Homework:
5th Grade Math: Math Homework page due Thursday.
4th Grade Math: 9-Lines practice and Word Problems due Thursday.
State Spelling Practice-- quiz Thursday!
After a nice long four-day weekend it was nice to be back in Strawberry Creek. We began the morning by tidying up our cubbies and sharing all the exciting activities from the weekend. In math, we continued working on our 9-Lines and place value review.
Math club was held during lunch with Sima today. The 13 students in 4th/5th grade Math Club today were very engaged with a new problem, game, and puzzle today. Some of the boys in particular enjoyed the new game Intersections, trying to make lines intersect as many other lines as possible. Many girls and boys pondered the Growing Staircases problem, a classic pattern-finding activity where students try to derive an algebraic function to predict the number of blocks necessary to build staircases, by drawing pictures, using color tiles, and writing expressions. Some kids were intrigued to find out what an "nth stair" is! A few students worked on Puzzles, including figuring out how many different shapes one can make with 4 regular hexagons. How many do you think there are?
Some students took the opportunity to finish up their Neddiad story during Writer's Workshop, while others worked on their vocabulary in Wordly Wise. We played a state spelling review game after lunch to familiarize ourselves with the states that we are focusing on this week and then dove right into our state study. We are finishing up the maps and research this week, with Thursday being the last day to work on it in class.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Discussion Elements
Reminders:
No school tomorrow, Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No school on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
Science Update: Due to a lengthy delay in receiving special materials for Electricity and Magnetism, we are changing the order of our science studies. We will be gin Botany as early as next week, and move Electricity to November. This affects field trips, which have been rescheduled.
Field Trip Updates:
The Exploratorium trip (announced at Back to School Night for October 25) has been moved to December 6. We will need drivers for this trip.
UC Botanic Garden (date not previously announced) is now scheduled for November 13. We will need drivers for this trip as well.
Today in Strawberry:
Our class meeting today focused on "Discussion Elements." Our goal for meetings and topical conversations is to develop student led open class discussions.
Meeting topic: Discussion Elements for our class meetings.
Working on our state maps.
Students chose themes for their maps and are planning the final stages.
Choice activites: modeling clay, oil pastels, sewing & knitting.
Pneumatic soccer.
No school tomorrow, Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No school on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
Science Update: Due to a lengthy delay in receiving special materials for Electricity and Magnetism, we are changing the order of our science studies. We will be gin Botany as early as next week, and move Electricity to November. This affects field trips, which have been rescheduled.
Field Trip Updates:
The Exploratorium trip (announced at Back to School Night for October 25) has been moved to December 6. We will need drivers for this trip.
UC Botanic Garden (date not previously announced) is now scheduled for November 13. We will need drivers for this trip as well.
Today in Strawberry:
Our class meeting today focused on "Discussion Elements." Our goal for meetings and topical conversations is to develop student led open class discussions.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Crayfish in the Creek!
Reminders:
5th Grade Math Homework: No homework due to Cerrito's field trip tomorrow.
4th Grade Math Homework: No homework due to Cerrito's field trip tomorrow.
Reminders:
No School on Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No School on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
Notes:
Because we do not have school on Friday or Monday, we will not be having our State spelling quiz this week. Instead, we will pass out the spelling practice sheets next week and have the state spelling quiz next week.
Today we continued our spot writing at the Strawberry Creek park during our fourth and fifth grade class split. Some students chose new spots and some remained in the spots that they chose last week. During our fourth grade writing session we discovered a crayfish in the creek! Many students chose to include their observations of the crayfish in their writing today.
We had our buddies from Laurel Creek in our classroom this afternoon and worked together to come up with feelings associated with our blue and yellow zones. We'll be creating a poem out of everyone's ideas and experiences in each zone.
5th Grade Math Homework: No homework due to Cerrito's field trip tomorrow.
4th Grade Math Homework: No homework due to Cerrito's field trip tomorrow.
Reminders:
No School on Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No School on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
Notes:
Because we do not have school on Friday or Monday, we will not be having our State spelling quiz this week. Instead, we will pass out the spelling practice sheets next week and have the state spelling quiz next week.
Today we continued our spot writing at the Strawberry Creek park during our fourth and fifth grade class split. Some students chose new spots and some remained in the spots that they chose last week. During our fourth grade writing session we discovered a crayfish in the creek! Many students chose to include their observations of the crayfish in their writing today.
 | |
| Our discovery... |
 |
| The crayfish! |
We had our buddies from Laurel Creek in our classroom this afternoon and worked together to come up with feelings associated with our blue and yellow zones. We'll be creating a poem out of everyone's ideas and experiences in each zone.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Homework
4th Grade Math: Number cross-number puzzle
5th Grade Math: Please visit Cerrito's Blog.
Missouri - New York crossword
Upcoming Dates:
No School on Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No School on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
4th Grade Math: Today in math we worked on problem solving activities related to multiplication. We began with problems about multiples: 3 spiders, how many legs? 60 fingers, how many people? Next the students worked in small groups to solve number puzzles using a hundreds chart and a set of clues. Each student takes charge of one clue, and all work together to use the clues to solve their puzzle. We will wrap up our work on the puzzles tomorrow. Sima stopped by to introduce the students to Math Club, which will be happening on Tuesdays (see below).
