'Til We're Through Thursday!

Welcome Back!

Thanks for checking in!  I am sad that things are winding down in High Ability.  I've thoroughly enjoyed working with all of my groups.  Each class brings something different and I love that!

We mixed up the theme this week and continued to have them guess which one it was.  They are getting good at identifying them.  I'm passing out fewer green slips this last month.  Not that I don't see awesome things happening in here, just going to be a little more selective for the last drawing.  

• The only person you should try to be better than, is the person you were yesterday.  (PERSONAL BEST)
• The truth may sometimes hurt for a moment, but the pain you experience from a lie can last forever. (TRUTHFULNESS)
• Quality is never an accident.  It is always the result of intelligent effort.  (John Ruskin)  (EFFORT)
• Perseverance is stubborness with a purpose.  (Josh Shipp)  (PERSEVERANCE)

My third grade LA class drew the names for the green slip drawing this month.  It was nice to see some new names and grades chosen.  I recently resupplied our treasure chest, so they were excited!

• Attix A.-kindergarten-curiosity
• Hannah L.-kindergarten-manners
• Braxton O.-first grade-caring
• Jai B.-third grade-caring
• Troy P.-fourth grade-problem solving
• Cadence O.-fourth grade-perseverance

We've had to be flexible in third and fourth due to ISTEP.  I will not hit them again with testing if they are testing that day.  Plus, their schedule changes quite a bit, so some days I had a few kids and other days I had all four classes. No worries at all.  We will do what we can do.

I've discovered something new that I'm introducing all of my classes to.  The timing is actually perfect with the testing.  It's a FANTASTIC website/app called Sumdog.  Hopefully you saw the letter that went home explaining it.  All classes have really enjoyed learning about it.  It's a fun break from testing and our normal routine.   I can see from the data, that there are about ten kids who use it regularly at home which is great!

Kindergarten Math:
You can see them doing their push ups to let me know they keep going when the going gets tough.  It went along with our morning message on perseverance.  We've started word problems together.  They each have a sheet "key words", to make it easier.  I had them highlight those key words when we came across them.  We work through them together and talk about their strategies.  We started off using manipulatives.  Then moved towards mental math.  I was pleased when I asked one student how he knew that 7+9=16.  He just said he took the one from seven to make it 10 then added 10 + 6 in his head.  WOW, I'm impressed!!!  We had no Math Masters this week, but they are all improving each week.  We chart their progress on a graph, so they can see what they did last time.  It helps them stay motivated, on track and in their own lane.

Fourth Grade LA:
My classes we few and far between this week due to ISTEP.  On Monday I had four kids and Tuesday I saw two.  We took the time to explore Sumdog since we had such a small group.  It was nice to unwind from the testing . . .

Fourth Grade Math:

 Again, I did not see all of my kids due to testing.  Those I did see, we only met once.  We took the second to last Math Master test, yet didn't have any pass this time.  There's one more to come!  We used what we learned about GCF last week to reduce fractions.  They whipped right through it pretty quickly.  I showed my smaller group how to play Sumdog and they couldn't get enough of it!  I have the logins for those I haven't seen.  I'd like to meet with them first before sending those home.  Next week . . . 

Second Grade LA:
We caught up on our post assessments.  This week we focused on the concept of connections.  Again, our focus is more on how the curriculum fits with our program and not where the students are at.  We will assess the groups for second grade HA at the end of the year, but it has nothing to do with these assessments.  I shared with all of them their logins to Sumdog and showed them a sample of how to play a few of the games.  There are SO many to choose from!  I hope they take advantage of it.  It's a math game, but all will benefit from it.  

Second Grade Math:
They show determination and effort each time I give them a new puzzle to solve.  Most continue with Sudoku puzzles while another moves on.  They are really enjoying them.  Congratulations to Kaden H. for now passing 60 multiplication facts.  They are all making such progress!  We took time at the end of each day to play Sumdog.  I showed them Junk Pile and Snowball which are two of the running favorites in here.  

Third Grade LA:
We took one day to finish an assessment.  That leaves us with one more to do.  We are not doing the writing post assessment because the writing portion of the curriculum is further back in the year, so that's something we'll change for next year.  We are so close to being finished with listening to Alice.  We'll for sure finish on Monday before we watch the movie.  I shared with them their login for Sumdog.  We had a chance to play a few of their games as I explained how it worked.  Fun learning!

