Kicking off Quarter 2!

With Halloween around the corner and so much excitement in the air , it's been a very interesting week.  For many children it can be a little hard to come back to school after a break, but it was a fun-filled week and we were able to get right back into our routines like we never missed a beat!  Students reflected on their learning from 1st quarter and put together their evidence binders and are working on their online portfolios.  

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

​In Langauge Arts...

• This week's genre focus was on traditional literature, particularly fables.  Students learned that fables are short stories, alway teach a valuable life lesson, and most times will have animals as main characters.  Students learned about Aesop fables.  We read The Fox and the Crane.  Majority of the children identified the moral as "treat others the way you want to be treated."  While this was a very fitting author's message we also talked about the following version of that message: He who plays a trick on someone, should expect to be tricked in return.  We also talked about other famous fables like The Tortoise and the Hare and The Lion and the Mouse. 
• The essential question this week was What can animals in stories teach us?  Using the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, students completed a flow map to show the sequence of events and steps to solution.  Then we read a different version of the same story called Wolf, Wolf! by John Rocco.  Students created a double-bubble map to compare important elements of both stories.  ​

​In math...

• Students reviewed what they knew about subtraction using subtraction stories and representing them with base-ten cubes.  Students learned that addition can be used to help check subtraction problems.  
• Students learned that when one part is three are less, the count-back strategy is very effective.  They practiced this using the number line.  Then they thought about related addition problems.  For example for 12 -3 = 9, the related addition fact would be 9 + 3 = 12.  
• Students reinforced their understanding of Total - Part = Part and Part + Part = Total by solving word problems.  They investigated the unknown addend in subtraction word problems.  They used both the subtraction and addition methods to solve.  For example:  There were 12 bears on a bus.  Some bears got off the bus.  Now there are 9 bears left on the bus.  The only matching equation is 12 - ? = 3.  However, once students write this equation down to represent the story, they can choose to solve using a method of their choice (subtraction or addition).  They could start at 12 and count-back 3 (subtraction), or they could start at 9 and count-on to 12 (addition) to find the unknown.  

In Social Studies...

• Students are using a Comic Book app on their iPads to create a comic to teach others about Stranger Danger.  

Ecsedy's Stranger Danger Comic 

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

• Parent teacher conferencing start on Tuesday 10/23.  There will be early release everyday from Tuesday on until Thursday 11/1  to accommodate Parent teacher conferences.  Besides the normal Wednesday dismissal, school will get out everyday at 1:05 p.m. starting Tuesday.  Wednesdays will remain the same 12:52 dismissal. 
• No School on 11/2 due to teacher PD day