Monthly Archives: February 2017

In Like a Lion?!

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Can you believe that it will be March 1st this upcoming week? They say that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb…well let’s see!

Last week felt like it zoomed by! It’s nice to start the week off with a holiday, but then it seems like we never have enough time to do everything we want to do! I don’t know how many students asked me about having school tomorrow (which was actually today-which is Saturday…I double checked that it really is Saturday right now lol). So I guess that they felt like the week went by quickly too!

Last Week At A Glance:

Math/Ask Me Question- This week we worked through some 2,3,4 digit addition and subtraction questions as well as some multiplication. The Ask Me.. question was meant for you to see how your child is doing with multi digit addition and subtraction questions. There were 10 questions to be copied off the board. We talked about how it is so important to copy the question accurately and neatly. How the place value columns need to line up so you are adding or subtracting the ones from the ones, the tens from the tens, etc. We talked about how I could have given a photocopy of the questions to answer, but writing things down from the board is a skill that we need to learn too.

This is a picture of the questions (slightly blurry-my apologies). I thought I would post in case you needed to see them while you were working through the problems at home 🙂

Students are working on checking to see when they need to regroup (for addition and subtraction) as well as checking to see if the question is asking them to add or subtract (so many of us are not looking closely at the question before starting to answer). BONUS 1 was asking them to take the problem 321-123 and not answer it, but show what it would look like once they have regrouped the question. Let’s take a look through pictures 🙂

This is what the question will look like once everything has been regrouped.

Unsure of where these numbers came from? See picture below!

It’s all about the place value!

We talk about Standard and Non Standard a lot. This is what that means. Standard is the ‘easiest’ way to represent numbers. It’s how we would normally write a number down. Non Standard are all the other ways to represent a number. In this example we are using 2 (hundreds), 11 (tens), 11 (ones) because that is what we would use when we are regrouping during subtraction.

This is how we would use the regrouped “321” to answer the question 321-123.

You can check your subtraction question by changing it into an addition question! This is where the idea of fact families comes back! We check our work to make sure that we did it correctly! This was Bonus 2 (to go back and check your work by changing it to either an addition question or a subtraction question and making sure you still have the same 3 numbers from the original fact families!

Three numbers, one fact family and four number sentences!

How did we get 4 sentences?! Think of the 3 numbers in the fact family as been 1) the Whole 2) one Part 3) another Part

I hope that helps fill you in with how we are working through these problems at school.

Instagram-Thanks for your continued interest with our classroom Instagram account. It’s been fun sharing parts of our day with you! If you have yet to follow us…please do! Find as.easy.as.123 on Instagram and request to follow us. Then I’ll hook you up 😉 If you do not have an Instagram account, but would like to follow us, you can sign up for a free account. Need help or have questions? Let me know!

What’s Up This Week?!?

-Scholastic Book orders SHOULD be here soon. NO idea why it has bee so slow. I’ve rechecked and our order has been shipped. I know everyone is excited to get their books…they are coming…I promise!

-Music Festival is on Wednesday

-We are having a Folklorama performance on Thursday

-MTYP is coming to do a performance on Friday!

-#MentalMathMonday will look a little different this week. I will prepare some more addition and subtraction questions, some place value questions (I’ll give the standard way and students will show me non standard ways to represent the same number), and some skip counting (to help with multiplication-a focus on 3,4,5 this week)

-We should also finish reading Harry Potter! This is so bittersweet! We’ve really enjoyed the book so far (even the students who thought they wouldn’t!!). I’m so glad that I finally have been able to read this book to a class. It really is magical 😉

Should be another great week!

Until Next Time,

Danielle

This Week At School…and Beyond!

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As we approach the long weekend I’d like to reflect on the past week and just keep you in the loop of what will be happening next week!

Yogis– the art day was fabulous (as you’ve seen from the pictures) and after talking to Cathy we’ve decided we will wait until the other two classes are done plastering their Yogis to paint them!

Instagram-thanks so much for the support! We’ve had 18 notes returned already!!! If you have decided not to give permission to have your child’s photograph posted and have any questions please let me know. Also-if you change your mind at any point let me know! So far we have 6 followers!! Remember to give us a follow so you can see all of our pictures! (as.easy.as.123 is our user name). If you have sent a request and I’m not sure who it is I might send a note home to check,  or you can send me an email if you have a user name that I wouldn’t recognize and a closed profile where I wouldn’t be able to tell who it is!

Heritage/Family Tree projects-these are great! The students are so excited to learn more about each other and the kids are also learning more about themselves! I love that they are all looking different! Good job!!!! You have until Spring Break to hand in your project!

