SNOWY Monday....

WHERE IS EVERYONE???

We had 9 students absent today....

9!!!  That is literally a third of the classroom.  Parents, I know safety is a concern, but I can only teach students who are at school.  Please make every effort to assure that your child is at school each and every day, on time, and ready for instruction.

Parents - It might be time to head to the school supply store and restock.  The kids are running out of paper, pencils, erasers...   RESTOCK!

We welcomed a new student today.  Eric comes to us from right down the hall and if today is any indicator, I think he fits right in to the class.  He seems to enjoy reading quite a bit, participated in all the discussions, and was eager to better his math skills.  Welcome Eric!

• 1st - Class Novel "The Indian in the Cupboard"  Chapter 12.   The focus today was looking at how the author uses just one or two words to let the reader know the tone they should get about a character or event.  
• 2nd - ReadyGen 2b.17    The focus today was I can make connections across text and I can compare and contrast key ideas across texts.  We compared all three of the texts we have been reading and then the students and I looked at the performance task they will be tackling by the end of the week.  We spent a lot of time "front-loading" the task (discussing the requirements, talking about the texts, thinking about format and time). 
• 3rd - GoMath review of 6.1 - 6.3 of fractions.  We used the Animated Math models and did stop and chat sessions as we progressed.  Groups had to then work with a fraction to show how to get 2 equivalent fractions and then to find the simplest form of the fraction.  The groups came to the front and shared.
• 4th - Cyber Bullying Assembly.
• 5th - GoMath 6.4 - Finding Common Denominators.   The I can statement for the day was I can use multiples to find common denominators.  We worked our way through the lesson and then broke into independent practice to make sure the students were able to find common denominators and use that to compare equivalent fractions.    We ended with a discussion on why multiples (LCM - least common multiple) works for common denominators and why factors (GCF - greatest common factors) works for simplest form. I want them to internalize the reasons and differences.
• 6th - Lunch
• 7th - Math Wrap Up / Number discussion.   Homework was passed out and questions were answered.  Then we read our Non-fiction science article about electricity and circuits.  After closely reading the article, clarifying any misunderstandings, the students independently answered a few knowledge and idea level questions and one integration of knowledge question.  We ended the day with about 5 minutes of DIVISION fact challenge.

Homework:

Math:  Take  Home Quiz - Finding simplest form (RT)

            Practice 6.4 - Finding common denominators (Practice Book)

Reading: Pre-writing:  How are the Native Americans in The Birchbark House and Northwest Coastal Natives "alike" and "different"