Jan 31

The temps are up and the temps are down! Today was just way too cold to go outside.....but most days we are still taking kids out to play. They LOVE it! Snow or no snow, going outside gives them the fresh air and the extra boost they need to get through the rest of the day. Please continue to send in boots, and outdoor gear with your kids so they may go outside. Even a pair of sweatpants to put over their pants, and extra socks to change into, is fine to wear outside.

This week we went through a change in our schedule. In order to better accomodate speech, special ed and reading schedules, we made a few adjustments to our schedule. So far it is working very well and I am sure that it will benefit everybody. We now start our day with reading and daily 5, after that we work in grammar and writing, followed by Science. Then we have recess, lunch, and read aloud. Following that, we move to math, Specials and we end the day with Social studies. Like I said, so far it is working very well and I think it is a much better fit for our class.

As you may have noticed, this past week, daily 5 packets came home and asked to be signed and returned. I want to be sure you are seeing the work that is coming home; what is getting completed, and what is not getting completed during that work time. Please let me know if you have any questions about this. Ms. Reed and I are trying really hard to give daily feedback on student work and holding them accountable for their indepdendent work and having them correct their mistakes.

In science we are working on the unit of force and motion...on Tuesday we made marshmallow shooters in order to discover what force is and how we can control it. Students took home materials to make their own marshmallow shooter. It was quite fun. Please look at the pictures on the main page of the website!

In math we are wrapping up our area unit. It ends with area of irregular shapes. I have built it up over the past couple of weeks in the HW I have provided with different colors. Students seem to understand with this break up how to put the two areas together for the total area. We are taking our time to go over this topic as it can be very confusing and require several steps or simple calculations. I have asked students to use two different colors in order to help them better see the rectangles they are working with. It is important to label the missing side lengths so they are able to quickly calculate the area. The two colors help make it visually easier to recognize.

Please look at https://embarc.online/mod/page/view.php?id=699 fora video of the lesson in case you need some extra support at home.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Happy Wednesday!