Third Grade Math:
We reviewed comparing fractions before they visited the stations around the room.  Each task card had a question with a series of numbers to choose from.  They were to chose the largest or smallest by comparing the different numbers written in decimal form.  Some had to re-visit a few, but for the most part they did great!  Congratulations to Jack for passing improper fractions and Logan for passing his multiplication facts!  We'll celebrate next week by enjoying an ice cream treat.  Yum!

First Grade LA:
We continue to delve into our Hieroglyphics unit.  We started with a KWL chart to find out what they Know, Want to know and what they Learned about it.  They did not know very much, but are so excited to learn.  We read a book call Hieroglyphics A to Z which showed some of the symbols and their meaning.  I had them practice writing their names using the code to decipher.  At the end, I took time to introduce them to Sumdog.

First Grade Math:

We touched on a little of two digit addition with regrouping.  We walked through several together and I stressed starting with the ones column (although a few times they started with the tens).  By the second day they pretty much got the hang of it.  It was challenging, don't get me wrong, but they welcomed it.  I went back over their answers and had them correct their mistakes.  Congratulations to Caden K. for passing 50 subtraction facts and Kennedy B. for passing 60 multiplication facts!  We saved time at the end of each class to sample several of the Sumdog games.  They were funny to watch as they jumped with excitement as they saved the endangered animals.  

Yours in education,

~Mrs. Koedyker

Think Group Thursday

Hello Everyone!

We are still going strong in High Ability.  Now it's just a matter of squeezing everything in . . . .finishing things up . . . passing things back . . .all while winding down the school year.

High Ability Summer School invites went home with report cards several weeks ago.  I encourage you to sign your child(ren) up for it.  It is hosted at Bailly and Mrs. Pethes has a WONDERFUL unit planned for them.  Don't miss out!

High Ability groups for next year are pretty much set except for second grade.  If they are currently in for kindergarten, first or third grade then they will continue in the high ability program next year.  Second grade tends to be a bit of a shake up year, now that we have recent data due to CogAT.  No decisions have been made for second grade.  Our High Ability committee will wait for the rest of the data to be in before making the final decisions.  I will let you know at the end of this school year as soon as I know.  

We reviewed the Lifelong Guidelines and LifeSkills throughout the week.  They are getting much better at identifying which one goes with the theme of the day.  I gave a green slip out, one random day in LA/Math to those who answered correctly.

Our next green slip drawing will be next week!  The last one will be in May!

• Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. (FLEXIBILITY)
• Common sense is not so common. (COMMON SENSE)
• It's not resources but resourcefulness that ultimately makes the difference. (RESOURCEFULNESS)
• Most great learning happens in groups.  Collaboration is the stuff of growth.  (Sir Ken Robinson PhD)  (COOPERATION)

We continue to post assess in our Language Arts classes.  We will do a day of testing then return to our regular curriculum on the other day.  It's not fun, but they have great attitudes and are still putting their best foot forward just like I knew they would.  I will send them both (pre/post) home at the years end.  It's more to assess the curriculum and how it fits with our program and not where the students are.  We know they're doing GREAT!

For math, we will wrap up our Math Masters the first week of May, so only two tests remain.  Some will be thrilled and others will not . . . I'm really excited with just how far each of them has pushed themselves this year.  They've stayed in their own lane with the help of their chart.  I'll send those home along with their squares we used to track them.

Kindergarten Math:
Due to the Body Safety Presentation, we only met once this week.  We started with our Math Master timed test.  Congratulations to Sam for passing +1's, Attix for passing +2's, and Camren for passing +3's!!! Next, we did our problem of the day (POD).  It's always fun for this group because they enjoy using our white boards to figure their answer.  We finished up by analyzing our color data and made a graph.  I had the "doubles song" playing while we worked.  I love how they dance and sing along.  I sent the packets home even though we did not complete the entire packet.  We will move onto something else next week!

Fourth Grade LA:

We took another post assessment on informational text.  We have two more left to do, yay!  Spreading them out is helping a lot.  On day two, we returned to our Brixton Brother's mystery.  We have popcorn read together before, but also read independently.  Since many read after finishing up their assessment, we found that everyone was in different spots.  A majority wanted to keep that going so they could see what happens next, yet three popcorn read with me.  I had some, in my group, really get into character and I had to remind them that others needed it quiet.  Too funny . .  . . .

