November 13, 2013

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. We are back into the swing of things once again! Here's a short update.

Math: Congratulations to our top five competitors in the Sumdog Math Challenge (based on the number of correct answers):

Josh, Shem, Chanel, Adam, and Brody

2A & 2B ranked 37 out of 94 schools across Canada. Considering there were just thirty-one of us participating against entire elementary schools, this is a feat worth celebrating!

Playing a math game with a deck of cards and a dry erase marker.

The alligator always eats the larger number!

We also learned about "less than" and "greater than". One of the games we played at school can also be played at home. All you need is a deck of cards and a piece of paper. To build a two-digit number, flip over two cards and line them up next to each other. Then, build a second two-digit number by taking two more cards and placing them beside the first two. Which two-digit number is greater? Write the equation on a piece of paper. Remember, the alligator's mouth always faces the bigger number! For example: 64 > 26.

Those of you with older children who were previously in my class might recognize that you are seeing less worksheets coming home than you are used to seeing. This is, in part, because we are trying to conserve paper by using plastic pockets with dry erase markers, and also, in part, because we are playing more math games to reinforce skills. This allows for differentiation for students at varying levels of ability.

Please Note: I have updated the page for Mrs. Andersen's Math to include some information about our upcoming unit - Addition and Subtraction to 18. If your child is wondering where all of his or her favourite games went, please help him or her to scroll down the page.

Langauge Arts: We wrote a story extension to the book, "Where the Wild Things Are" and rehearsed a readers' theatre play about ocean animals.

Home Reading Update: Thank you for continuing to read "good fit books" with your children for fifteen minutes each evening. Students who are reading at grade level are on levels J-P for Raz-Kids and can read 60-90 words per minute with 95% accuracy. We call this stage "Early Fluent Readers." If your child is not yet at this stage, we will discuss some at-home strategies at the upcoming parent-teacher conferences.

Some of you are probably wondering how your child will learn to read better if he or she already knows most of the words in the books he or she is bringing home. Please remember that reading is not just about word fluency but also about comprehension. If a child is struggling to decode the words on the page, she or he will quickly lose sight of the meaning. When a student can decode most of the words, she/he is able to focus on the meaning of the text. Here's how you can help build comprehension skills at home:

Ask your child questions about the book and connect the events to his own life.

Help your child make connections between what he reads and similar experiences he has seen in a movie or read in another book.

Teach him to continually ask himself whether he understands what he's reading.

Help your child go back to the text to support his answers.

Discuss the meaning of unknown words.

Read material in short sections and check to make sure your child understands.

Discuss what your child has learned from informational texts, such as science books.

Theme: We completed a WebQuest in the Learning Commons. Students searched for specific information about the FRAMB animals, using the Sheppard Software website. In the classroom, we wrapped up our study of sea animals by learning a song about sea stars, labeling a diagram of a fish, drawing the life cycle of a salmon, and comparing and contrasting fish to human beings. This week, we will continue to look at animal classification, before delving into our study of mammals.

I apologize for the lack of photos this week. I had an iPad malfunction (the charger overheated and caught on fire while plugged into the iPad). To make a sad story short, I lost my iPad and, therefore, all of my photos and video.