Math Club: The 4th/5th grade Math Club met for the first time today during recess and lunch, after sampling the activities in the 4th and 5th grade math classes. Students enjoyed playing the game Poison and figuring out strategies to win every time, working on and discussing 3 tricky puzzles, and diving into the Squirrel & Acorn problem that starts simple and builds in complexity. Discussion was lively among the 10 girls and 4 boys who joined Sima Misra & Mike Sinclaire in the Middle School math space. Ask your student if they went to Math Club today.
Today in Strawberry: We began our day reflecting on a poem, "Skyscrapers," by Rachel Field. The students looked for poetic elements including personification, rhyme and syllable measure. We discussed how this poem is linked to where our spot writing activity is headed, by pondering what we observe, asking questions and imagining outcomes as we write. We took a few minutes to write questions and related thoughts in our writer's book to pursue during spot writing tomorrow.
Skyscrapers
Do skyscrapers ever grow tired
Of holding themselves up high?
Do the shiver on frosty nights
With their tops against the sky?
Do they feel lonely sometimes
Because they have grown so tall?
Do they ever wish they could lie right down
And never get up at all?
- Rachel Field
4th Grade Math: Number cross-number puzzle
5th Grade Math: Please visit Cerrito's Blog.
Missouri - New York crossword
Upcoming Dates:
No School on Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No School on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
4th Grade Math: Today in math we worked on problem solving activities related to multiplication. We began with problems about multiples: 3 spiders, how many legs? 60 fingers, how many people? Next the students worked in small groups to solve number puzzles using a hundreds chart and a set of clues. Each student takes charge of one clue, and all work together to use the clues to solve their puzzle. We will wrap up our work on the puzzles tomorrow. Sima stopped by to introduce the students to Math Club, which will be happening on Tuesdays (see below).
Math Club: The 4th/5th grade Math Club met for the first time today during recess and lunch, after sampling the activities in the 4th and 5th grade math classes. Students enjoyed playing the game Poison and figuring out strategies to win every time, working on and discussing 3 tricky puzzles, and diving into the Squirrel & Acorn problem that starts simple and builds in complexity. Discussion was lively among the 10 girls and 4 boys who joined Sima Misra & Mike Sinclaire in the Middle School math space. Ask your student if they went to Math Club today.
Today in Strawberry: We began our day reflecting on a poem, "Skyscrapers," by Rachel Field. The students looked for poetic elements including personification, rhyme and syllable measure. We discussed how this poem is linked to where our spot writing activity is headed, by pondering what we observe, asking questions and imagining outcomes as we write. We took a few minutes to write questions and related thoughts in our writer's book to pursue during spot writing tomorrow.
Skyscrapers
Do skyscrapers ever grow tired
Of holding themselves up high?
Do the shiver on frosty nights
With their tops against the sky?
Do they feel lonely sometimes
Because they have grown so tall?
Do they ever wish they could lie right down
And never get up at all?
- Rachel Field
Wordly Wise: The students were
introduced to our vocabulary program, Wordly Wise.
Maps: We began our first day of
searching for information and ideas for the theme of the state maps. Each
student has drawn a large outline of their state, and will be determining a theme
about the state to represent, from altitude to population, attractions to
animals.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Homework:
4th Grade Math: There is a packet for students to finish this evening. The last page of the packet is a Challenge/Extension problem. If there is time, we'd like each student to attempt the challenge problem.
5th Grade Math: Please visit Cerrito's Blog.
Missouri-Oklahoma Wordsearch.
School calendars went home with students today.
Upcoming Dates:
No School on Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No School on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
We started the morning off with Musical Art-- students rotated between watercolors, oil pastels, and collage materials. This activity produced a lot of really great art! Very cool.
Fourth graders in math continued to work on their assessments that they started on Friday. We also did some more exploration with fractions and the Cuisenaire rods. A new group worked on 9-lines and focused on their multiplication facts!
We continued writing our missing chapter of The Neddiad during Writer's Workshop. The students were given a rubric for their writing as well as some criteria and guidelines to follow while writing.
This week we will be focusing on a new set of state names (Missouri-Oklahoma). We introduced the names with a BINGO game this afternoon and will continue to practice them throughout the week.
4th Grade Math: There is a packet for students to finish this evening. The last page of the packet is a Challenge/Extension problem. If there is time, we'd like each student to attempt the challenge problem.
5th Grade Math: Please visit Cerrito's Blog.
Missouri-Oklahoma Wordsearch.
School calendars went home with students today.
Upcoming Dates:
No School on Friday, October 5 - TBS Professional Development Day
No School on Monday, October 8 - Indigenous People's Day
We started the morning off with Musical Art-- students rotated between watercolors, oil pastels, and collage materials. This activity produced a lot of really great art! Very cool.
Fourth graders in math continued to work on their assessments that they started on Friday. We also did some more exploration with fractions and the Cuisenaire rods. A new group worked on 9-lines and focused on their multiplication facts!
We continued writing our missing chapter of The Neddiad during Writer's Workshop. The students were given a rubric for their writing as well as some criteria and guidelines to follow while writing.
This week we will be focusing on a new set of state names (Missouri-Oklahoma). We introduced the names with a BINGO game this afternoon and will continue to practice them throughout the week.
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