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

Pens Wanted! As part of our work in science next week, students will be taking apart pens to observe and test the properties of their components. Please send at least one CLICKABLE pen (brand doesn’t matter) to school with your child by next Monday, and thanks!

As we continue our work with finding the main idea in nonfiction texts, students are taking ever more responsibility for finding keywords and creating statements that relate back to the heading and title. As an example, the picture below is from an online text (from Epic, an excellent source for student eBooks though not free). The words that are most important are owner, Mt. Vernon, and Martha. By stringing them together, we get the main idea of the page, e.g. “Washington became the owner of Mt. Vernon and lived there with his wife, Martha.” Helping kids focus in on the big idea is great to do whenever they read at home, too.

Our next area of study in math involves understanding and using money. Besides identifying coins/bills and their amounts, students should be able to combine various amounts of both. Consider this example:

Notice how students can best solve this by starting with the larger amounts and using counting on/adding on. Students will also learn to write in dollars-and-cents notation ($1.25) and with words: one dollar twenty five cents. Students will also learn to compare 2 or more amounts of money. This can get tricky if students are still learning coin values and totaling. For example, 7 coins does not make an amount greater than 2 coins if we’re comparing 7 pennies and 2 quarters.

For help with homework, see the resources section of your child’s math homework folder where you will find a variety of pages on everything from coins and counting to vocabulary. If you’re following in the eBook, this is Chapter 11. Although many of us pay for things with cards instead of cash, be on the lookout for opportunities to teach your child to total amounts of coins and bills and to estimate 1) if there is enough to buy something and 2) about how much change is due!

Singing is a great way to memorize new skills! Songeez has put out a truly fantastic collection of learning songs. Here’s one of our favorites in class. You can find others (dimes, nickels, quarters, and much more) at the KindieTV website.

In science, students have been carrying out investigations and making claims based on evidence. After learning about insulating and conducting properties, they tested a variety of materials to determine the best ones to protect their hands when holding hot items. Here are some pics of us in action, along with our awesome 100 Day presentations!

The 100th day of school is Tuesday, Feb. 11!  Students are encouraged to create a project that shows understanding of numbers, operations, algebra–you name it! Some good examples can be found here!

We will exchange valentines in class on Friday, 2/14. There are 19 students in our class. If you need another copy of our class roster, just let me know!

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 focus of this week’s math is estimating by rounding up/down and using estimation as a way to check the reasonableness of sums/differences. These are VERY important skills that require students to develop and apply number sense as they think critically about math.

At first, students just need to learn and practice the basic skill of rounding to the nearest 10. Next, to check that a sum/difference is reasonable, they will learn to use estimates. Take this example: When solving 67 + 44, I can estimate the sum as 110 (67 rounds up to 70, plus 44 which rounds down to 40). My actual answer therefore needs to be close to 110 (no more than 10 away from the actual answer). If I get an answer of 111, my estimate shows that my answer is reasonable and I likely have it correct. However if my answer is, say, 121 then I better check my work because that answer is too large to be correct. The beauty of using estimates is that they push kids to think of the numbers involved by rounding them into 10s and 100s, which they can ‘hold in their heads’ much easier than numbers like 67 and 44.

Our study of properties of matter led us to an engineering and design challenge. Students tested a group of available materials (paper towel, plate, bag, etc.) for their absorbency, stiffness, and flexibility. Then they used their research to create hats to keep cool in the hot sun. They did a great job asking questions, making observation, and using models!

Thank you for your support of our school playground by sponsoring our class in the Floral Fitness Challenge! Both kids and adults have been moving, dancing, and celebrating every day!

 

Our first Early Release Day is this Tuesday! Students will be dismissed starting at 12:10 instead of 3:10. The kids usually eat at 11:30. I will plan a snack break at that time, which I hope is especially helpful for those with a long bus ride home. Of course, it’s up to you whether to send a snack or have them eat at home.

The February Fitness Challenge Begins! Floral’s playground fundraiser has kids in every class taking time to work on fitness goals, with parents sponsoring the fun. We’ll be Zumba-ing our way through the next two weeks using guided moves from GoNoodle. Check out the videos at home!

This week we  return to Narrative Writing for a month-long study. To write a narrative, the writer has to choose a small moment in time (1/2 hour tops) and elaborate by stretching out the action with details. Consider this event about winning a basketball game: I threw the ball. It went in the net. We won the game. A better narrative stretches it out: I grabbed the hard, orange ball with both hands. I was sweating from head to toe. Please go in, I thought to myself. I slammed the ball down twice and bent my knees… See how the second version puts you in the picture? Students will be writing this week using real events (roller coaster POV vids) and fictional ones. Check out this ride below with your child. How can the action be stretched out, moment by moment?

The next chapter we will take on in Math In Focus is Chapter 10. If you are following along in the eBook, this is the first chapter in Book B.  This chapter sees a return to mental math strategies. The goal here is to make students ever more fluent with numbers by using their understanding of numbers and patterns to compute in their heads. This is where our hard work with place value, number sense, and math facts pays off! Here is the addition strategies we will focus on this week:

1. Add multiples of 1s, 10s, or 100s when you can:

a. 354 + 3    Just add the ones; nothing else needs to change.

b. 354 + 30   Just count up by 10s…364, 374, 384  or  Use math facts: 5 + 3 is 8, so 50 + 30 is 80–nothing else changes but the 10s place.

c. 354 + 300   Just count by 100 three times…454, 554, 654.  or   Use math facts: 3 + 3 = 6 so 300 + 300 = 600.

A great way to practice mental math is to use the Greg Tang Math game Break Apart. Select addition or subtraction, hard or easy to play. Highly recommended!

Reminders:

The 100th day of school is Tuesday, Feb. 11!  Students are encouraged to create a project that shows understanding of numbers, operations, algebra–you name it! Some good examples can be found here!

We will exchange valentines in class on Friday, 2/14. There are 19 students in our class. If you need another copy of our class roster, just let me know!

Here’s some pics of us during science this week. Students evaluated a variety of shoes using their newly acquired knowledge of properties of solids. They predicted which would slide the furthest and tested their ideas–a fun way to combine math and science!