Project-based Learning

The last two weeks...wow, have they flown! We have been busy beavers!!!

In writing workshop we have asked some tough questions about our characters. What is the problem they are facing (bummer!), and what do they really want. Our characters need to be believable and real, not too perfect or plastic. We developed story arcs (or plotlines...our plan for how our story will take place) and challenged ourselves to write multiple possible endings. We are now taking those story arcs and beginning to draft scene by scene. Our task will be big as we work to SHOW what our characters are going through using action and diologue, not summarize and relay the "play by play" like a sports announcer. The mentor texts we used this week were A Bad Case of the Stripes and Milo and the Mysterious Island. 

The first three stories we studied in our reading lessons were all focused on scientists and their work with animals. As a culminating projects we read a biography of Jane Goodall and her work with chimpanzees, which we will use to write a spotlight about her life. In order to take notes on only the most important information, I taught the class how to write notes "Tarzan style." We watched the clip from the movie Tarzan and Jane to compare how Tarzan and Jane communicate. Tarzan says very little, only the most important word, while Jane takes what Tarzan says and elaborates...greatly! Each time we determined a "Tarzan word" we wrote it on a post-it note. Next week we'll use these notes to launch our writing.

During math we are continuing to work with concepts of multiplication: finding factors, writing multiples, identifying prime and composite numbers, and applying multiplication strategies to games (like Factor Captor) and problem solving situations. 

The obvious favorite activity of the last few days has been our immigrant collage project in social studies. Unit 3 focused on 5 major waves of immigrants who settled the US: Native Americans, Spanish Americans, European Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans. Students are working in 4 groups to become "experts" on one of these groups, create objects to share with the class, and prepare a presentation to present to their classmates. Early next week we will put the finishing touches on our presentations and present to our classmates. The following week we will invite our first grade buddies for a visit and share our presentation with them as well!

This week's book recommendations (each title is linked if you want to find the book online)! #1 - Frindle. Anything by Andrew Clements is fabulous and usually pretty humorous! If you like this one there are many more by him to choose from! #2 - The Burger and the Hot Dog. Hysterical poetry about food! #3 - Top of the Order. John Coy is from the Twin Cities and has written many great books for boys. My family used to spend our annual summer vacation at a resort with several members of his extended family. A few years I was lucky enough to meet him when he was the visiting author sponsored by Valley Reading! This book is part of a series of books on boys playing sports. 

This week I introduced the class to a website called Wonderopolis. Each day they feature a new "Wonder of the Day." GREAT source of informational reading, and many of the challenging words have definitions that pop up if you hover over them. They have over 1500 Wonders and I believe all the past ones are still on the website!!! Yesterday we read about how fast bullets travel. SUPER interesting!!!

Last, but not least, and certainly not least important...last week Mrs. Fillippi visited with the class during her  lesson about creating a plan for being successful in school and achieving our best. She visited about making a plan for homework. After she left we brainstormed a list of "homework" activities that should be part of our weekly routine. Over the next few days off I would highly recommend visiting with your kiddo about what type of weekly plan you might develop for doing these things. We didn't establish a routine as a class since I know everyone has activities on different nights of the week. The following activities can and should be completed weekly as often as possible: 10-20 minutes of keyboarding, 10-20 minutes of practicing math facts, Weekly Word Writing, and 10-20 minutes (once we get our small groups going) practicing spelling words. You could choose one per night (i.e.: math facts on Monday, typing on Tuesday, etc), but it might be better to plan for 2 shorter sessions of 2 of these activities each night since shorter bursts of practice more frequently will lead to better retention of skills (i.e.: 10 min each of typing & math). 

Sofie's yummy birthday brownies!

Settling In

Wow, this week has really marked a turning point in our group. I finally feel like we've figured out our stride as a community of learners who are beginning to work together as a team. We still have many collaboration skills to work on, but I have been nothing short of impressed this week. Consequently, it was pj day on Friday!!!

