Kicking off 3rd quarter and the New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone enjoyed time with family and friends this holiday season bringing in the New Year.  Every start to a new year makes for the perfect opportunity to reflect on our achievements and set new goals.  This is exactly what the children did.  Going through this process is meaningful for the children as they are learning that they can track and monitor their progress and by doing this it motivates them to strive higher.  Looking at their growth also allows them to self assess, set another goal, and make a plan to get there.  Students set goals for reading, math, and they also set personal goals as well. ​

We had a special visitor from South Korea come and spend the whole day with us.  Rogki got to observe what we do in our classroom. 

Even more exciting, we have a new student in room D103.  We are all very thrilled to have Brooklynn as part of our Ohana!!!

​Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

In Langauge Arts...

• This week's essential question was how does weather effect us?  Students practiced to describe the main idea and find supporting details using a text called Tornados!  Prior to reading, students activated their prior knowledge about the subject.  Students learned this is an important reading strategy because it allows students to connect new information they learn about a subject to information they already know helping us to understand complex topics or ideas.   

• Using another text called Wild Weather by Seymour Simon, students learned about extreme weather conditions and how it can effect people.  The practiced describing the main idea while learning about the differences between thunderstorms, lightning, tornados, hurricanes and blizzards.  They even learned about some of the most devastating hurricanes in history, including Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005. ​
• Below is an example of how students pulled the main idea from a section of a book about weathering and erosion.  

• Grammar and vocabulary lessons this week included synonyms and antonyms.
• In writing, we read Pete's a Pizza, then students made pizza slices and described thier pizzas using juicy and colorful adjectives.  Students learned that using "juicy" adjectives and verbs helps create voice and makes your writing more interesting. 
  
• Students circled boring adjectives and verbs in the ocean animals writing they're working on and swapped them out for better one.  For example: 
  • Instead of:  The eel comes out of its cave to eat small fish
  • Changed to:  A sneaky eel darts out of it lonely cave to dine of small fish. 

In math...

• Students first learned how to use the count back strategy on a number line to subtract.  They practiced decomposing numbers to stop at "friendly" numbers.  
• Then, students learned how they can "think addition" on a number line to subtract.  If a subtraction problem is 85 - 64 = ? Students were taught to start at 64 and make a "jump of 10" to 74, then another "jump of 10" to 84 and finally a "jump of 1" to 85.  The answer is how many "jumps" were made. 
• Students applied these strategies when solving word problems. 

Teaching the think-addition strategy for subtraction from ORIGO Education on Vimeo.

In Social Studies and Science...

• Our PLTW unit on The Changing Earth is in full swing.  This week, students learned all about maps.  They learned the purpose of maps and the different features, such as a map key, symbols, scale, and cardinal direction.  
  
• Alongside learning about maps and map features, students are learning how weathering and erosion change the shape of our land.  Students learned that wind, water, and ice are the elements that play the biggest part in shaping landforms.