Fourth Grade Math:
They jumped right into their Math Masters facts anxious to do their best since time is running out to take them.  Congratulations to . . . . We also solved our problem of the day (POD).  We reviewed how to find the greatest common factor (GCF) through a neat YouTube video with floating cows, lol.  We did several problem together on the first day.  They got it right away and used Button Buddies to find our partner before setting off on doing another worksheet using Kagen Rally Coach to help them through.  I had to come up with more challenges on the next day since most finished so quickly!  We are leading into reducing fractions in upcoming lessons.  Can't wait!

Second Grade LA:
We've only finished with one assessment so far.  This group took a while to finish up from last week which is fine.  We've only done the grammar part.  We also reviewed persuasive writing by kicking off by looking at old commercials.  We discussed how the commercials persuaded you to buy their product.  Great discussions once again!   They are working in small groups to come up with reasons to support our idea . . . "All commercials cannot be trusted."  We'll get back together next week to continue.  These two brave students were flexing their muscles before they got to work. It was part of our morning message on flexibility.

Second Grade Math:
I have to admit, Sudoku has never been my strong point.  I love, love, love math, but struggle with these puzzles.  Not my group!  (I think they love them even more once I shared that little fact with them, lol)  They are cruising through these number puzzles.  Occasionally, I have to redirect, but for the most part, they do wonderfully!  We also did a problem of the day and a Math Master timed test.  Congratulations to Aybriel for passing her subtraction facts.  Way to persevere!!!

Third Grade LA:
All groups started out figuring out the word riddles on the whiteboard.  They are working out their brains and using past patterns to solve this week's dilemma. You can see this group deep in thought.  Have them share one or two with you! We finished our second assessment on informational text.  They all finished at their own pace, so some worked on an extreme dot-to-dot.  We had a chance to revisit Alice as we listened to the story.  

Third Grade Math:
I have a group of hard working boys.  They push themselves to do their personal best on their timed tests.  Congratulations to . . . . We also solved our problem of the day (POD)  This group really understands how to round decimals with the exception of making sure they follow directions.  I had a few round to the tenths when it was asking them to round to the hundredths.  Carefully reading the directions is so very important!  You may understand how to do the problem, yet miss them all because of a careless error.  I paired them up using button buddies before setting them free to use Rally Coach to solve more problems.  We worked on two digit multiplication with those who finished early.  This group, more than any other, . . . complains about the time going too quickly.  I tell them it's time to pack up and go . . . they think I'm joking.
  
First Grade LA:
We only have two parts for assessments in first grade.  I have one completely done and the others close behind.  They are just putting their finishing touches on their persuasive writing before completing.  I'm looking forward to starting the next cipher message . . . we will learn about hieroglyphics.  There's so much to talk about.  We'll start first with a KWL chart, so I can find out what the Know, what they Want to learn, and what they Learned.  

First Grade Math:
On our first day, I was minus one class due to a scheduling conflict.  We all met on the second day.  This was the first time my first grader attempted her multiplication timed test.  I was close by to cheer and coach her through.  They also did our problem of the day (POD), and since they are almost second graders, we did the second grade problem.  Success!  We explored with the balance scales.  They estimated and weighed different objects.  It's great with such small groups because they each had their own scale to use.  Just to hear their language as they cooperated and exchanged grams and different objects was wonderful!

Yours in education,

~Mrs. Koedyker

Do the Right Thing Thursday!

Welcome back and thanks for stopping by!

We'll continue to review the Lifelong Guidelines and LifeSkills for the rest of the year.  Every day I focus on one of the many that we've talked about over the year (for kindergarten, they are brand new) and have the students guess which one it is.  I did not pass out green slips for correct answers like I did last week. 

Here are the quotes we talked about this week:

• Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. (Victor Borge) (SENSE OF HUMORE)
• Quality is pride of workmanship. (W. Edwards Deming) (PRIDE)
• If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges. (Pat Riley, coach)  (EFFORT)
• Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not. (Oprah Winfrey)

During Language Arts, I've started something new with them.  They will have a series of word riddles to solve on the white board when they walk in . . . very much like the Problem of the Day in Math.  Not many solved them on the first day, but knowing now what's expected, they will improve.  Plus it takes a little practice and training, so that your brain can tackle problems like these.   Ask them to share a few with you!  Can you guess the answers to these?