First things first - planners. In the Back to School Night folder I shared that these will be completed daily, and students will be "checked out" prior to leaving. Planners are a tool for students to use to keep track of homework and take responsibility for their learning. I consider it my job to check them out and hold them accountable for getting accurate information home. I consider it their job and your job to read through the planner together at night, which typically takes 10 seconds or less. When you do read it, please sign the bottom. While I don't check for signatures in the morning, I do occasionally glance through while checking students out. I appreciate knowing that at-home accountability is in place. Thanks!

Next topic - homework. ALWAYS be spending time reading (average goal of 30 minutes or more per day) and running around. I am a firm believer in fresh air, being active every day, and putting down devices to interact with our friends. Other things to watch for...I generally send 1-2 math Home Links per week, and beginning this week you can expect to work on quick fact practice. If possible students should practice keyboarding for 15 minutes twice each week. If you don't have a computer at home please let me know as I'll send a photocopied keyboard home for practice. The bulk of our work IN class is out of a variety of journals, which means it's bound in a book and stays in our desks. While that is super convenient for me since I can look at all their work whenever I need to, I realize it's not as informative for my families. This is one of the reasons I love our blog; you can see what we are working on.

Writing Workshop - This week we dove headfirst into developing elements of our realistic fiction stories. The first collage shows our warm-up activity, when we practiced the art of storytelling using familiar fairy tales. We then spent the next few days developing our main character inside and out. What personality traits do they have, what do they love to do, what things drive them crazy, how do they feel about themselves and how do others see them, what do they wear, how do they treat others, etc. I've seen some fabulous characters sketches and can't wait to read the stories that will grow up around them. 

Social Studies...continuing to hone our map reading skills as we completed two more geography challenges. Learning about geography is so much fun and always makes me want to travel. 

Math...I have our Unit 1 assessments all graded and ready to return and...oops!...forgot to send them home on Friday. So sorry!!! They will come home Monday, I guess. If you haven't seen the Unit 2 Family Letter you better go backpack diving. Our next unit will focus on multiplication and geometry. Already we've identified the formula for finding the area of rectangles (area = length x width), investigated square numbers, and created arrays. 

Quick Announcements

Just a few more things to get you up to speed!

• Return the February calendar for Fargo Force minutes! March will be our last month, and we want to finish strong!!!
• March is also REDHAWKS READING month. Students can "double dip" with their minutes for both reading incentive programs. For Redhawks, students will earn a different prize each week. Weekly prizes are completed by reading 200 minutes. Each week that students meet their goal they earn a base
• 1st = Pizza Hut personal pan pizza
• 2nd = Subway 6 inch sub
• 3rd = Redhawks poster
• 4th = Free DQ Blizzard & a free ticket to a Redhawks Game
• As in baseball, you can't get to second if you haven't gone to first. So students need to be sure to be tracking their reading daily and bringing in their tracking sheets every MONDAY!
• March is reading month, and to celebrate here is what we're doing the next few days:
• Wednesday - Hat's off to reading, wear your silliest hat!
• Thursday - turn off the television and read!
• Friday - Cozy up with a good book! Wear your pjs to school!
• Tuesday (the 12th) - Read with a family member
• Wednesday - Reading is EVERYWHERE! Wear a readable t-shirt.

I'm sure you've noticed that mastering multiplication and division is taught very differently now than when we were all in school. Many of us are the product of the "drill and kill" method of mastering facts, and many of us grew up without a true understanding of what multiplying really meant, or we figured it out on our own later. Thankfully students are taught and encouraged to understand strategy prior to memorizing nowadays. We have spent tons of time discussing strategies for multiplying, and boy can our kiddos figure out problems. (ie: 2x4 is the same as 4+4. 2s facts are the same as doubles in addition! 4x4 is the same as (2x4) x2. Multiplying by 4 is the same as doubling a double!) Now that we have such a great understanding of what it means to multiply (combine equal groups) and divide (share equally), we just need to practice them to get them quick and fast. In this we need your help!  Be sure to practice multiplication and division facts at home 3-4 times each week until your child can use strategies quickly! Be creative! Make it active! There are also games online, apps for phones and ipads, etc, and don't forget to utilize the time you spend driving around quizzing any fact you can thinking of!