It’s Friday!

There is no homework!

Except read.  Read and get your reading log signed for tonight (Friday) AND for the weekend.

As is our custom, today we did lots of review, and took lots of quizzes.

We reviewed a bunch of math, specifically word problems and multiplication, and then took a quiz where Mr. Potter tricked the socks off the students it seems.  Ask your student about whether they got the Gustavo problem or the last problem correct.  It was definitely tricky!

In Language Arts we talked a bit more about the elements of a story, and then took a reading comprehension quiz.  From what I’ve seen from just glancing at them, they look pretty good.

We also had a short talk about the differences between they’re, their, and there.  When reading some sneakers stories the other day I noticed a few problems with this.  Students did some exercises identifying these, and also some proofreading work.

In Science we read a bit more about plants and their uses, and then (surprise!) took a quiz on that too.

Finally, we decided that we will have an electronics/game day next Friday.  Students are welcome to bring in a game to play during recess/lunch next Friday.  This is our celebration for earning our bronze paw.  We still have to decide what we are doing for our silver, and actually today we earned our gold!  This class is just too good, seriously.

so, tl;dr

read!

read!

read!

Have a good weekend!

-Mr. Potter

Today was a bit rough.

We are having some issues with calling out and talking when it is inappropriate.  We have changed our number line behavior focus to this, and we ended our day at positive four….ooof

But tomorrow is another day, and I’m confident we can become just as amazing at this as we are with our lines.

We spent a LOT of time talking about math today.  Switching to word problems has been very interesting, as we are seeing some breakdowns in understanding when students have to derive their own meaning from a problem.

After going over quite a few problems as a class, students set to work in groups on some more word problems, before we had to do our vision screening today.

Students have another page of word problems to do for homework tonight.  It is page 51 in their motivation math books.  They should NOT do page 50, as we will do those in groups tomorrow.  JUST page 51 please!

In Language Arts we did TAG with our sneakers stories, and then talked about what our purpose and audience are for our short story.  These should determine how and what we write.  We also talked about five essential elements of stories, and what these are.  We watched a great little rap about these here.

Tonight, students should fill in a paper that describes the five essential elements of their sneaker story.  We will use this to focus our writing, and make sure that we are truly telling a story instead of just throwing some sentences together.

We did an example together, of the story of the 3 little pigs:

Elements_Example

In Science we continued our discussion of what is making our plants grow in different directions.  After doing some reading, we have narrowed down the options to photo tropism, health of the plants, and strength of the stems.  We are getting a little worried about some of our plants that might be getting too big for our planters.  We might have to move them outdoors pretty soon.

Finally we started talking about what we will do for our celebrations.  We have already earned TWO celebrations from getting so many paws, and are 5 paws from our THIRD!  We didn’t finish our voting, but we narrowed down our choices to electronics/game day, marshmallow fight, or 2 days without homework.  Here’s hoping that last one doesn’t win!

ok, so tl;dr

P51 in motivation math

One piece of clean paper that describes the plot, characters, conflict, theme, and setting of their sneaker story

Also, please remember that tonight is curriculum night!  We would love to see you come out.  In case you didn’t see the letter I sent home, it is from 6-7:30pm tonight.  There is one session from 6-6:45 and another from 6:45-7:30.  It’s a good opportunity to hear about what will be happening in 5th grade, and to touch base if we haven’t had a chance to talk.  If you come out, please come up and say something to me, as I might not quite know who is who.

Have a good one, and hope to see you tonight!

-Mr. Potter

Things are right back to normal.

I came back to a very positive report from our substitute yesterday.  She said the students did an excellent job and they got a lot done.  I apologize for not having an update yesterday as by the time I was done with the meeting and setup for today, it was a tad bit too late.

Today we spent a long morning checking to see if we were robots or not.  That is to say, are we so comfortable with what we are doing with our area models and partial products and the distributive property of multiplication over addition, that we can do it smoothly and without problems?  For some of us the answer is yes, but for some others we still need some practice.

We started talking about word problems and how to apply what we have been doing, and students received their motivation math books.  These contain just tons of good word problems and exercises that we will practice with throughout the year.  Their homework tonight is to do the problems on page 49 of the workbook.  They should show their work on a separate clean sheet of paper.