Travel pictures and sharing-the bulletin board outside of the room looks awesome! There is still time to add photos if you’d like to send some in. Just let me know where the photo is taken and maybe add the year too! We had our first parent presenter in today! The class loved hearing about Australia and seeing photos…let’s not forget the didgeridoo!!! If you want to come in and tell us about where you’re from or where you’ve traveled… please let me know, we’d love to have you share with us!

Bridge Building-next week we are building famous bridges!!! If anyone would like to volunteer we could use an extra set of hands (especially with the adult run hot glue station!). We are building all morning on Wednesday (Feb 22). Let me know!!!!

Math-we’ve finished up our extra practice with subtraction and are fully into multiplication! I’ve written up some strategies and explanations for the math we’ve done so far this year. Have a look…this is meant to support you with helping your child at home (in case you were looking for the terminology we are using and examples of what students have been doing). Your child may need to work on one or two areas, all areas or maybe none at all. This is not homework, but a tool for doing math at home. I’ll let each o f you know which areas I’ve noticed that could benefit from practice. Hopefully that will go home tomorrow:)

Math Review for Blog

Country Study-we are in research mode! Each student is learning about a different country and as a class we have decided on some common themes (food, history, structures, etc.) to learn about. Some of the students are keen to continue research at home. This is totally fine with me!!! I’m asking that students use the notebooks we’ve created at school so that all information is in one place. After we feel like we’ve done enough research we will be working through some stations at school. This is not homework…this is a choice. School time is also provided!

Enjoy your long weekend…let’s celebrate this gorgeous weather while we can!!

 

Weekend Update!

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Happy Saturday!

Here are some pictures, updates and news for you to ponder this weekend!

Valentine holders in progress!

We are makers!

Our Valentine holders are looking great! Some students have finished, others are not. If your child has taken his/her card holder home it is because he/she wanted to add to it. There are a few students who wanted to make the holder at home only and chose to work on unfinished work at school! The Valentine holders are a Maker project. There are two criteria: The finished product must 1) Have your name on it and 2) Have an opening for cards! Even though these were individual Maker projects we still used the 4 Cs. I love how this group of kids can communicate, collaborate, think critically and is so creative. The process we take as Makers has become so natural to us and the final products are amazing!

Updates:

-Ask me… for this weekend: to show me something you are working on, have learned or planning to do for your heritage/family tree project. This can be done as a sketch, or through writing. It’s up to you. The question this week is meant to give you time to work on the heritage/family tree project, or at least talk about what you are going to do. I have 3 projects completed…all are completely different from each other. This is exactly what I was hoping for. We will start presenting these projects this week at school. *IF you are one of the students who have finished your project: you can write something you learned about your family or about why you chose to present the way you did as your Ask me… this week

-Reminder: We are plastering on Monday. Please dress appropriately for doing artwork!

-#MentalMathMonday’s focus will be on subtraction facts. If you are not feeling confident with your subtraction…take some time to work on facts such as:

11-4, 15-9, 16-8, 19-8, 13-7, 12-5, 10-8, 20-15, etc.

*Remember to use the strategies you already know to help you!

Example: If you know that 4+7=11, then 11-4=7! (Using addition to think subtraction)

Example:  If you know that 15-10=5, then 15-9=6 (-10 and +1 to do the “9” facts)

Example: If you know that 9+9=18, then 18-9=9 (Doubles)

Example: If you know that 6+7=13, then 13-7=6 (Near doubles)

Example: If you know that 7+5=12, then 12-5=7 (Doubles +/-2)

Example: If you know that 2+8=10, then 10-8=2 (Compatible numbers to 10)

Example: If you know that 5+15=20, then 20-15=5 (Compatible numbers to 20)

News:

-I have learned how to update the Need Extras tab! So if you click on that tab at the top of the blog you will find 3 things so far!

  1. Extra copies of the Home Reading and Ask Me pages if you ever need to print one off
  2. The I Love To Read Project outline in case you want a head start! (the hard copy will arrive from the printshop soon, so kids who have already finished reading can start. No worries if your child is still reading the chapter book they have chosen. There is still lots of time!)
  3. A copy of a note going home on Monday about Room 123’s new Instagram account! I’ve decided that this can be a place where we’d post photos of kids and things in the class that we might not blog about. At this time I do not feel comfortable posting faces on the blog since it is open for the world to see, but can control who sees us on the Instagram account. The account is private, and only families from 123 will be able to follow us. You would need to request permission to follow us. I also think it is something that the class can help with. It will be easy to teach them how to post a picture (it will be approved by me of course). I hope you will be excited about this idea and support us. Please let me know if you have any questions 🙂

-I have also figured out the proper settings for you to comment. Sorry about any confusion before. Being a learner is quite the process!!

