Happy Halloween!

FIRST GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Ello-hay irst-fay ade-gray amilies-fay!

Hello first grade families!

Should all first graders learn pig latin?  According to our HA class, all first graders should learn pig latin.  That is the topic of a persuasive paragraph we are working on together.  We started by organizing our thoughts on a hamburger shape graphic organizer.  We all know kids can be very persuasive.  This is a fun lesson on being organized and thorough in persuasive writing.

SECOND GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Based on the great conversations we are having, I can tell the students have been doing their reading.  Thank you for your support on that!  I pulled out a few quotes from the book that include the author's symbolism of light and dark.  The students added a few words to our light/dark chart.  Please be sure they read chapters 24-28 by Monday.  

THIRD GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Our time together flew by! The topic was nouns.  These students have known for quite some time that a noun is a person, place, or thing.  Nouns that are an idea are the most difficult to identify, but they are doing better with that.  I touched on subject, common/proper, and singular/plural nouns.  When I start lessons like this, I can tell the students think it is going to be review/basic for them.  As it turns out, they end up challenged.  I think they are realizing I will always keep them on their toes.  

FOURTH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

 As you know, our 4th grade HA language arts curriculum focuses on change.  Our recent interviews focused on how people changed.  We are heading toward a group biography project.  We will be researching a person that was an agent of change.  After skimming through several biographies, brainstorming, and voting, it is decided Anne Frank will be the subject of our biography project.

 FIRST GRADE MATH

First grade HA geometry continues.  Awhile back, we reviewed our HA content by playing the game Lingo (similar to Bingo).  Grupo is our current geometry game for review.  I have introduced the game, and we played as a group.  Introducing the game included reviewing everything we've learned in HA!  The students look forward to playing in small groups.  These games are such a great way to review.  

SECOND GRADE MATH

The students finished the Think Deeply and Think Frame from last week.  I am already noticing them getting better at explaining their math in words!  Writing in math is a skill we will work on throughout the year.  We also started exploring transformations in geometry.  Our focus was on shapes sliding, turning, and flipping.  I use my school iPad to take pictures for this blog.  During second grade math class, my iPad was problematic.  I'm sorry there is no pic of this class.  Your students probably remember our "technical difficulties."

THIRD GRADE MATH

We don't have traditional quizzes or tests in HA, so we do occasional "check ups."  When I gave the students a check up on repeating/growing patterns, I could tell we needed to pause for review.  Due to fall break, we only had math once last week.  The timing of the check up after break was challenging.  We then dipped our toes into discovering patterns when looking at multiples of numbers.  

FOURTH GRADE MATH

After the boys put the finishing touches on the magical math tricks they created, they presented their tricks.  They were both successful!  If your student hasn't already shown you his trick, you might enjoy asking him to do so.  It was a fun exercise on variables.  Our study of variables continues.  We moved on to variable puzzles.  The students were able to use algebraic thinking to solve the puzzles.  I challenged them to create an equation for one of the puzzles.  I knew they were doing the algebra in their head, but I wasn't sure if they could write the equation.  They were able to do so without a problem!

Have a great fall break!

FIRST GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Ello-hay irst-fay ade-gray amilies-fay!

 Hello first grade families!

E-way arted-stay ig-pay atin-lay is-thay eek-way.

We started pig latin this week.

Our study of connections continued with pig latin.  It is a fun way to examine connections between letters, words, and meaning.  It also helps us review our vowel sounds.  We translated song lyrics to pig latin and sang along.  Here's a link to the song, if you'd like to check it out:  Pig Latin Song.  Follow link at your own risk, the song is known to get stuck in people's heads;)

SECOND GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Our sweet, little Despereaux has been banished to the dark, scary dungeon!  What will become of him down there?  The students need to read chapters 16-20 for homework due Monday to find out.  The author repeatedly makes references to light and dark.  We will be discussing the symbolism of light and dark throughout our novel study.  We analyzed four quotes from the book that reference light and dark.  As our novel study continues, the students are sure to understand more of the symbolism.  

THIRD GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

The students and I differentiated between myth and legend.  Legends are grounded in reality, and myths explain the unexplainable.  We worked together to complete a vocabulary map graphic organizer on myth.  We also spent some time on nouns.  Using a passage from a myth, we identified different kinds of nouns.  Nouns that are ideas were the hardest for them to identify.  I explained that idea/abstract nouns are intangible.  