In Language Arts, we read some more of the Mysterious Benedict Society, and finally learned why the book is named as such.

We also took a look at our Sneaker stories again, and started to re-write, using our best ideas.  Students should have at least a one-page story written by tomorrow using this prompt.  We will start revising these and eventually turn them into some short stories.  I think it will be very entertaining, as the students are really have a good time with the idea of giant sneakers destroying their classroom.  I am a tad worried…..

We had a ROAR assembly today, in which we went over our ROAR expectations of respect, order and safety, awesome attitude, and responsibility.  ROAREE made an appearance, and a good time was had by all.

We had little time for science, but the students have a single question tonight to answer in their science journals:

When looking at our sprouting seedlings, some of the plants seem to be growing straight up, while others are growing at angles and still others almost horizontal.

Why are some plants growing straight up, and some sideways?

Students should think about this, and make an educated guess as to why some of our plants are acting this way.  They should explain their thinking as well, so a one-sentence answer will not do.

so, tl;dr

P49 in motivation math book

one page minimum sneaker story

answer this question in science journal:

Why are some of our plants growing straight up, and others are growing sideways?

As always, read for 35 minutes and get reading log signed

Have a good one!

-Mr. Potter

Today was another day with much to do, and little time to do it.

We had quite a few students disappointed today when the seeds had not already sprouted into full-grown plants.  We talked about how they will take a few days to germinate, and that we’ll be fortunate if we start seeing sprouts sometime next week!

In math we spent some time reviewing everything we have talked about up to this point.  We did a few interesting problems using our D.P.o.M.o.A. method, including this one:

10?  * 1? = 1122

The ‘?’ are missing digits.  Can you tell what the two missing digits should be?

We then took a quiz on the things we have been working on lately, mainly multi-digit multiplication.

The students found out that Friday is very often quiz day, as we review and then take little quizzes on all of the things we have been working on.

We reviewed character traits, and then took a quiz on that!

We reviewed plants, and then took a quiz on that!

We also started some writing, using this prompt:

” Just then, a giant sneaker came crashing through the roof of the classroom……”

The students had a really good time with this one, and came up with some very interesting and entertaining ideas.  I think we’ll grab hold of this and write some short stories.  We’ll keep working on these Monday.

I had a laundry list of other things I really wanted to get done, but after some spelling inventories, we were pretty much just left with enough time to go over the weekly point totals, and make our trip to the library.

There is no homework this weekend except for the students to read nightly and get the reading log signed.  There is a spot to sign for Friday, as well as the weekend, so please make sure that both get signed.

Have a good weekend!

-Mr. Potter

Vegetables!

well, in a few weeks hopefully.

So we started off our day going over last night’s homework.  It seems while we understand the concept, we were making quite a few careless mistakes and in many cases our work was so sloppy that it impacted our answers.  As such, students tonight have the EXACT SAME ten problems to do.  These will be turned in tomorrow for a QUIZ GRADE.  This should be a very very very easy 100% .  Students should focus on precision and order in their work.

25 x 62                                          145 x 14

312 x 19                                        228 x 22

481 x 34                                        362 x 44

438 x 50                                        300 x 57

888 x 42                                         213 x 124

We also cut out our newly laminated multiplication tables that we made yesterday, and those of us that need work still on our multiplication facts worked on multiplication flash cards.

We spent a large part of the afternoon talking about plants and their different parts.  We received our science journals, and took some notes there as well.

Finally we began our class garden by planting our seeds in some starter planters.  We might have been a *tad* too excited during this, but we finally got ourselves back under control.

Tomorrow we start to talk about how we’re going to care for our precious little seeds, and what we need to do to ensure they grow up big and strong!

Our homework tonight in language arts/science is page 146 in their motivation reading.  It is a short selection that has to do with (surprise!) plants!  There are four questions that go along with the selection.  As always students should write a sentence that explains their answer for each question.

so, tl;dr

same 10 problems from yesterday!

