Fabulous Friday - Friday, October 30, 2015

Hi Families,

Today we did a math test. It was hard. We worked on our bat packets. We read Stellaluna. We went on the chromebooks. We did Xtra Math and Front Row. I do Xtra Math at home everyday. We watched the kindergarten walk by with their Halloween costumes on. We wrote in our Friday journals. If parents have time, they can write back. We had Friday free time, we stayed inside. We will do pirate math on Monday so study this weekend! When you get five treasures (master five math facts) you get a prize from the treasure  box. We had a fantastic week.

Love,
Juliet

Pictures of our end of the day dance party over the intercom. Have a great and safe weekend! For all the families who celebrate Halloween I hope it is a great one! 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Dear families,

Today was a great day! We went outside picking special leafs. We did a project and we put them on the bulletin board. We had to write adjectives about my leaves. If it is big or small or colorful. My leaf was red and orange. It is about four inches tall. I also did a good job with a lot of pluses. We also learned all about bats. It was so fun. Also we have a bat folder.

Love,
Keilyn

Funny Wednesday - October 28, 2015

Dear families,

We have a math test on Thursday. We went to music in the morning and we played instruments. It was fun. In music, there was a witch, goblin, and ghost. There was instruments that sounded like goblins marching, and an instruments that sounded like witches like "woooo" and the ghost sounded like "ooooooo". And the goblin was marching and Noah and Ezekiel did the drum. We went to the library and got books. I got the Absent Author which we are reading in class. For morning work we phonics sentences. We also had a bus evacuation drill this morning. We had to listen to the police officer. He told us safe things about the bus. Two eighth graders held our hands and swinged us down out the back door of the bus on a bat. We read a Scholastic news about bats. Bats are blind in sunlight. In math, we practiced word problems. They were ok.

You friend,
Kevin

Tape Diagrams!

Hi families,

Several parents have asked about the tape diagram strategy that has been on the homework the last few nights. This is a strategy we have been learning in class -- using the Read, Draw, Write strategy. First they should read the entire problem. Next they should go back and re-read and draw a picture to help them solve. Finally, they should write the answer as a statement. Please see the picture below for how to solve a tape diagram. Please also note how I re-write the answer at the end as a statement. It is essential that students understand what they are trying to solve for and to label their answers. Thank you so much to the families who reached out to me about this -- it is valuable feedback for me, and we will certainly continue practicing how to solve tape diagrams in class. Here is a link to a video about tape diagrams from the Eureka website: http://greatminds.net/maps/math/video-gallery/solving-word-problems-with-tape-diagrams Although it talks about third, fourth, and fifth grade tape diagrams, it is the same process we use. It will also give you a chance to see how they will be able to apply the strategy moving forward!

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

Example problem 1 - Finding the Whole: Bob has 27 legos. Javier has 30. How many do Bob and Javier have together? Draw a tape diagram to help you solve.

Example problem 2 - Comparing Two Quantities: Line M is 30 centimeters long. Line P is 42 centimeters long. Draw a tape diagram to show how much longer line P is than line M.

Smiles,
Ms. Petzold

Fun Tuesday - Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Dear families,

In math we made our own measuring sticks out of paper. We measured things around the class. We used string to practice measuring things that are not straight, because rulers are not bendy. I had to measure my partner's head, neck, and wrist. I was partners with Matthew and Ave. We filled in the blanks of a story using adjectives. The story was about going to the zoo. Our phonics words this week are long i words like slide. We are collecting interesting words. We are learning all about bats this week. We read a packet on bats and read bat folders. I hope we will read Stellaluna this week, it is about bats. I know Ms. Petzold has the book. Bats have fingers and thumbs.

Love,
Krysta

Monday, October 26, 2015

Dear families,

Today we went to gym and did our spooky stations. In math, we estimated the lengths of lines. We figured out the lengths of different paths. In reading, we learned about tuning into interesting word. We had to write an interesting word from our books on sticky notes. We made books adjectives to help with our writing. We practiced putting sequencing a story about Halloween night.

Love,
Lilly

Fabulous Friday - October 23, 2015

Hi families,

Today I was person of the day. I had to do the whole calendar. We have been in school for 36 days. 36 has 3 tens and 6 ones. We did computers. We wrote in class journals. We read to self. We read Chrysthumum. We have a heart and if something says something mean, we crumpled the heart, when they say a nice thing we try to un-crumble it. When you try to un-crumble it it rips in the middle. We can take back mean things we say, so we need to think before we say things. We wrote about why you have to speak before you think and what to say if you hurt someones feelings, and glued that and our crumpled hearts onto a piece of paper. We took a math quiz on measurement. It was a little bit hard. We had extra recess. You have to get your work and be good to go to extra recess.

Love,
Matthew