Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Butterfly release

     

Five butterflies have been released, two are still in chrysalis and we have two that did not make it through metemorphasis.  Student loved seeing the butterflies fly away and expore nature for the very first time.  Our painted ladies were beautiful and we loved learning about life cycles of butterflies, plants and other insects too.  

Math problem solving


 

    




















2 digit addition games are a favorite and provide students with fun practice and an opportunity to share their thinking and check their understanding as they explain their thinking to their peers.  What is half?  This new game was a hit in the classroom.  Flip a card, draw a picture, find half, make an accurate statement about your picture.  i.e. Flip 7, student would say 3 1/2 is half of 7 or Half of 7 is 3 1/2.






























































































































































Helping puzzled penguin

    

Puzzled Penguin has been struggling with adding 2 digit numbers to 2 digit numbers.  He has learned to regroup but often times he is not sure what that means or when to do it.  Students looked at a variety of problems Puzzled Penguin completed and talked with partners to brainstorm what misconception Puzzled Penguin had about regrouping.  A few students shared their thinking with the class and taught Puzzled Penguin that adding a group of 10 above or a group of 10 below is only necessary if the sum of the ones is greater than 9.  

Math exploration

 
 
     

Students love finding the errors in Puzzled Penguin's work and sharing their thinking with their math partners.  The 100s charts are a hit, students are filling in blank 100s charts using expanded notation, tens and ones and reading the numerical words and finding the correct location on the empty charts.  Mental math has worked its way into centers this week too!  Students spin and read the number to their partner and ask them to add or subtract 10 in their head.   

Revisiting measurement and practicing money

    


We are working hard every day to weave in some practice with time, money and measurement.  These are easy skills to reinforce at home too.  Get creative and explore these concepts with your child.

Use non standard forms of measurement as well as tradiional forms of measurement:

  • How many paper clips long do you think the cereal box is?  Measure and find out.
  • How many feet is to your mailbox?  Why is it important to go heal to toe when measuring?  Who will have the greater number of feet child or adult and why?
  • How many feet is it around your house?  Is it great than or less than the steps to the mail box?

Ask your child to read both analog and digital clocks.  It the digital clock reads 4:25, ask your child to tell you where the hands would be on the analog clock and vise versa.

Hand your child change and ask them to count it.  Give them an amount and have them make that amount three ways.



Monday, May 1, 2017

Big Changes are Happening in the Life Cycle of the Butterflies















  Questions to ask your child:

-what changes have you noticed with your caterpillar since last week?
-tell me what happens to the skin of the caterpillar since it's skin does grow...
-what are the white threads in the cup?
-where do caterpillars go to prepare to get into "j shape?"