Posted by kavery508 | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on November 7, 2016
The kids had an amazing time on Halloween making crafts, learning other cultures, reading and singing! The kids did an awesome job emulating our core values and “showing they care” throughout. Many thanks to our parent volunteers, who kept the kids focused and busy while having fun!
What an amazing presentation was given by animal rehabilitator Jim Parks, who brought us his Wingmasters program this week. Students were highly engaged while learning more about adaptations that help local birds of prey survive. Using live specimens, Jim focused his interactive experience on nocturnal owls, as well as our school mascot: the peregrine falcon! Thanks to our PTO for helping to sponsor this informative and exciting event.
The PTO sponsored Floral Family Fun Fair is coming on October 19th! Volunteers are needed for this awesome event. Please consider signing up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4aa5ae2da1f94-2015
I look forward to our meeting this Tuesday. If you need a reminder of your scheduled time, please contact me. I will share with you your child’s reading assessment, math tests, and writing samples, and I’ll discuss progress being made in those areas along with successes and any remaining challenges. Admittedly, our time is brief! Think of this as another step in our yearlong discussion of your child’s education, and know that I remain available for further communication.
This week we begin a very important math unit. Chapter 4 focuses on bar models and using them to solve number problems and work algebraically. This way of doing math is extremely useful, and will benefit students greatly in the future when they apply it to multiplication, division, fractions, measurement, and more! As an example, consider the picture below as a way to model this problem: Jim is planning Thanksgiving dinner for 21 people. 15 people will be having turkey, and the rest are vegetarians. How many people will Jim plan a vegetarian meal for?
For students, setting this problem up can be tricky. We’ve learned to use parts and total boxes to model algebraic thinking: bar models are an even more explicit way to show our thinking about problems, one that helps us make sense of the numbers involved. Notice how the bars are drawn to scale in comparison to each other. This skill really requires students to understand the relative size of the numbers involved.
Your Math Homework folder has a full explanation of the different kinds of bar models. In addition, here is a GREAT site to practice the process. Click on the picture below and either view the tutorial or click “Start Modeling.”
At our November School Meeting, students engaged with the text The Most Magnificent Thing (Spires) to learn about Growth Mindset. The theme of the book is Perseverance, and students identified examples in the text and from their lives about not quitting. Here’s a fun video we shared about The Power of Yet:
Source: Sesame St. via Youtube
Some shots of our busy week!
