

It was time for another review game of Edward Jeopardy.  They get so excited when they see it set up when they walk in.  It's funny because the teams get to come up with their own name, so one team was the Edwards and the other one was the Tulanes.  They cheered each other on and were really good sports.  I keep pulling the theme of the book back in, just to make sure they are getting it.  Ask them why Pelligrina told Edward, "You disappoint me."  

Second Grade Math:

We bridged into adding with regrouping.  It was to reinforce what they learned with adding money.  They still need the practice, but all caught on quickly.  I stressed the importance of keeping their numbers nice and neat when writing, so that they don't accidentally add the wrong numbers.  Some added two digits and others added three digits.  Once they solved their problems they used a code at the bottom to color their design.  My group made big gains on their Math Master timed tests.  Although none have passed their 100 subtraction facts yet, they can see their progress as they chart it on their own graph.  

Third Grade LA:

They all finished up their fairy tale stories which turned out impressively well.  I collected them to save for sharing next week.  I'm excited for them to share with each other.  We then moved right into journaling.  We made the comparison about Lewis Carroll and how he wrote about people he found interesting . . . who in their life would they write about?  We then dove into reading the first chapter of Alice In Wonderland.  Two are experiencing the story through text and one is hearing it for the first time.

Third Grade Math:
We read a comic about the Greatest Comic Hacker!  My group of boys were caught up in trying to figure out the similar references made throughout.  It named a fictional character and they quickly translated it to the one of their era.  What a perfect worksheet!  Their real task was finding out the greatest common factor (GCF) of two numbers.  It's not a quick answer especially when the numbers get higher, but they worked well together.  I even introduced a few divisibility rules to help.  They picked up a few, but didn't want to overwhelm them by all.  It was funny because they didn't even realize they were dividing as they were listing the multiples.  Brandon passed his first Math Master of multiplication, great job!  Logan also moved up another level on his cone.  Finally Jack finished his cone and will now move onto Math Masters.  Congrats!

First Grade LA:

We touched briefly on the book we read previously, E-mergency.  I explained once again how a lipogram is a play on language where you write not using a certain letter.  They had a chance to rewrite the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill.  I stressed how they needed to keep the same meaning when finding a similar word.  They truly got the hang of it and only got caught up on a few words.  We are in the process of summarizing the book E-mergency with a beginning, middle and end.  We'll eventually translate them into our own lipogram.

First Grade Math:

My group continued to work with time.  They had a go at a clock game where they chose a card and had to read the analog time in order to move to the digital time on the game board.  They are still mixing up the hour and minute hands, but get the concept.  I remind them that the minute hand cannot see real well, so he has to get up real close to the numbers.  We also touched on elapsed time.  Congratulations to Kennedy for passing her Math Masters, 50 addition facts in five minutes!

Next week looks to be back to normal. . . at least no early dismissal and hopefully no snow days!  My kids crave the routine just as much as I do.

Yours in education,

Mrs. Koedyker