Our work with addition and subtraction in math extended to measurement and adding up different lengths. Temescalians were tasked with finding items in the classroom that were a specific length in centimeters. They could only look for items that had straight edges. As Temescalians began adding the lengths together, they were applying the addition strategies we reviewed last week. While it may be easier to go to counting on, we are encouraging Temescalians to work up to “friendly numbers” like groups of 10 or 5 and begin breaking numbers up in different ways.
Part of our warmups have been to skip count by 10s. A twist to this is to start at different numbers such as 8 and skip count on. Or skip count by 10s starting at 17. By starting at a point other than 0, Temescalians started noticing that the groups of tens went up while the ones stayed the same.”The ones place is always 8 and the tens place is going up by ones.” Conversations such as these slowly build up number sense and understanding of how numbers related to one another.
When we played “Sparkle” with multiples of 9, we first noticed patterns.
“The numbers are flipped.”
“The ones place goes down while the tens place goes up.”
“When you add them together, they equal to 9.”
We also are trying to help Temescalians understand that the = sign is an indicator of balance. To support this thinking, we present number sentences that have the sum at the beginning as well as at the end. For example, 12 = 7 + 5 as well as 7 + 5 = 12. We hope that seeing this more will help build the fluidity and number sense that the = sign is just an indicator of balance. Playing games such as “Blast Off To Space”, “Carrot Grab”, and using the rekenreks aid the Temescalians with building up their number sense. Look for these games in a metal mesh organizer on the shelf under the ELMO board to play at our next Family Reading Friday.
Many of the grownups saw the “Cloud in a Jar” demonstration at Back to School Night last week and we finished up our work with this by having the kids record their thinking with drawings, labeling, and words. Drawing models often help learners share their thinking. It can act as a talking point for them once they’ve organized their thinking in drawings. It can also be a talking point for others to have a discussion. We can ask what/when/where by looking at others’ models and together, we can begin a dialog to build meaning.
Temescalians also finished up their drawings of clouds in a room. This visualization was such striking image. We hope that this phenomena will stick with the Temescalians and they will remember not only the image and event of a cloud in a room, but remember why it is possible to form a cloud in a room.
The writers in Temescal Creek began mind maps to start brainstorming about a summer moment. Our goal is for Temescalians to zoom in and expand on a moment and flesh it out with details and description so that the reader can experience the moment as the writer did. Temescalians used their family photos and summer mementos to help them in this brain storming process and they seemed very excited to share about their ideas. We also launched “Rocket Write”. This is a writing practice where writers are tasked to write non-stop for a short amount of time, and then are given a choice to continue writing or illustrate for a shorter period of time. Since we just started, writers are asked to write for 5 minutes and then either continue to write or illustrate for 3 minutes. This group of Temescalians were so excited to write and share about their weekend. We have noticed that when writers draw on an experience, it is very easy to access the 5 senses of the moment and incorporate those details into their writing as well.
We start still learning the foundational strokes for cursive writing, and we remind the Temescalians that it is all about aim. If you visualize where you want your pencil to end up, it will help you actually create that stroke!
In Reading workshop, we introduced how Temescalians are expected to partner read. We expect them to read knee to knee, and support one another as they read aloud to each other. It is common to get stuck on a word, but we introduced the ideas of “Coaching” or “Time” so that the reader can get the support that s/he would like to successfully decode and read aloud. When asked to “coach”, the partner reader gives suggestions on how to decode the word. Perhaps cover up parts of the word so that the reader may break up the word into smaller parts. Perhaps the partner could point out a part of the word that may already seem familiar. This way, the reader can immediately apply the strategy and feel successful as s/he comes across new words. If “time” is asked for, the partner needs to practice patience while the reader gives it a go on her/his own. We hope that this foundation allows our community of readers to support one another without taking opportunities to decode away from one another.