Second grade did such a nice job on their word clouds!  They took their heartfelt paragraphs about the book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and made them into a word cloud using www.tagxedo.com.  It's a free site if anyone is interested in exploring!  If you have questions, I'd be happy to help.  I displayed them proudly outside of our doorway.  They are anxious to bring them home . . . very soon!

Our last day of HA for the school year will be Thursday, May 21st.  There's SO much going on at the end of the year, especially with fourth grade, that the days may be even fewer.  Many will have their end of the year study trips plus fourth will have orientation and their track meet to name a few.  We will do the best to fit the most in!

Kindergarten Math:
We went into the "field" as mathematicians scouring the halls for people to survey about what their favorite color was.  We prepped our survey first by selecting the colors and practicing how to introduce themselves/ask the question.  (it was priceless)  Each student was responsible for surveying a different adult.  You could see the excitement on their faces as they walked through the school, feeling very important with their clipboards.  So fun!  Then we took our data and began to analyze it.  Group picture day limited our time, so we'll continue next week.  We closed with two of my favorite "doubles" songs.  It helps them remember their doubles facts. (2+2 is 4) If you send in a blank CD, I'd be happy to copy the disc for you . . . many GREAT math songs!!!  Congratulations to Attix, Isabel and Hannah for passing their plus 1's and Camren for passing his plus 2's!!!  They all work so hard and I love that!

Fourth Grade LA:

We met Mac Barnett, author of the Brixton Brother's books, via YouTube video.  Seeing the title once again after having read much of the book, the title clicked.  They got it!  They enjoyed Mr. Barnett's sense of humor and seeing what a young author he is.  It isn't hard to see where the humor in his books comes from.  We filled in the conflict and setting of the story before getting back to reading.  I had them summarize what they've already read since last time we met, they read independently.  On the second day we began the first of our post-assessments.  They are working hard to do their best, but were excited to have a little time in the end to read.

Fourth Grade Math:
We started prime factorization.  We first discussed what makes a number prime and made a quick list.  Then they used factor trees to figure the equations.  There are many ways to figure a problem in math and for factor trees, it's the same way.  I encouraged them to go "off road" if their numbers didn't fit the tree.  They will still get to the same place, with the same numbers, it's all good.  They were so productive that they did today and tomorrow's lesson which was a good thing since Thursday is the Book Bowl and Spelling Bee.  Good luck!  Congratulations to Kelli for passing her multiplication, Kaden and Troy for passing 90 division facts, Ben for passing division with remainder, Josh L. for passing mixed numbers and Riley for passing %, fractions, decimals!!!  Whoaaaa, that's a lot of Smarties. . . .

Second Grade LA:

We met once again to look deeper into the poem excerpts.  To remind you, last week we did two together and this week they worked in "button buddies" to interpret two new ones.  For example, they are given a sentence like, Love sought is good, but given unsought is better (Twelfth Night).  Their task is to write what the quote is about THEN connect it to Edward's journey.  FANTASTIC HA STUFF!!!  I floated around the room to listen, converse and coach.  I heard some great conversations!  They have started to analyze two on their own.  Day two we started post-assessments.  They know more than they think . . . some are hesitant to jump right in, so I'm encouraging them that, "they've GOT this!"

Second Grade Math:

I thought they might tire of these number puzzles, but not a chance!  You can see them just dig in and get to it.  I love to see their perseverance even when they are tough and frustrating.  We are solving Latin squares and even got to create their own which was not easy.  We've just started the Sudoku like puzzles and will continue next week.  Congratulations to Cyrus for passing his subtraction test and Kaden for passing 50 multiplication facts!  When they are at a level that's above their grade level (multiplication), I reward them starting at 50 correct problems, then by increments of 10.  Great job to you both!

Third Grade LA:

We started off the week with their post assessments.  Comparing to their sentences from earlier, they've made a big improvement.  We tested on the first day and part of the second because a student's schedule was different.  We didn't want to move ahead with Alice and leave them out.  I love their flexibility!  They compromised and worked half of the time on their assessment while hoping to get on the Smartboard.  It wasn't cooperating, so we punted the last ten minutes. 

Third Grade Math:
To continue with decimals, we are now rounding to the nearest tenth and hundredth.  I drew a picture of a hill and numbers lining it with the five at the top.  For numbers 1-4, they will come right back to the number they started with, but for five and higher . . . they can go over.  For several of them, they needed it repeated many times before they got it.  They need to "go next door" to decide what they do with the number.  I have two that picked up on it right away!  We rounded to the nearest tenth and hundredth this week.  Next week we'll do some Kagen strategies to continue and review.  Congratulations to Jai and Tyler for passing their 100 division facts!

