Week 3: Sept 18-22

It was great to meet so many of you at Curriculum Night on Wednesday!  If you were not able to make it, here is a link to my presentation, and here is a link to Mr. Karpinski's presentation. Please let us know if there is anything you would like more information about, or if you have any questions.

We had a very busy first full week back!  Our schedule has been adjusted slightly, here is the most recent update:

 As you can see, our phys ed days have changed to Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; our library day will be Thursday. Please keep these days in mind so that your child can remember to dress for active movement on physical education days, and remember their library book to return on Thursdays.  Thank you!

This week in phys ed we have been running (or briskly walking) the cross-country route in the school yard. Students complete a warm-up first, and a cool down afterwards to avoid  muscle cramping or strain. They are encouraged to drink plenty of water to counteract dehydration, especially in our warm September weather. We will continue with cross-country practice in the coming week, as it is the first sport of the year. We will also begin with our health unit on healthy eating choices.

We had a brief introduction to our first art strand - Drama! We began by doing the Tortoise and the Hare as a Reader's Theatre play so that students can learn to read with expression. We will continue with Reader's Theatre and the importance of using voice and expression before adding movement and costuming/props to our drama.

In Math, we completed more of the Week of Inspirational Math videos and activities from Youcubed, the Stanford University site produced by Jo Boaler. Pictures of most of our activities were posted on the class Twitter account, if you are interested. They really enjoyed making shapes from string!  We have moved on to our Numeration unit;  making and ordering numbers to the ten thousands place. We played a fun game called JunkIt that you can play at home, to emphasize the importance of place value. All you need is a dice, a piece of scrap paper, and a pencil or pen. Set up your game board like this:

Take turns rolling the dice and placing the number you rolled on a line. You have 2 opportunities to "Junk It" if a roll is not what you wanted. The player with the highest number wins! You can switch it up and have the player with the smallest number win. There is some luck, and some strategy involved.

In Language Arts, we finished our Read-Aloud about Marcenia Lyle/Toni Stone, and have moved on to a shared reading activity, Zero's Math Adventures. 

We completed our second STEM challenge on Friday. We asked students to consider what people rebuilding in a flood zone or after a hurricane might have to think of when redesigning their houses. We then supplied each group with cardboard, MakeDo tools and screws, and let them build. We were amazed at the ideas the students came up with, from doors that sealed out water, to houses on stilts so water could flow underneath, and roofs that shed water. Great ideas! Pictures are posted on Twitter.

Please remember to return:

-chocolate money or unsold chocolates; more are also available if you would like to sell more

-the forms that were sent home on the first day if you haven't already

-Terry Fox permission form