Language Arts
We have been working on reading non-fiction over the past couple weeks. I am using the resource titled, "Jacob's Ladder"...a reading comprehension program out of the College of William and Mary that targets high ability learners...and man, oh man, is it rigorous!! Last week the first ladder came home...three questions that raise in difficulty as they go up the rungs of the ladder. That ladder was modeled by me and worked on as a group. This past week the kids worked on a new ladder...they brainstormed ideas independently, discussed ideas and thoughts in groups, met with me to discuss the top rung, and then wrote their independent answers. I have graded these papers and they will come home tomorrow or Friday. I was so impressed with your kids' critical thinking skills and their discussions of text and finding and using evidence to support their thinking! Good stuff, I tell ya.
Writing
We are continuing our narrative writing unit. I am having such fun reading their small moments and watching as they take each mini lesson and apply the skills taught to their writing. This past week we looked at the narrative writing rubric and decided on goals as writers. This second half of the quarter we will be picking the story that we like the most and turning that piece into our best piece of narrative writing. I'm excited to see where this leads us!
Math
Talk about cool stuff...we are working on a math unit written for highly able learners...this unit is called "How Big is Big?" We have been investigating what REALLY big numbers look like. Take a look at this set of pictures...we first built the number 10,000 with hundreds blocks. Before all the kids had really thought about how many were in that square, I posed the question..."About how much do you think this square represents?" More than one student said, "About a MILLION." So we then talked about the amount represented. They wondered how big 100,000 would be...so we used the kids as an outline for how big 100,000 would be (since one third grader was approximately the length of that square)...then talked about the fact that it would take TEN squares that size to show ONE MILLION...again, trying to help them see how big that really is. Take a look...
Just yesterday we worked on a new investigation...the kids were given a string, sticky notes, and rulers and told to create a number line that represents 0-10,000. They had to mark every 500 accurately. The critical thinking and conversations between the kids was AMAZING!! We will use these number lines tomorrow and Friday as we find places all over the United States that we would like to visit...we will be finding distances using websites and then marking how far away they are on our number lines. This is another great way for the kids to see how big these numbers truly are!!
Social Studies
Out unit is all about geography...starting with comparing and contrasting maps and globes, learning the importance of map and globe features, and now we are moving into learning about the different regions of the United States. I integrate a lot of reading about Social Studies into our Language Arts block in order to best maximize our time...but we will be working on an in-class project that will be a culmination of this social studies unit and our reading of non-fiction.
EXTRA INFO: Field trip permission slips came home yesterday. We are going to the Weinberg Center to see the Super Scientific Circus (one of my favs!) I can only take two chaperones, so I will see who wants to come and then pull names from a hat...I will do this early next week and let the parents know who was chosen...at that point you may send in your six dollars. Thanks!
I am constantly amazed with your kids...they are hard working...and they WANT to learn...I'm a very lucky teacher.