FOURTH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

The students finished typing their interview compositions in Google Docs. After that, we moved on to our lesson on how the English language has changed and still changes.  The students completed a Latin and Greek word study activity.  They determined the meaning of words based on their roots, prefixes, and suffixes.  

FIRST GRADE MATH

Since we did not have HA on Thursday, I saw the students for just 30 minutes this week.  We spent our time together focusing on vertices.  I got down on the floor with the students and combined 3 shapes to create different/larger shapes. We then took turns locating the vertices of the created shapes.  It helped the students understand that vertices are not always outside corners.  We used green dot stickers to mark the vertices.  Besides being a nice lesson on vertices, it was also a nice review of shape definitions.  Below is an example you might like to discuss w/your student.

SECOND GRADE MATH

Answering a question thoroughly and using words to explain math is a challenge.  When our HA math curriculum gives us a Think Deeply (question), we use a Think Frame (graphic organizer) to help us.  It helps us break down the question (often a multiple part question) and organize our thoughts.  Explaining ourselves is a challenge for people of all ages, so we need a lot of practice.  Our exercise this week was in regards to combining two triangles to form a rectangle and finding the lines of symmetry.  Since we only met once this week, we will finish our task next week.  I apologize for not getting a picture of the second grade math students.  

THIRD GRADE MATH

Growing patterns were our focus again.  While identifying a pattern is fairly simple for these students, finding a rule to determine any number in the sequence is challenging.  The students definitely strained their brains.  I look forward to sharing the trick to finding the function of growing patterns on a table.  The students are going to be relieved that the tables we have been working with have two general functions.  I'm confident once I reveal them, students will be able to determine which one will work in particular situations.  

FOURTH GRADE MATH

As you may recall, I showed the students a magical math trick that they worked on figuring out.  It is an exercise in examining how variables work in algebra.  The students have now begun creating their own versions of the magical math trick.  Being we only met once this week, it'll be several days until they can finish.  They're already excited to take it home and share with you!

Another great week in HA:)

 FIRST GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

After reviewing how to decode words with the Caesar Cipher Wheels, we switched gears and had some fun enciphering words.  I sent the wheels home on Tuesday.  If you ask your student to show you how it works, they'll need reminded that green to yellow deciphers (decodes) and yellow to green enciphers (converts to code).  We then used a Phone Keypad Cipher to further explore connections of letters, words, and meaning.  Lastly, we spent a little time on syllables & vowel sounds.

SECOND GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

The Tale of Despereaux has introduced the characters and the setting.  The adventure has begun!  We discussed character traits and reviewed plot points to assure comprehension.  Please be sure your student reads Chapters 11-15 by Monday.  Thank you for your support.  

THIRD GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

After focusing on myths and touching on legends in recent lessons, we moved on to defining folklore.  We define folklore as fictional stories passed down orally through generations.   Students have begun making posters listing the definitions of folklore, myth, and legend.  The students quickly picked up on the similarities between the different types of folklore.  We still need to focus on their differences to help us differentiate between them.  Our posters are a work in progress.  We will eventually add fable, folktale, fairy tale, and tall tale to our folklore posters & our study of change. 

FOURTH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Fourth grade HA students finished writing their paragraphs on change based on their interviews.  The students have almost completely typed them in Google Docs.  Each student's interviewee is different, so each student's study of change is different.  The assignment is giving me a glimpse at the students' writing abilities.  

FIRST GRADE MATH

First graders turned squares of paper into rectangles and triangles.  There was a lot of folding and cutting.  All the shapes required straight lines, and the triangles required diagonals.  It may sound basic, but it gave the students a great hands-on lesson of how shapes are similar and different.  We also dissected a story problem together.  Our focus was the process.  What do we know?  What do we need to know?  What key words are we looking for in the word problem? We highlighted key information.  We answered the question in sentence form using P.Q.A. (Part of the Question in the Answer)

SECOND GRADE MATH

Our hands-on study of symmetry continued.  The students took their triangles and manipulated them to create squares and parallelograms.  Before we began working in pairs/small groups, we reviewed the school rules and the behavior needed to make the most of our time together.  They were focused and productive.  I'm proud of them and hope they're proud of themselves!  The three angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees.  If given the measurement of two angles of a triangle, we can figure out the measurement of the third angle.  We explored two different ways to do the math to find the measurement of the third angle.  It was a quick introduction, but it got their wheels turning.  