First Grade LA:

We wrapped up our REBUS ciphers this week.  Not only did they come up with their own from a list of "grocery store" words, but they made an original for the class to guess.  I loved to see how much they got into this . . .especially the part where they got to sit in our "fun chair" while their classmates guessed.  We finished the week with a post assessment.  They are unsure, but again know more than they think!

First Grade Math:

Beside having Gallon Guy to refer back to, they now also have an additional page of reference.  It was helpful when we did the challenging measurement activity.  My group is varied, so I need to make sure I challenge those who are ready for it, but make the others comfortable to take chances.  Some problems were very tough, but most they could solve.  We made sure to talk about it and work together as we went.  It definitely got easier as we practiced.  Congratulations to Kennedy for passing her 100 subtraction facts!  She will move onto multiplication next week, oh my!  I took time out with the whole class to share some neat multiplication tricks.  Ask them to share one or two with you . . . 

It has been a GREAT week full of "push your thinking" learning!  We'll meet back next week to do it again.

Yours in education,

Mrs. Koedyker

Thorough Thursday!

WELCOME!!!

We are now finished reviewing all the LifeSkills and Lifelong Guidelines.  Each day I'm putting a mystery one up to see if they can figure it out.  By reading the Welcome Message plus our quote of the day, they are to decide and write their answer on their white board.  I gave green slips this week, to those who answered correctly.  They really enjoyed doing this especially those who guessed correctly!

Some of the quotes we discussed this week:

• Winners never quit, quitters never win. (perseverance)
• Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. (No Put Downs)
• We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. (Problem Solving)

Tuesday was an early dismissal day and a field trip day for second grade, so I only met with my first, second and fourth grade LA once this week.

You may have remembered that we started off this year with a new LA HA curriculum from the Indiana Department of Education.  It has been just awesome to use!  We began by pre-testing grades 1-4 on upcoming lessons.  Well, as the year comes to a close . . . we will begin the post-assessments.  We will not take several solid weeks to complete these, yet will work them in a day here and there.  Plus with how our program is set up with only seeing LA or Math twice a week, I'm noticing that we did not get to all of the material pre-tested.  Obviously we will not post-assess if we did not cover it, but there's also still time to teach.  I'm anxious to see how they improved and I'm sure they will too!

Kindergarten Math:

This is such an enthusiastic group that looks forward to coming to HA.  They were all very helpful to a student who was out last week.  They wanted me to repeat everything from last week because they learned a lot about our procedures.  We gave the edited version and got right to work.  We started off by doing our Math Masters.  Congratulations to Isabel for writing her numbers 1-100 in ten minutes!  Also, kudos to Bayle and Camren for passing their +1's.  It's a sharp group!  We continued our work with interpreting a graph.  We do this together using the doc cam.  We've just started to set up our next assignment of gathering data on favorite colors!

Fourth Grade LA:

Going over our morning message, the fourth graders pointed out to me that we would not meet due to the early dismissal.  I always forget that about their crazy schedule on early dismissal!  Someone pointed out that they'd have to wait another week to read more of the Brixton Brothers.  After making them wait over Spring Break, I just couldn't do that to them again.  I adjusted our lessons to let them read independently around the room.  Their paces vary greatly, so we will come back together where they've all read up to.  I just love to hear them laugh out loud as they dig into this good book.  It's wonderful!  They also made time to write in their journals making predictions. 

Fourth Grade Math:

I would love for you to watch how this group operates!  They have such a respect and understanding for each other, that we can get so much accomplished.  We finished up our last week of PEMDAS (order of operations), so I had one who was out last week that I needed to catch up.  They all work at their own pace working diligently at solving the equations.  I have them come up to me to touch base and see if they are correct before moving on.  Some were on yesterday's page while others devoured their new challenge.  I obviously can't clone myself, so I put two in charge to help "quick check" their answers while I helped others.  I even had one come up and say he'd come back because I was busy with several others.  OUTSTANDING!!!  Congratulations to Matt for passing 100 division facts, Josh L. for passing division with remainders and Riley for passing his improper fraction test!