Until next time!

Danielle

World Famous Structures!

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Our world famous structure drawings are amazing…I just had to share them! After choosing a structure that interested each of us we printed a picture, cut it in half, drew the missing half and then did research to find out: the name, location, when it was built, why it was built (or what it’s function is) and at least 3 interesting facts.

How do you think they look?!

Healthy Heart Day!

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Today you were sent an email about our Valentine’s Day plans(and a list of student names)! Our celebration theme is heart healthy!!! We will get our hearts pumping and also play the board games that 122 and 123 have been making! The sign up sheet for snacks has been posted outside of our classroom door. I tried to break up things like yogurt, cheese and drinks so two parents could bring. If you want to do all drinks or all cheese then feel free and let me know! I also put a spot for cups, napkins and plates. If you sign up for juice and plan on bringing juice boxes then let me know and we will cross cups off the list!

On Friday we are a) doing Winter Fun Day in the morning and b) making Valentine card holders in the afternoon (from 1-1:30 and 2:30-3:00). If you’d like to come and spend some time with us please feel free! You are also more than welcome to come on Valentine’s Day or on Monday morning when we do some plastering of our wire Yoga pose people! Just let me know other in person or via email if you’d like to come in!

*For Friday we are asking students to bring in some supplies they might need for the card holders. We have lots of materials at school, but the class wants to create different types of holders so if you have an empty tissue box or cereal box, etc. that your child needs…Please send that in by Friday!

Until next time,

Danielle

Words Their Way Assessments

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Hi!

Just letting everyone know that we are now starting to assess the Words Their Way words each week. After 3 times of words being sorted and doing different activities withe the words we will send the sorts home as usual, then on the following meeting time (usually 2 days later) we will do an assessment. It will be a spelling ‘test’ of 12 of the words. We did our first assessment today. Your child will be bringing home their assessment for you to see.

This can be another activity you can work on at home…practicing the correct spelling. The words follow patterns so many of the words should be easy to spell once students understand the pattern.

Thanks,

Danielle

Beginning of February Already!

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Ask me…

This weekend’s Ask Me… question is to draw or write about something that makes Montrose AWESOME! We’ve been doing lots of talking about this topic lately. Our bulletin board looks great and the assembly was truly amazing. Sheila did a wonderful job with creating a video that demonstrates our school’s pillars of kindness, generosity and belonging. Now it’s your job to show me what you think makes Montrose so awesome!

Suggestions:

-draw and label a picture

-make a comic

-write a poem or a song or a paragraph

-be creative! #BAM (Be Awesome Montrosians)

“Homework”

Some of the kids have brought unfinished aka ‘ketchup’ work home to do this weekend. It really was a “Finish Up Friday” kind of day on Thursday. Some jobs have taken students longer than they thought (some are writing machines with their narrative writing piece!) and some students just needed some more time to complete tasks because not everything got finished. The finish up tasks are a) narrative writing (including a self edit-I will do another edit at school before they publish) and b) Time and/or money booklets. We are starting a new unit next week. Reminder that Monday will be a money focus for #mentalmathmonday!

“What’s up for next week?!”

Wire Sculpture Art with Cathy! We are using Yoga poses as inspiration!

Playing the games we have been creating! Missing from photo: WUNO game (sorry…I couldn’t find it to take a picture on Friday)

We will continue to learn about structures this week. We have some fun activities planned for drawing and building world famous structures! We are also going to decide what topics we want to focus on when it comes to countries around the world (languages, food, schools, houses, etc.) and will find out which country everyone has chosen to learn more about!

I hope you have been doing some talking and planning about the heritage/family tree project. An email will be sent home with further details about ‘due dates’ later on this week!

To celebrate I Love To Read Month I are asking that each student reads a chapter book this month and does a mini maker project at school. As a class we are coming up with some criteria for this project. For right now students need to know that they are expected to read a new chapter book this month. If they are finishing a book right now, there is still lots of time to read another book in February. OR they could start a new book as they are finishing a different book (some people like to read more than one book at a time). More details to come!

Image result for i love to read

Lots to be excited about!!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Danielle

#BAM

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Good Morning!

Just an FYI…we are having an assembly at 11:00 this morning to present our #BAM campaign! Feel free to join us if you are able. The assembly should last between 20 and 30 minutes. We have created a pretty cool bulletin board…I’ll try to snap a picture and post that later today!

Have an AWESOME day!

Danielle

Everyone is Welcome! Kindness, Generosity & Belonging is what makes Montrose AWESOME! Thanks 122 for adding buckets for buket filling to our display!