Busy, busy bees!

We have been so busy these past few days!  Here are the highlights!

We learned about division.  We learned it is equal sharing.  We shared lots of things like money, cupcakes and crayons.  We also learned about remainders.

Yesterday we had time with our buddy class with the goal of creating something and having fun together!  Our buddy class is Ms. Hudella's fifth grade.  We split into two groups and got busy working together with different materials.  It was lots of fun and we sure do love our buddies!

Creating something out of paper bags!

Using cardboard boxes to make a house!

Pattern blocks become a compound.

Building!

This afternoon we learned about mobiles with Miss Olson.  Ask your child about what they made with these materials and what they learned about balance.  Also ask them about the book she shared.

Stoplight Paragraphs

This week we have been learning about writing paragraphs.  A good paragraph has at least five sentences.  The first is the topic sentence and tells the main idea.  The next three sentences are detail sentences that are connected to the main idea.  The last sentence is the closing sentence and can be very similar to the first sentences.  It can also tell about feelings or thoughts.  To make this very clear, we used green, yellow and red to represent the sentences.  We call these Stoplight Sentences.  

We finished the week writing our own paragraph from a topic sentence that we decided on together.  Ask your child about their paragraph.

Two Digit Subtracting

We have been learning about two digit subtraction.  We are just in the beginning phases, so we are using pictures to help us.  Here are the steps:

1.  Draw a picture of the total or larger number.  Use tens and ones.  Decide if you can subtract.  Can you take 6 ones away from 2 ones?  If you can, go to step four.  If you can't, go to step two. 

2.  Break a ten into 10 ones and add it to the ones.    We say, "Get more ones, from the tens!"

3.  Make you number representation match the new picture. 

4.  Subtract the ones.

5.  Subtract the tens.  Go back and check your work.

Crayfish Experiment

Today we started our Science unit called Balance and Motion.  We started with the Crayfish Experiment.  We used the "crayfish" and clothespins to explore the idea of balance and stability.  First, we balanced the crayfish on our finger without the clothespins.  Then, we used the clothespins to balance the crayfish in different ways including on the tip of its nose!   We learned the words and concepts of balance point, stability and counterweights.  Ask your child about what worked and what didn't work in our experiment. 

Squiggle Stories

This week we have been working on writing Squiggle Stories.  This is an opportunity for students to be creative in writing a story.  They make all the decisions!

First, students will draw a picture to represent their story.  The picture starts with a squiggle.  Everyone gets the same squiggle but what they do with it is up to them.    Next, student write a story to match the picture.  We are learning about the parts of a good story including characters, setting, problem, solution etc. 

Here are a few samples from this week!

The Wizard of Oz

Today we had our first field trip!  We went to see The Wizard of Oz at the Children's Theatre in Minneapolis.  It was amazing!  The production was very true to the story and the special effects were very well done.  Everyone enjoyed it and was very entertained.  Ask your child about their favorite parts.  I think there are some future actors and actresses in our class!

Famous Faces

Today we had some special visitors come to our classroom! 

The Sixth grade is getting ready for their Famous Faces presentation on Friday afternoon.  6 students came and gave their presentation to us today.  We learned about famous people in history.  Ask your child who came to visit us! 

Thank you to the 6th grade teachers and students for sharing your hard work with us.  It was amazing! 

Stanley Lieber

Pablo Picasso

Babe Ruth

Mother Teresa

Dr. Seuss

Aaliyah