Second Grade LA:

We continued our study of metaphors.  I was excited for this week's lesson because I have such a deep thinking bunch!  We started off by reading an excerpt from a writing together.  They were to analyze the sentence using bulleted points first, before connecting it to Edward.  I then moved them to work with a partner using "button buddies".  We've only just touched on the partner activity, so we will continue next week.  The higher order thinking skills required for this activity are essential and they are doing a spectacular job at it!  My goal is to have them do this independently by the lesson's end.

Second Grade Math:

Our latest sequencing of numbers is magic hexagons and squares.  It's a puzzle of addition where the sum needs to equal a certain number using a set of consecutive numbers.  They are a hard working group who take their job very seriously.  They love the challenge!  All have figured out a plan of action and get right to it plugging in numbers until they find the correct combination. We touched on Latin Squares and will move onto Sudoku next week.  I've never been good at these . . . we'll see how it goes, lol.

Third Grade LA:

We listened to chapter ten in our book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  We discussed the book and also took time to write down our thoughts about the author . . . .his style of writing . . . and the story.  I gave them time to work on their word search towards the end of the book.  We are trying to pace ourselves to finish the book, do our post-assessments and also watch the movie before the year comes to a close.  Luckily this group met twice this week.  You can see them doing their push ups after reading the morning message, "Do ten push ups if you keep going even when things get tough."  Lol, they wanted picture approval and had me take the picture again so they were all down on their push ups.  They crack me up!

Third Grade Math:

Third grade finished the week doing their Kagen Showdown with decimals.  It truly was a challenge, but got easier as the week wound down.  One even commented that it was easy now!  The teams kept getting the answers correct and little coaching was needed.  Congratulations to Logan for passing his 11's, Brandon and Caysen for passing their 100 division facts and Jack for passing his division with remainders!

First Grade LA:
After solving our final REBUS puzzles (where it has a picture minus or plus a letter), we brought their homework assignment back to light.  We discussed what a dime store was and shared their interviews with family/friends.  I then shared a neat book called, The Fantastic 5 & 10 Cent Store.  I began by reading to them then had them join in.  They had to follow the REBUS pattern in order to read.  It was a challenge and not fluent, but fun!   

First Grade Math:

I introduced measuring capacity through a neat video on YouTube.  It was a short cartoon set in the wild west in Capa City, lol.  We then labeled a picture of gallon man which shows them how many quarts, pints and cups are in a gallon.  We answered an overall measuring worksheet together.  Congratulations to Trevor for passing 70 subtraction facts and Cal for passing 80 subtraction facts!

Yours in education,

Mrs. Koedyker

Thoroughly Truthful Thursday!

Happy Spring!!!

This week we talked about the Lifelong Guideline of Truthfulness.  They gave each other high fives to let them know they could trust them and drew pictures of four people they could trust.  Our quotes sparked SEVERAL great conversations which I just love.

• If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• Be honest with yourself, so you will be honest with others. (Bernard Baruch)
• Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.  (Thomas Jefferson)

Invitations to participate in the High Ability Summer School program will go home in their report card folders on Friday.  This really is a wonderful opportunity and I encourage you to take advantage of it.  It's offered to identified students in Grades 1-3.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! 

We had our third "Green Slip Drawing" where my second grade LA class chose the winners.  I added another winner since a student (GO Klaire) had won once before.  I didn't want to count her out, yet wanted to make sure we got four NEW winners.  The colored pens seemed to be the hot item this time around! 

• Garrett B.-4th-responsibility
• Kelli F.-4th-initiative
• Kaden R.-4th-perseverance
• Aybriel S.-2nd-responsibility
• Klaire T.-4th-initiative

Kindergarten Math:

For sure, we got the most out of our two days together.  We took our time going over the procedures, finding out what HA is all about, I introduced myself and shared a PowerPoint with them.  Then we played a fun Name Game where they said their name and put an action word of something they like to do.  You can see by the picture that they had a lot of fun doing this.  We started them off right away with Math Masters.  For kindergarten, they are expected to write their numbers (1-100) in ten minutes.  Congratulations to Bayle, Sam, Camren, Attix, and Hannah for passing on their first time!  They have their name on our Math Masters Wall plus each got a Smartie.  

Next week, I'll break down the addition facts. (2's, 3's, etc) They also figured the Problem of the Day (POD) for first grade.  They were nervous when I announced what grade it was until one pointed out that they were almost first graders!  Love that!  Finally, we just began on a graphing worksheet where they are asked to interpret the graph.  They were eager and anxious to calculate their answers.  We'll continue next week.

