Learning To Go Mr. Avery's Class on the Web 

100 Day is almost here! Students should plan to create some model of 100 and bring it in any day up to this Friday. They will be sharing their project and the related math to classmates on that day. Reminder: Instead of simply collecting 100 things in a bag, I’m challenging students to think more deeply about number, such as:

• grouping objects (stickers/pennies/etc.)  on a poster that shows counting (and/or multiplying) by 5s, 10s, 2s, etc., with accompanying multiplication or repeated addition sentences
• bar models using the number 100
• create real-world problems with 100

Click here and scroll down for a look at the creative ways that one class took on this challenge. There is also a plethora of projects and ideas on Google and Pinterest and across the web!

Our reading focus this week is on finding the Main Idea in nonfiction. To do this critical thinking, students are taught to read and think about the heading in a text. Then they look for a key sentence–one that contains the most important information in a paragraph. This is where the main idea lies, and it is the information they should remember. Try it with your child using this page (and any other) from the Time for Kids site: Famous Firsts

The kids are doing great work with opinion writing, supporting their reasons with details. Here are excepts from 1) Elly, on why Easter is the best holiday, and 2) Silas, on why Dogs make better pets than cats: 1) For one thing, you can paint Easter eggs with your friends. For example, you can make faces and flowers and animals and lots more. 2) Last, dogs help blind people. Dogs take blind people to stores and to home but cats can’t do it. Super!

This week’s math focuses on relating difference to subtraction, and learning mental math strategies to subtract. Since subtraction is the inverse operation of addition, we make a connection to last week’s strategies. To find the difference when only the ones place changes, we simply subtract and don’t mess with the tens and hundreds: 267 -5 is the same as 7 -5–just remember to put back the 260. To subtract in your head when only the tens place changes, just count back by tens: 267 – 50 should sound like 257, 247, 237, 227, 217. And the same applies when only the 100s place changes: 267 – 100 = 167.

To quickly subtract 7, 8, or 9 in our heads, we can subtract 10 instead and count up 3, 2, or 1. For example: 432 – 7 is the same as 432 – 10 (422) + 3 (425) since -10 +3 = 7. And 432 – 8  is the same as 432 – 10 (422) + 2 (424), and 432 – 9 is the same as 432 – 10 + 1.  These tricks can really work, and show a real fluency with numbers. It is important, therefore, that students try them out repeatedly if they are ever to own them or use them when it suits them to do so.

Reminder:

Valentine’s Day is coming! We will exchange valentines in class on Wednesday, 2/14. If your child brings valentines in for classmates, please be sure there is one for everyone. There are currently 23 students in our class. Refer to our class list sent home if your child wishes to personalize valentines with names. Of course, hand-made ones are welcome as well as store-bought! Please be sure no food (including candy) is attached per our district policy, and thanks!