Welcome to D103!

Our class of 21 is now 22!  We are so excited to have Sunakshi as our newest friend in D103.  Having a new classmate this week gave all of us the opportunity to benefit from some Tribe activities.  Students shared things about themselves and important things that anyone should know about our school. These activities were great community builders that brought a sense of fellowship.       

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

​In Langauge Arts... 

• Using more text about severe weather, students continued to practice identifying the main idea and supporting details.  
• Students read an expository text called Can You Predict the Weather, which explained how people use tools to help them understand weather better.  Students had to determine the main idea of different paragraphs within the text with supporting details. 

In math...

• We wrapped up our polygon unit.  Students practiced drawing different polygons following criteria.  For example, students had to draw a five-sided polygon with two sides of the same length.  
• After a review of subtraction using a number line, students took the module 7 math assessment. This assessment measured understanding of subtraction using the number line, solving subtraction word problems also using the number line, and polygons.  
• This week students learned a new method of subtraction using base-ten blocks.  Students started off using actual blocks to model their thinking.  Then they learned how to draw base-ten blocks to show the process of subtraction.  
• Students are still working on the understanding of "regrouping" or "trading" 1 ten for 10 ones when there are not enough ones to subtract from.  For example, in the problem 54 - 28 = ?, students would need to regroup 1 ten for 10 ones, to show 54 as 4 tens and 14 ones.  Then, subtracting 2 tens and 8 ones becomes possible.  Check out this video https://learnzillion.com/lesson_plans/4979-subtract-numbers-within-100-using-base-ten-blocks/

​In science...

• We wrapped up our Form and Function PLTW unit with deep discussions about what successes students had with their models and some changes they would make to improve their design.  Check out these photos!

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS​

• If you borrowed library books from the public library for our rainforest animal research, the due date is probably coming up.  Please do not forget to return them.  I had all the children take them home this week.  Thank you for your support in our research writing.