Fourth Grade LA:

My students anxiously returned to our book, The Brixton Brother's:  The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity.  We made a few predictions in our journals before diving back into the book.  They have such insight into the book as I read their journals and comment back to them.  I even snagged a reader who wasn't a big "mystery book" fan . . .AWESOME!!!

Fourth Grade Math:

I'm really pushing them in here.  I explained the Order of Operations and a couple ways to remember them.  We watched a quick YouTube video with a PEMDAS rap on the second day and it helped it click for many.  My class is split on this . . . more half were anxious to get out of the gate and do it on their own . . . the others were just not ready to leave the next just yet.  They are ALL getting it at their own pace and enjoying the challenge.  THEY MUST SLOW DOWN AND TAKE THEIR TIME!!!  Rushing through will be disastrous on multistep problems like these.  It will be taught and used repeatedly as they continue on their educational journey.  This group welcomes the challenge!  Congratulations to Riley H. for passing his timed test of changing an improper fraction into a mixed number.  He will move onto reversing the process next week.  Also, congrats to Aerianna for passing multiplication; her perseverance paid off!  

Second Grade LA:

I could eat this group up with how deep and involved they are with our discussions.  I introduced them to a metaphor.  Kate DiCamillo, author of Edward Tulane, started out her story with a this poem.  We had a wonderful debate about what it meant and why did she start the book that way. 

The heart breaks and breaks
and lives by breaking.
It is necessary to go
through dark and deeper dark
and not to turn.
-from "The Testing-Tree," by Stanley Kunitz

One student gives a great idea and then another takes it even a step farther.  We also diagrammed a sentence finding the different parts of speech plus the complete subject and complete predicate.  Finally, we began analyzing the metaphor.  You may have seen the paper come home, but they had to answer higher level thinking questions pertaining to the poem.  We'll do more of this next week!

Second Grade Math:

We continue to work with yet another number sequence.  I believe the Fibonacci's are still their favorite, either that or they just like to say the word, lol.  This week we did Pascal's Triangles and Magic Triangles.  They CRACK me up!  They are breathing hard from mentally straining, talking about how frustrated they are, but all keep at it and really seem to enjoy these tough problems.  It's great to watch.  

Third Grade LA:

We did not journal this week, but did listen and discuss several chapters from Alice.  They follow along responsibly and chuckle and giggle at the crazy writings of Lewis Carroll.  I'm trying to time it just right so we can finish the book and compare it to the movie.  Those who've seen it before notice big chunks that were not included in the movie.  We also made a little time for an Alice maze and a crossword puzzle.  They are chipping away at them a little each day.

Third Grade Math:

We reviewed our decimals with task cards using Kagen Showdown.  We've done it in the past and it's a great strategy especially for math!  All are engaged and active, yet they have time to solve the problem on their own with support in the end if they need it.  We reviewed the place value keeping our handy-dandy reference sheet close at hand.  They needed to add or subtract decimals making sure to line them up.  It was definitely a challenge.  A few were getting it by the end, but we need a few more days next week.  This group is always excited to get to work and are shocked when I tell them it's time to clean up.  

First Grade LA:

The HA curriculum for first is just outstanding.  We continue to work on different ciphers.  This week it was a matrix type one where they had to transfer letters into a chart correctly before deciphering the message vertically.  It's funny how they must move to separate tables to tackle it privately.  I introduced them to REBUS puzzles which is where pictures plus or minus letters comes out to be a word or phrase.  We'll continue with those next week as well as tie in their homework about a Dime Store.  

First Grade Math

This group also did a Kagen structure to review measurement.  We did a Showdown using a Showdown captain to flip over the task cards.  Ask your child to explain this, they really enjoyed it!  We started off with support in that the cards had choices.  It showed a ruled and they had to write down the correct measurement.  A few struggled with the 1/2, but their teammates coached them to the correct answer.  It's a bonus for all!  I love to walk around during this time and see how they coach (explain) the correct answer to their group.  It's priceless!  As the game progressed, I cut off the answer choices.  They stepped up to the challenge and had fun while learning.  You can see how engaged they are from their body language and smiles!  Congratulations to Braxton for passing 70 subtraction and Trevor for passing 60!

Have a great weekend!

Yours in education,

~Mrs. Koedyker