Tuesday Flow

1. Dance with Mr. Nunez
2. ReadyGen Lesson 2b.18   (I can make connections across texts). We spent a good majority of the time today looking back at the three texts and making connections across them.  Some of the items we discussed was how water was important to all three texts, gender roles, importance of animals and agriculture.  When the kids broke up into table work - they worked on going back to the "Northwest Coastal Peoples" text and taking down good details they wanted to use to COMPARE and CONTRAST with The Birchbark House.   They were given Venn Diagrams and were told to look at those major areas (housing, family life, village life, gender roles, food, etc) and to write down how they were ALIKE and how they were Different.  They were also told to start coming up with an opinion as to which text did a better job capturing Native American life and WHY they believed so.  As you can see we are finishing the unit and they are about to WRITE!
3. We transitioned into the class novel "The Indian in the Cupboard" (I can identify key ideas and details).  We started by having the tables talk about the GIST of chapter 12 to review.  We then had the class come up with predictions about chapter 13 based on the title ART AND ACCUSATIONS. We finally read the chapter, stopping along the way to check for understanding, explain vocabulary when needed, and to make sure that they were indeed capturing key ideas and details.  After we read we finished by summarizing the chapter and looking for 5-6 key details to sum up the section.  The students were given a comprehension sheet to work on to show that they were able to capture key ideas and details from chapters 9-12. 
4. We started math by doing a number talk using 151 - 96 as our problem of the day.  Students came to the floor and used hand signals to indicate they were thinking and when they had enough time, how many strategies they had.  Then they worked in partners to describe the way they would solve it.  I had had volunteers discuss ways they would solve it.   I put an open-ended number line up and we discussed different ways of using the number line.  One student used the number line and did a "counting up" method that involved using friendly numbers.  Another student used the traditional algorithm to solve the problem.  I showed them how to use the model to subtract using friendly numbers.   We jumped from 151 to 150 (putting a 1 above it), then from 150 to 100 (putting 50 above it), then from 100 to 96 (putting a 4 above it) and then adding the numbers 1, 50, and 4 to get 55.  We returned to our seats and started collecting the take home quiz from last night.  After collecting, we looked at the homework from the night and went over the steps.
1. If you are asked to make equivalent fractions, you simply multiply the numerator and denominator by the same number.
2. If you are asked to simplify a fraction, you make a Factor T-Chart for the numerator, another for the denominator, and then you find the GREATEST FACTOR they have in common (Greatest Common Factor).  Once you find the GCF, you simply divide the numerator and denominator by GCF to get the fraction in simplest form.
3. If you are asked to get a common denominator for two fractions, you take the first denominator and do your multiples chart.  Then you take the second denominator and start doing your multiples chart.  As soon as you have a common multiple, you stop!  This is your Least Common Multiple.  This is the number you will use for the new denominator of both fractions.  Once you have the new denominator, you look back to see what you multiplied each denominator by, and then you multiply your numerator by that same number also (remembering that to keep it equivalent (the same), whatever you do to the denominator, you must do the numerator).  
5. Our mini lesson today was about breaking down word problems to solve using the three processes mentioned above.  (I can solve word problems using fractions).  Once you were able to decide what needed to be solved, working through the problems using the concepts and strategies should be quite simple.  After modeling problem 1 and 2, students worked in tables or pairs to solve problems 3-6.
6. Lunch
7. After returning to the classroom, we shared out problems 3-6 and discussed how it wasn't that the problem were hard, but that they had so many steps it became labor intensive.  One problem they asked them to look for common fractions with fractions of 1/2, 1/5, and 1/10 and all areas between them.  Doing just that problem could have taken an entire problem.  Then the next question said, Ok, what about if we also include 1/4.  So now the had to redo all the math to find a new common denominator and redo all the problems.  It was a lot!   We ended the day by looking at homework, cleaning up, and then playing division flash card races.  

Homework:

Math: Chapter 6 Midpoint Check Up (Graded)

Reading:  The Indian in the Cupboard Chapter 9-12 Key Ideas Review (Graded)

Writing:  Finish collecting and adding to the Venn Diagram using the texts to discuss how The Birchbark House and Northwest Coast Peoples were alike and different.