THIRD GRADE MATH

Our algebraic study of growing patterns continued.  This time we weren't talking about seating fish at a table or anything clever.  We were serious mathematicians talking about terms and assigning the letter b to represent terms.  I explained that 4b means the same thing as 4 x b (4 times b).  Taking out the multiplication sign seemed to trouble them at first.  I could tell they couldn't quite wrap their heads around it.  They didn't want to just accept that as part of the language of algebra, they wanted to understand.  I love that about these students, they are deep thinkers!  The students then worked in pairs or small groups to figure out a few more growing patterns.  

FOURTH GRADE MATH

I've never been much of a magic fan, but I had a good time showing the students a magical math trick this week:) The students then worked to dissect the trick to figure out the math behind it.  The purpose of this is to examine how variables work in algebra.  When I was young and first learning algebra, it took me a bit to catch on.  It was the first time I really felt like I had a mental block.  I got the hang of it soon enough and then loved it.  If had a background like these kids, I'm confident I would've caught on quicker than I did.  This HA curriculum is pretty great!

Hello HA families!

FIRST GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Letters connect to words, and words connect to meaning.  What if our letters didn't connect to words in the way we are familiar?  Words would not make sense.  We had some fun deciphering codes this week.  Using a Caesar Shift Cipher, we took what appeared to be nonsense words and connected them in the way we know and understand.  The pictures below show our cipher wheels and the deciphering we have done.  

SECOND GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

We began reading The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.  The book will be read in HA class and at home.  The students are assigned chapters 4-9 for homework due Monday, October 11.  The chapters are short, so it shouldn't be a problem getting the reading in over the next few days.  We've been discussing the setting, characters, and making connections.  I connected the book to Dumbo due to Despereaux's large ears and him being teased for being different than others.  One student made a child/parent connection and brought up how Despereaux's mother does not seem kind or loving.  The student explained the mother/child relationship was not like the student's own mother/child relationship. We also touched on the author's use of light and dark.  This is my first time reading this book, and I'm happy to share the experience with your students!

THIRD GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Continuing with the myths we read last week, students worked in pairs or independently to complete a retelling story map.  Being that myths are so different than most things we read, they are a challenge to follow and retell.  The students worked diligently to complete their retelling story maps.  I was pleased to hear students talking about change.  They were looking for change within their myths.  Your students are deep thinkers!

FOURTH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

As part of our study of change, we are currently focusing on people changing.  After interviewing me in class for practice, the students were asked to interview an adult at home for homework.  I'm pleased that almost everybody did their homework.  We have started writing multiple paragraph compositions based on their interviews.  As we know, change isn't always made by choice.  It can be easy/hard, positive/negative, happen quickly or over time, but always results in growth.  The students are contemplating those aspects of change. 

FIRST GRADE MATH

Writing in math is new to first graders.  Using words to explain how we solved a math problem is challenging.  Our HA math curriculum repeatedly uses Think Deeply questions and Think Frame graphic organizers to help students rise to the challenge of using words in math.  Using the Think Frame, we organize our thoughts to be able to answer questions completely.  We did this for the first time this week. Referring to the Lingo polygon gameboard we played with last week to review triangles, quaderilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons, we answered a math question in words.  I'm proud of your focused first graders!

SECOND GRADE MATH

Our study of symmetry continues.  As you may recall, students previously manipulated triangles to fit into squares following a given design and analyzed whether or not the designs were symmetrical.  This time around, students worked in pairs/small groups to manipulate triangles into squares of their own design.  They successfully created symmetrical designs!  Our hands-on study of symmetry continued by manipulating triangles into shapes other than squares.  While they were able to manipulate triangles into other shapes, they were challenged by figuring out whether or not their shapes were symmetrical.  This group’s enthusiasm is contagious, but we need to work on following our four main school rules.  Our time together is brief, so it’s important we make the most of it.  I love that they’re excited to be in here with friends from other homerooms:)

THIRD GRADE MATH

  Our HA math curriculum repeatedly uses Think Deeply questions and Think Frame graphic organizers to help students rise to the challenge of using words in math. We completed a Think Frame together to answer a Think Deeply question about a growing pattern.  The students realized it helped us organize our thoughts to completely answer a question.  The students then worked in pairs/small groups to answer a Think Deeply question without a Think Frame.  That did not go so well, so their appreciation of organizing their thoughts grew.  We all got a kick out of the experience.  In our class, we have some fun while straining our brains!

FOURTH GRADE MATH

 The students continued differentiating between expressions and equations.  Using the Think Frame to organize their thoughts has proved valuable.  The conversations they/we are having are often on organizing and expressing how we think about math. We also had a little time to solve some equations together.  The students are excited about algebra:)

First full week of fall!

