January seems to have disappeared on us. Room 41 has had a great start to 2018!
Some highlights from our month include the Winnipeg symphony visit, indoor recess, outdoor recess, Learn to Skate for the grade 3 students and lots of great learning.
Literature Circles
Students have been busy in literature circles this month. Literature circles are our new book clubs. During literature circles students have a chance to choose their book from a selection of book sets that I put out. They meet throughout the week to discuss the book with their literature circle group. Also during their reading time they record summaries about what is happening and their thinking about the book. Students are able to read at their own pace and switch books when they are ready.
Math
In math we have been working on a variety of problem solving skills. Students have been working on identifying the important information in a math problem. They have also been focusing on looking at what the question is asking them to find out. Students are given time to talk about the problem and possible solutions before trying to solve the problem independently. Students have also been exploring different ways to show how they figured out the problems in an organized way through tables & lists. Some of the problems that we have been working on take time to solve and may require a few different tries. We have been discussing how we can learn from our errors and try different strategies.
In math stations we have been exploring number and specifically subtraction and addition.
In mental math we have been working on subtracting 10 and talking about the greedy 9 strategy. For example, if you have an equation like 16-9 think 16-10 +1.
We have been learning about multiplication and division. We have been learning about when to apply multiplication and division through problem solving
Writing
In writing we have been working on reading like writers. Students have been searching for what great writers do while reading and are encouraged to apply it to their own writing. We have been looking at great hooks or lead sentences to pull in the reader. We learned that EB White wrote different lead sentences to Charlottes Webb before it was published. Students have begun to try and apply different ways to start their writing.
Art
In art we learned about Vincent Van Gogh. As we studied his artwork we learned about one point perspective. We created rooms just like Vincent using perspective and oil pastels.
Theme Studies
Students finished off sharing their traditions wi5 their classmates through the making of a class graphic novel. They also studied how others celebrate different traditions. In Theme Studies we began learning about homes around the world. We will be exploring what does a home mean to us. We read a very powerful book called Stepping Stones as we learned about refugees. We will be looking at how homes around the world are the same and different and are a basic human right. Students will be exploring the continent of Africa in our up and coming study.
