These two oiled a bunch of bike chains for unsuspecting commuters. They left personalized notes to alert the riders to the reason their ride was going to be so smooth.
Brainstorming tasks we could take on around school to build community through actioin.
Finishing up the Ft. Ross edition of the Chanterelle.
Fixing a bum cabinet door.
A really neat problem fifth graders will take home for homework on folding 3D shapes. Thanks to the NRich website.
Fixing table legs.
Science with Strawberry, who Mike is teaching this week.

Third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers have taken a deep dive into spelling practices in what we call a PLC, or professional learning community. We have read, researched, and tried numerous pedagogical strategies, websites, and apps to deepen our practice in teaching students this essential skill. Why essential, you may wonder? Communication–so students can say what they mean, mean what they say, and be proud of their work. I had a student recently try to friend me on Facebook with a charity page he created. I clicked on the page, surprised this youngster was braving the world of social media so early, and was horrified that he had typed “This is a privet page!” as the first message viewers would see when they visited his page. Suffice it to say that he will be receiving a message from his teacher later today about the difference between privacy and hedges.

What does this mean for students? It means that they know a lot of ways to study their spelling words, and it’s time for them to start having some ownership over the way that works best for them. We have a chart in our room with seven, and I want to share a few comprehensive lists in case your child asks you to help study for the quiz on Friday:

I’ll add this to our resources page, as well, but in case you’re wondering where the spelling packet went this week, there isn’t one. It’s time to introduce metacognition by having students ask themselves: What works for me? How am I going to get my brain to remember this?

Homework

Monday

Math:

  • 4th graders have a division and remainders worksheet
  • 5th graders are figuring out how many degrees are in polygons with 3,4,5,6,8,10,12, and 20 sides. They are even figuring out how many degrees each angle would measure if all were congruent. Math notebook – no download.

Reading: 20 minutes. Begin a list of challenging vocabulary in your online reader’s notebook. Try to find 3-4 words in your book and use a right click to find the definition.

Typing: practice for 20 minutes

Tuesday

Math:

  • 4th graders have options 1 and 2
  • 5th graders have a fantastically cool problem on Google Classroom (classroom.google.com) on making cube towers. They all have comments from me and should strive to improve their work from today.

Spelling: study your words in the way you best see fit.

Read: 20 minutes

Wednesday

Math:

  • 4th graders have a division packet/worksheet
  • 5th graders have a 3D folding problem. They are to draw the figures after they have figured out which two sections go together.

Write! about the kindness practice today either in your writer’s notebook or on Google Classroom. This will be a kind of ongoing reflection and brainstorming as we think of what to do next.

Read: 20 minutes

Study spelling words