Building on our understanding of what is happening with the hurricanes along the Atlantic Ocean, we brushed up on types of landforms and how water essentially determines what type of landform it is. We used a model to demonstrate this. We poured water onto the model and noted what was happening to the land. “The water is all going downhill.” “The hill is turning into an island!” “The lake at the top is staying the same.” We posed questions as we poured more water on the model: What do you notice about the topography of the land under the water? Are there still hills, mountains, and valleys under the water? Where would you build a house if you knew that the water level would be at a certain level? We demonstrated a storm surge and asked if kids would change their minds about where they would build their homes. Some would, some wouldn’t, depending on where they initially “built” their homes. This is just the beginning of our conversation about where homes are built and the impact they have on the environment, and vice versa.
For our Super Science Fridays and Art, we joined forces with Julianne to learn more about hurricanes. Julianne showed a visualization of the hurricanes in the Atlantic. In our conversations, we noted that the hurricanes reminded us of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, and reminded Julianne of marbleized paper.
As she led a group in that activity, we did another demonstration using the same model, but with a focus on the function of a wetland. We did so by using colored water, dirt on the model, and sponges to simulate the wetlands. Temescalians noticed: “The dirt is flowing out to the ocean.” “Well, not if it’s stuck by the wetlands.” “Water is going through, between the wetlands, but not so much by the wetlands.” Pushing the Temescalians to further thought, we asked them what they thought the wetlands did. “It looks like it filters the dirt from the water.” “Does it catch all of the trash so that it doesn’t go into the ocean?” Going back to the point about catching dirt, we asked Temescalians to think about why it is important for dirt to stay on land and what needs dirt. “Plants need dirt. If we don’t have dirt, we don’t have plants. If we don’t have plants, we can’t live.”
With that thought in mind, we tasked the Temescalians to partner read more about wetlands and how they help control floods. The Temescalians employed the partner reading routines that we introduced earlier the week with much success.
Before the close to the week, we practiced mindfulness. It is the practice of noticing. We explained that it’s the practice of noticing so that we can get our needs met and when we are in the habit of mindfulness, we can more readily notice our Zones of Regulation and respond instead of react. If, for example, we notice that we are grouchy, we can practice mindfulness and just breathe and notice what is going on in our bodies. At that moment, we may note that we are hungry. With that knowledge, we can go and solve that problem and get back on track to the green zone. Sometimes it’s as little as taking 3 deep breaths to give us the separation to respond instead of reacting. There are many ways to practice mindfulness, but we employed mindful eating. The apples in the playscape behind Sweet Briar Creek were ripe so we asked if we could have a few to share with the Temescalians. We used our 5 senses and shared our observations before finally enjoying the apples. For smell, Temescalians noted, “It smells green.” “It smells like grass.” For sound, “I sounds rubbery when I rub the skin.” “The white part sounds crunchy when I run my fingernail across it.” For taste, “It’s sour! It tastes like a green apple.” “It’s making me have saliva on the sides of my tongue.” “It’s sweet and sour at the same time.”
Family Reading on Fridays! We mentioned at Back to School Night that we wanted to have Family Reading on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month, but the actual dates turned out to be only once a month for a majority of the school year. Stay tuned, and keep checking the sidebar on the right for dates of Family Reading! Either way, it’s a lovely time for family members to come in and see what we are doing in the space of the classroom and perhaps read or play math games with the kids!
Some other views of Temescalians at play:
Friday Folders: We sent the Friday Folders home for the first time this week. In it, on the right pocket, there is a weekly reflection and 1-2 sheets of paper. Please write an encouraging note back to your Temescalian and return all 3 sheets back to us on Monday. These weekly reflections and sheets will be filed away in each Temescalian’s portfolio. These white binders live in the shelf behind the calendar and you are welcome to peruse it when we have Family Reading Fridays as well! As the year progresses, it will be a record of things that we worked on, as well as goals and events that were important to your Temescalian.
Scholastic Book Club Orders: Our class code is: FMQ8F. Due 10/10/17
We also sent home Scholastic Book Orders in the Friday Folders. We may send these out periodically. If you decide to order online, there are actually a number of other catalogs that you may also look through with your child. (This is the link to the Scholastic Book Clubs) We ask that if you order using the hardcopy catalog, write checks directly to Scholastic Book Clubs. We will submit those orders and they should arrive towards the end of October.
Thank you for the donations to our Makers Nook! We hope to use the items soon!
We look forward to seeing you on Monday!
