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!