Word Sort -- Week of 2/27

This week's word sort words involve r-influenced o in accented syllables.

1st
morning
shorter
order
forest
corner
normal
forty
northern
border
corncob
chorus
florist
stormy

2nd
before
record
perform
ashore
report
explore
ignore
adore
inform

oddball
sorry
reward

Explore the Human Body

How do I spend my Saturday morning free time?  Surfing the net looking for great websites about the human body for our class! I wanted to share this fantastic website that I think the students will love looking at during their free time.  While I think the students will enjoy exploring the entire website, I hope they will take special time to explore the "Human Biology" section. Once on the website, you'll find the link on the left sidebar.

The Nervous System

Our exploration of the human body has led us to our final body system. The nervous system includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. We have started to talk about the various parts of the brain including the cerebrum and its left and right hemispheres, the cerebellum, the medulla or brain stem, the pituitary gland, and the hypothalamus. On Monday we will make models of the brain out of playdough. We will also spend time learning about the neurons and synapses. The class has many fun learning activities ahead of them in the coming weeks as we explore the nervous system and sensory organs.

Thomas Hutchinson

Ask your student about our distinguished guest on Friday afternoon. Thomas Hutchinson, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, came to talk with us, the colonial Bostonians, about the new British laws taxing the colonists.  Governor Hutchinson met a crowd which is very displeased with these new taxes! He assured us that it is his job to enforce the British laws and ensure that the colonists pay the new taxes.

What will happen next.....?

Fraction Cards and Decimal Squares

Improper fractions, mixed numbers, reduced terms, and denominators....oh my! We are in the midst of our unit on fractions and decimals. I trust that your student delivered the parent letters about this unit.

Here are the big topics that we have focused on thus far:

• Finding fractional parts of a whole
• Adding and subtracting fractions
• Comparing and ordering fractions
• Understanding proper and improper fractions
• Understanding mixed numbers
• Reducing fractions to lowest terms

Division Facts

As you are aware, we are working to improve our recall of division facts. We took our first timed test on Tuesday to let the students have a benchmark of where they were with time and accuracy of 50-problems before they began to practice. After we took our second timed test today, there were big smiles and even cheers from around the room as they marveled at their improvement in 4 short days. A little practice goes a long way! I wanted to share two sites that I found that students can use to practice. Let me know if your student has other favorite sites and I'll share them with the group.

http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/ttdiv.html

http://hoodamath.com/games/mathtimedtests.php

Gearing up for Literature Circles

We will spend the next several weeks getting the students prepared for literature circles. If we put them in a book club at this point and turned them loose, some good conversations would come. However, with the mini-lessons and activities that we will do in the weeks leading up to our literature circles, the students will be well-equipped to have meaningful conversations. We will study about the social skills necessary for effective small-group discussions, the cognitive strategies that help readers understand texts, and the literary sense that smart readers use to examine and appreciate what they read.

This week we have been focusing on asking thoughtful questions about our texts. I read aloud to the class a Japanese folktale from the Junior Great Books collection called "The Magic Listening Cap." We came up with bad questions that are off-topic, have a simple answer, have a yes or no answer, and are about factual information. Next, we worked to write thought-provoking questions that are analytical, have you looking back in the text, make everyone want to share their ideas, and really make you think. Ask your student about this story! As they are reading independently they are writing their "good" questions on sticky notes.