First Grade Language Arts

Since all the students drew and cut out their badges of personal connections at home, we were able to get right to work making shields of connections:)  While students were assembling their shields, we discussed the reasons behind the badges they designed.  We focused on the reasons/explanations not being a simple three word answer. We worked on expressing ourselves more deeply.  Consulting the rubric, we went over goals to keep in mind while presenting to the class.  I told the students that if they speak loud enough to be heard, don't look down the whole time, and offer more than "I like ______," then they should be extremely proud of themselves.  The presentations were a great experience for these young students!  They really gave it their all! The shields will go home eventually, but they are currently hanging on our classroom wall.  

Second Grade Language Arts

Have you read "Eldorado" by Edgar Allen Poe?  Your second graders read and interpreted the poem this week!  We used a reading analyzer (graphic worksheet) to help us understand the challenging poem.  We pulled out new/interesting words, discussed the mood and how it changes in the poem, and tried to understand the main idea. The main character's connections to people (or apparent lack thereof), places, and ideas are unlike any we have previously discussed.  The students enjoyed watching a four minute video about the poem and a snippet of a documentary on Eldorado, the lost city of gold presumed to be in South America.  I apologize for not getting any pictures of your second grade language arts students in class this week. Edgar Allen Poe's challenging text needed all our focus.

Third Grade Language Arts

To begin our study of "The Changing Faces of Story," the students read several Native American, Norse, and Greek Myths.  Time was limited and some of the myths were lengthy, but it was a nice introduction to the genre.  Each student chose two myths they found to be most interesting, because we will be working with them again next week.  As a class, we read, discussed, and filled in a retelling story map (graphic organizer worksheet) for Raven Steals the Sun, Stars, and Moon. The raven shapeshifts more than once and it is difficult to follow, so the graphic organizer proved valuable.  

Fourth Grade Language Arts

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, HA curriculum is consistent across the school district.  In effort to stay in tune with the other schools' 4th grade classes, we stalled our study of change.  Parts of speech is always a good thing to brush up on.  We used Mad Libs as a fun way to get in some practice with parts of speech and creative writing.

First Grade Math

We continued our study of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons this week.  LINGO is a game similar to BINGO that we used to review the shapes.  The game board has a nice variety of shapes, so it does challenge the students. For example, there is a variety of pentagons versus just the typical pentagon shape that most people picture as a pentagon.  After playing as a group, students played in pairs/small groups.  Playing in pairs/small groups added the task of checking each other to make sure both people were accurately identifying the polygons.  It was a challenging and fun review of the polygons we have been discussing in class.

Second Grade Math

Second grade continues to focus on symmetry.  What at first glance appeared to be a simple exercise in manipulating triangles to fit into squares proved to be a valuable lesson on symmetry.  The hands on exploration of symmetry helped them further understand how some shapes have more than one line of symmetry.

Third Grade Math

Building on our understanding of repeated patterns from the last two weeks, we are moving on to growing patterns. Growing patterns grow with respect to a rule or function.  As you can see in the picture below, students can begin filling in the table by adding one on the top and two on the bottom.  That basic math can only take us so far.  Enter algebra!  Through great dialogue, the students came up with two rules to complete the table.  One rule has multiplication and addition.  The other rule solely uses addition.  Both formulas work for this lesson.  This exercise has us trying to figure out how many fish can sit at a given amount of tables (I know, silly;).  Solving for f (amount of fish), we double t (amount of tables) and add two.  At this point in time, we wrote it in ways the students can understand.

tables + tables + 2 = fish

t + t + 2 = f

tables x 2 + 2 = fish

t x 2 + 2 = f

We did not get to the point of 2t + 2 = f.  We made great use of our time, but we'll have to save that for later.  The students understood our lessons and seemed proud.  It warms my heart to see their wheels turn, the lightbulbs go on, and the pride that comes with it.

Fourth Grade Math

3n + 4 = 55 is an example of the algebra we did this week in 4th grade math.  I asked the students to pick a number between 1 and 30, multiply it by 3, and then add 4.  The students then gave their answers (in the above example, 55).  We then worked backwards to solve for n (the number between 1 and 30 that they started with, in the above example n=17).  We worked backwards to solve the equation.  They loved it!  They really got into it! Division was necessary, so we had some nice practice dividing.  Using a think frame graphic organizer, we started differentiating between expressions and equations.  The think frame is a great tool to organize our thoughts and help us learn to express our thoughts about math in words.