A lot to talk about so here we go...

Math: We took a formative assessment on line plots which turned out pretty good so I expect great things on tomorrow's quiz. Speaking of which, tomorrow's quiz is VERY cumulative! We are taking the unit assessment within the next week so I expect to fine tune our understandings of the unit one concepts with the help of their performance tomorrow. I am out of the classroom tomorrow so these will not come home until Monday.

Homework:

Everyone has a data analysis activity in their Math Journals using field goals. In addition, each student has a subtraction with regrouping worksheet (3 or 4-digits - depending on their sheet)that they have already started. They are expected to "add to check."

Language Arts: Each group met today and had a discussion about their novels. Below are the corresponding assignments to be completed by tomorrow:

The Cricket in Times Square

Reread chapters 5-6
At the end of chapter six, there is a quote that says, "good luck is coming." Based on what you've learned about the characters so far, what type of good luck could possibly be coming? Use evidence from the text to support your prediction.

Junie B. Jones

Reread chapter 3
Who does Junie call the "secret mystery guy?" Why do you think she calls this person this?

Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Reread chapter 3
Explain how the hard-boiled egg fad caused so much trouble.

Social Studies: We began discussing the importance of physical characteristics that help define specific regions. Specifically, we explored landforms, climates, animals, and vegetation that are typically found in these areas.

In addition, we blended some of our economics unit with this discussion by examining how particular goods are "synonymous" with certain areas - Lobster in Maine for example...this led to supply and demand...which led to a live lobster web site that ships them overnight...and ultimately, why a live lobster shipped to Damascus costs more than $60 a pop!

FYI - Ms. Jones visited our classroom today to discuss the importance of handwashing, using appropriate behaviors in the bathrooms, and reporting if the soap dispensers are not filled/working to an adult. In addition, a letter is coming home tonight to explain how our school system is responding to the recent health incident.

And lastly - school pictures are coming home today!

We haven't had any Purell donations yet so please don't hesitate to send any in...Thank you!


Math: Very cool stuff going on - we spent quite a bit of time working with line and bar graphs today. In fact, we watched a clip on a real life study of caribous and why they may have dropped in population from 1988-1992. Who knew that severe snows hampers the caribou's ability to escape predators - namely - the wolves! During the four year period, wolf numbers increased while the caribou numbers decreased!

Homework:

Everyone is to take the weather data and create a line graph depicting the average high temperatures for each month. In addition, as a challenge, they are to round the average precipitation for each month and create a bar graph. This may be a bit much for one night so please use your judgement...


Language Arts: We listened to a story while recording words that had this spelling cycle's sound - /er/. This began as a whole group activity but we switched to a more cooperative task to foster some additional accountability. The power of teammates!

Small groups:

The Cricket in Times Square

Read the next two chapters.
Began work on a vocabulary task that requires them to use a dictionary

Junie B. Jones

Discussed their descriptions of Junie B. after reading chapter one (last night's HW)
Read chapter aloud.
Pulled individuals to read Hermie the Hermit Crab

Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Read chapter 2


We visited the computer lab this afternoon and worked in Type-2-Learn. Some of the students lost their computer log-ins again so they worked on an additional RRJ task.

Social Studies: We watched a video about cities. Specifically, we looked at how cities operate from a transportation perspective.

Math: WE reviewed the math quiz from last week. These should have come home on Friday. If you haven't seen it, ask your child. Using this information, we developed a plan for the week that focuses on specific areas where we struggled on last week's quiz. Some of the students worked with subtraction (and using addition to check) and bar graphs while the rest of the class worked with our quiz data from last week. We used this data to determine the mean, median, mode, and range in addition to creating a line plot to help organize our data.

Homework:

Subtraction and Bar Graph group - complete the circled problems in the review packet. There are notes on their quizzes that should help with this if they need a reminder.

Data Analysis group - In their math journals is a data set that needs to be examined through the analytical methods we discussed in group today. These methods are noted above.

Language Arts: We had a discussion about explicit and implicit information today. We framed these ideas through a puzzle analogy:

• Explicit information are the pieces of the puzzle (right there in the text)
• Implicit is the "picture" that a reader "sees" when all the pieces come together

The analogy is a bit of a stretch but it helps them distinguish the two types of textual information. Another way of defining it is - "connecting the dots" or "using clues to solve the mystery."

We started novels in every group today (pink, green, and purple groups). As a whole, these novels will take approximately 2 school weeks to complete. You can expect a reading task every night. However, on most nights there will be an RRJ prompt to complete, too. There is time in class everyday to get started on these tasks.

Cricket in Times Square:

Read Chapters 1-2.

RRJ - How would you describe Tucker and Mario so far in the story? Think about their similarities and differences.

Junie B. Jones:

Read Chapter 1

RRJ - How would you describe Junie B. Jones so far in the story? What in the text supports your belief?

Ramona Quimby, Age 8:

Read Chapter 1

RRJ - Describe Ramona's first day of school using evidence from the text.

There is an important letter in your child's home folder! Please read this letter and contact Ms. Plesniak, School Community Health Nurse at 301-253-7051 during the school day if you have any questions.

As for the classroom implications, we are using Purell before and after lunch/recess prior to leaving/coming into the room. We could certainly use some additional sanitizer since my personal supply will run out quickly...thanks in advance for your help!