This weekend – A studied A LOT, M relaxed A LOT, and N partied. Last night we went to Asher Herman's bar mitzvah (us and N) and he had a great time. He ate yummy food and played a lot of DJ games and closed the place down. Literally. And he got a cool hat as a giveaway. Plus he looked adorbs.
M and I went out to afternoon tea this afternoon with 4 of her friends and 3 of their moms (one mom couldn't go). It was very dignified and yummy. Also nice to meet some of the other moms. M is so cute about wanting me to hang out with her friends' moms (actually all the girls are).
Here is what N is doing at school. Pretty impressive.
Happy New Year!!
We have been growing our brains in lots of exciting ways in the classroom and I am very excited to share them with you.
In Math, we have been working on two-digit addition and subtraction using a host of different strategies. Some of these strategies include expanded form, physical and representational base ten blocks, and number lines. The goal is for students to be able to employ their strategies as a toolbox that they can pull from when faced with similar or more challenging problems. This approach to addition and subtraction helps students learn to think more flexibly. In the coming weeks, we will be going back to 2 digit addition and subtraction word problems and still work on using these strategies to solve them.
In Reading, we have spent the last couple of weeks learning about different folktales and fables from around the world. Students have worked to identify the lesson within the stories that we have read as well as discussing the challenges and responses related to different characters. We specifically enjoyed reading and analyzing various versions of Cinderella from about the world. In the coming weeks, we will be going back to working with non-fiction texts and identifying the main idea.
In Writing, we have been reading different versions of the classic fairytale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Students worked to analyze the similarities and differences between different versions and are now working on writing their own Goldilocks story. The setting for their stories must be the habitat that they previously researched so students have been coming up with characters such a Goldifish, Camellocks, Goldipenguin, etc. We will continue to work on this writing in the next week and I am really excited for you to read the students’ final drafts.
In Social Studies, students have been learning about winter holidays from around the world. We have been blessed to have different parents come in to teach us about the different winter holiday traditions that they have in the family. We deploy appreciate all of the parents that took their time to come out. In the next week, we will be moving on to learning about different earth landforms in science.
This coming week, we will be working on a plugged coding lesson using the Code.org classroom site.
In the classroom last week, we started practicing our typing skills using a website called typing club. The site carries students through a series of leveled practices and involves fun games that keep the students engaged. Students have been reminded to always keep heir fingers on home row and in the proper position while typing. This has been somewhat of a challenge for some, but we will continue to practice by typing at least 2 times in the week.
Overall, we are all very excited to welcome 2020 and students have been working hard to make and keep resolutions for the new year.
