Monday, December 2

Happy Monday! We earned our first class reward of extra recess!! The students only needed one more Mr. Potato Head piece and they received it for their awesome hallway behavior this morning. We will probably be celebrating one afternoon this week. In Science, we began a balance inquiry project. Students are working with algebraic thinking and science inquiry to complete this over the next few days. In Math, we moved on to the next fraction standard!

Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1/b.

     a. Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and

separating parts referring to the same whole.

     b. Decompose a fraction into a sum of fractions with the

same denominator in more than one way, recording each

decomposition by an equation. Justify decompositions, e.g., by

using a visual fraction model. Examples: 3/8 = 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 ; 

3/8 = 1/8 + 2/8 ; 2 1/8 = 1 + 1 + 1/8 = 8/8 + 8/8 + 1/8.

     c. Add and subtract mixed numbers with like denominators, e.g., by

replacing each mixed number with an equivalent fraction, and/or

by using properties of operations and the relationship between

addition and subtraction.

     d. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction

of fractions referring to the same whole and having like

denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations

to represent the problem.

Ask your child to explain what we did with pizzas to better understand this standard today. After recess, we read from Maniac Magee and worked on Jeffrey's character traits. Students are working with using details from the text to back up their thinking. In Reader's Workshop, we worked with vocabulary by completing word ladders and some read an issue of Time for Kids. In Guided Reading Groups, we worked with a fictional story and more with characters. We started researching for our persuasive letters in Writer's Workshop. I can't wait for you to read these! :) 

Ohhhhh... we got our 2 laptops today!! Yay! I am so excited at how quick they got here! Thank you again, so very much for the added resources!!