Subtraction

Today we started learning about two digit subtraction.  We will be practicing this concept, so if your child doesn't understand it now, don't worry.  We will work on it again, and again, and again.

One thing students need to know is when you need to make a trade or borrow.  Here is a little poem we used to help know when we need to trade.

Then, it was lots and lots of practice.  We drew out the base ten blocks of the top number in pencil, then showed our trade in blue colored pencil.  Next, we made our equation match our picture.  Last, we subtracted with our new equation.

If this is not solid yet for your student please know we will work on it.  If your student has another strategy, please know they can use that as long as they can show understanding.

Subnivean

Today in Library Ms. Zbacnik taught us about a little known part of our winter environment.  It's the Subnivean or the layers and layers of earth and activity beneath the snow.  She talked to us about all of the things that could be happening under our feet.  It was amazing! 

She read us the book  Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner.  The entire book was about all the activities that happen above the snow and all of the activities that are happening in the subnivean.  We had to look carefully at the illustrations to find out what animals do in the winter.  Ask your child about what they learned.  She showed us a really cool video clip about the red fox.  You can watch it here.  Thank you Ms. Zbacnik for introducing us to this book and concept!  We loved it!

High Five

Here are the top five  events of our day:

5.  We listened to and read Greetings from Route 66 which is a part of our Literacy curriculum.  It is a perfect fit for our class right now because we are studying geography of the United States.

4.  We had our Geometry test.  It has been lots of fun learning about polygons, lines and 3-D shapes!

3.  As a part of our geography study we read Wow! America!  Ask your child what landmarks we learned about.

2.  We started writing our personal narratives.  We are very excited to write about ourselves! 

1.  We continued reading the first book in the Mercy Watson series.  We love Mercy!  She is so hilarious!

Today

We had a busy and fun day!

In math, we talked about polygons and two dimensional shapes.  We read  The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns.  Ask your child what it was about.  We also watched a video.  You can get to the link here.  It is a fun way to see the polygons in action!

We continued our work in geography by doing two activities related to the Earth and our continent, North America. 

This afternoon we worked on an art project related to colors and geometry.  First, we talked about warm and cool colors.  Then, students picked three colors to use from either family.  They also picked a geometric shape paper to color.  They had to use three colors, but none of them could touch each other as they colored.  It was a bit hard and really took some thinking. 

Geography, Georgia and Geometry!

Yesterday we read this book to start our geography unit.

We finished this book today to help define important geography terms.

In Library we learned about the famous artist Georgia O'Keeffe.  Ask your child about the story.  It is a part of the Star of the North Book Award.  We are reading 10 books with Ms. Zbacnik and will vote on our favorite later this year.

This afternoon we visited Ms. Kath and used her Zome tools to learn more about geometry and 3 dimensional shapes.  It was lots of fun!  We sure have enjoyed learning from the different teachers this week!

Geometry Fun!

This week we are switching classrooms to learn special lessons related to our geometry unit. 

Yesterday we went to Mrs. Hinderer's room to learn about symmetry.  We made special creations to show a line of symmetry with a shape.

Today we visited with Miss Olson to learn more about 3 dimensional shapes.  We used marshmallows and toothpicks to make shapes.  We also cut out a pyramid.  Ask your child what they learned!

Duniya Drum and Dance

Today we had a very special assembly.  Duniya Drum and Dance performed for us and shared music and drumming from Guinea, West Africa.

We learned about the two types of drums and the sounds made by positioning your hand in different ways. 

Some students were invited up to play a real drum.  We all had a chance to learn and practice the rhythms and drumming patterns.

At the end, the entire audience learned a dance sequence and performed it all together.  It was a fantastic assembly!