Barbara, Volume 24: February 16, 2015

Hey, Hassaan and Christopher. How is that acrostic weather poem going?

Such a cool week! We continued our study of weather. We talked a lot about what weather is, what climate is, and discussed how they are related. So many new vocabulary words are flying around that students are using the books and dictionaries to find the meaning of them. Also, we took a look at specific elements of weather, like temperature and learned how to read a thermometer using both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Additionally, we have strategically placed thermometers all around campus. Each morning and afternoon, students are recording their heat/cold in the air (temperature). We have begun to build our own weather vanes to measure the direction of the wind on campus. Finally, we are listening the book "Clouds" and creating our own cloud book that represents what clouds are, how they change and are formed, and the different types of clouds. Yes; that is a lot of weather experimenting!

To help us with reading the thermometers and other Science topics, we are using "landmarks" or important numbers in our place value system (i.e. 2, 5, 10, 100, etc.) to help us manipulate the 100 chart and solve addition and subtraction equations. Students have played a Fantastic Frogurt Forever game, in which students practice this concept. To show their understanding of landmarks, they also have created a Two-Voice poem. This type of poem is created when two people speak independently and also simultaneously. The dialogue they create can go back and forth. It is really fun to hear. Ask your child about it! Students also have been working on factors and multiples of 100. They built some super cool "packages", or buildings that had to be made up of 100 pieces of "chocolate". This helped show their understanding of different multiples, factors, and equations to equal 100.

I have posted March's book sharing guidelines. Please read them carefully. I am a huge fan of films, so I look forward to the creative Marquee posters!

Owl of the Week
Barbara...

Homework for Monday, Tuesday:

Monday:  Temperature Reading practice

Tuesday:  Reading a Weather Map practice.

No homework over break.  See new things!  Go outside!  If the weather is challenging your outdoor activities, do an indoor project!

Google+ created this. I hope the link works:)

 "W" for weather acrostic  poems.

 Probability games that students created and played last Friday.

 Above and below, students work on rhyming couplets.

 Math rocks!

 Working on multiples and factors of 100.

 Adli during Math; and Hassaan and others work researching during library about different climates across the world.  

 Is that Ms. Sayyora, or Ms. Braelyn checking out books??

 Working with cold and hot elements to measure temperature!

 Placement is important when finding the perfect spot for your morning and afternoon temperatures.

 Barbara and Junke share their February mobile! Nice work!

 How can we use multiples, or factors, of 100 to help us?

Left: Visited the 5th grade Energy museum. Right: Ekaterina and Margaret perform a two-voice poem in math!

March Book Sharing

March Book Presentation: Animal Fiction

1.    Pick a book in which an animal plays a key role.  This animal must exist in real-life on earth.  If the animal talks or does other human-like actions, that is okay.

2.   Have that book OK’d by Mr. Mike or Ms. Panella.

3.   Read the whole book, from cover to cover.  If you choose to change your book at any time, let your teacher know!

4.   Make a marquee poster for your book.  The design should:

·       be attention-grabbing and use the whole poster board

·       show reflection of the plot and main ideas of the book

·       list the main characters

·       contain encouraging words, or “teasers” about the book

One thing to do would be to go to a website for your favorite movie and look up the marquee poster.  Think of your book as a movie that you want to get people to experience. 

Make a plan, sketch it out first, then use markers, crayons and/or paint to implement your design!

Khwahish, Volume 23: February 9, 2015

Hassaan and I doing standing tree pose after lunch.
It helps digestion and just pure fun!

What a cool week it has been. We started our weather unit and kids are already super excited about it. For homework, students brought in weather proverbs from their native country and shared them with the class. We analyzed them and illustrated the figurative and literal meanings of the proverbs. The posters are very funny and cool.

In math, students have created an activity/game that has clear directions and shows their understanding of probability. We also worked together to solve some challenging problems on whiteboards with partners. We shared our answers and explanations out loud together. 

We have been tackling poetry head on with writing cinquains, a poetic structure that follows the syllabic pattern 2-4-6-8-2. Also, Ms. Magda did a killer lesson on poetic devices like assonance, consonance, and alliteration. Students practiced using these with their ideas and different topics about weather. "The flood flooded the funky flamingos face" wrote Braelyn. They just get even funnier after that. 

Next week in math will launch into a new study called "Landmarks in the Thousands", a study of place value, number sense, and operations. I am looking forward to it. Also, in UOI we will discover more about weather through the many non-fiction books Ms. Sayyora has found for us. 

Owl of the Week

Khwahish...

Homework

Monday: Finish 12 month calendar
Tuesday: Using directions activity
Wednesday: IXL B.6Addition patterns over increasing place values AND W.1Calculate probability (Grade 4)
Thursday: A Map for Today activity
Friday: Read and have fun playing outside!

Dates to Remember

Thurs-Fri, Feb 19-20 Asian New Year - No School

Wed Feb 25 Staff Development - 1/2 Day for students

Students working on their poetry writing. 

 Students creating their probability games.

 Playing the probability game "Two Dice Sums"

World map skill time during library.

Probability centers! The dealer wore my bicycle hat with style!

 Na Yeon showing off her alliteration and Reagan's amazing mobile book sharing!

 Ji Su sharing her knowledge of cool neon. 

 Working out some probability problems together.

Sharing example proverbs and deciphering their meanings.

Stunts and Tumbling

Students have started working on stunts and tumbling skills that will help to develop the fundamental skills. These skills will help them to successfully perform a variety of individual and partner stunts and tumbling skills. We will continue engaging in other active fitness games as well. 

Warm up activity

Stunts and tumbling activities