25 x 62                                          145 x 14

312 x 19                                        228 x 22

481 x 34                                        362 x 44

438 x 50                                        300 x 57

888 x 42                                         213 x 124

Page 146 in motivation reading.

Have a good one!

-Mr. Potter

There’s not enough time in the day!

So today we didn’t even GET to science, we were so wrapped up in other stuff.  We might start our day with science tomorrow to make sure we get to it.

In Math, we moved on to our next step: multiplying some two and three digit numbers.  We continued to use our visual aids and the D.P.o.M.o.A.  After doing this together a few times, it seems like the majority of the class is grasping these concepts quite well.

Tonight the students have 10 (TEN!) problems to do.  As always we have done one together, and the example is right here:

Aug6Example

The problems to be done are:

25 x 62                                          145 x 14

312 x 19                                        228 x 22

481 x 34                                        362 x 44

438 x 50                                        300 x 57

888 x 42                                         213 x 124

These should be answered in the same fashion as the example.

We also made multiplication charts together.  We have quite a few students who still need a good deal of work on math facts.  Because of this, many students will be focusing on those in math centers starting next week.

In language Arts, we spent a good amount of time going over our answers for our selection on the Arctic Tundra.  We spent most of that time focused on our reasoning for those answers.  Please note that whenever we have these kinds of assignments in Language Arts, every multiple choice answer must be accompanied by at minimum a one sentence explanation for their choice.  Some of us learned that “because that’s the answer” is not quite the level of reasoning that we are looking for……

Tonight, the students should do pages 143 and 144 in their motivation reading book.  These are some short response questions to the Arctic Tundra selection.

We finished up our day with some DEAR time, as we had skipped that the last two days.

There really needs to be a few more hours in the day.  Or at least at school.  Make sure you send your congressman/woman a letter about that one please.

so, tl;dr

10 math problems

25 x 62                                          145 x 14

312 x 19                                        228 x 22

481 x 34                                        362 x 44

438 x 50                                        300 x 57

888 x 42                                         213 x 124

example:

Pages 143-144 in the motivation reading book

As always, 35 minutes of reading.  Please sign the reading log, and not the agenda.

Have a good one!

-Mr. Potter

And the honeymoon is over!

Today we had a very full day.  We also had to go back and revisit some expectations, especially in regards to talking out and following directions.

In the morning, we did a TON of practicing multiplying using the distributive property of multiplication over addition.  We eventually moved on to using this to multiply numbers with three digits.  The students have five problems to do tonight using this method.  We did one of the problems in class:

145 x 6

273 x 2

263 x 4

1142 x 5

324 x 4

example:

Aug5Example

We then did a lot of work in the computer lab with science, talking about what we will need to start our class garden.  We did some research on what plants need to grow, and talked about what we will need to start our garden.

The students watched this quick video, which has a fabulous scene involving cows, which they loved….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwwlm3CrRjY

We then finished up our day with a quick revisit of our reading selection on the arctic tundra.  Students worked for a bit in groups trying to answer the last five comprehension questions, and their homework tonight is to finish these questions.  They must not only give a letter answer, but must write a sentence explaining/proving their answer using evidence from the text.

so, tl;dr

5 math problems, done using the distributive property of multiplication over addition:

145 x 6

273 x 2

263 x 4

1142 x 5

324 x 4

Example question 324 x 4: Aug5Example

Five questions on page 142 of their motivation reading, having to do with the arctic tundra.

Have a good one!

-Mr. Potter

Today students have a good bit of work to do at home…

IF they didn’t take advantage of their time wisely on Friday and today.

First, we talked at great length today about the Distributive Property of Multiplication over Addition.  Understanding this property is so unbelievably important to understanding how the multiplication algorithm works, and eventually to understanding things in algebra.  For these reasons, we will be harping on this for a while yet.  If you’ve forgotten, it’s the property that states:

7 x (4 + 4) = (7 x 4) + (7 x 4)

So we did quite a few examples using this, and talking about how it will make multiplication of larger numbers much easier/understandable for us.

The students have a page of these problems to do.  We did many examples in class today that they should have also brought home that should make their homework a snap.

DPoMoA_Worksheet

In Language Arts, we read a short story about the Arctic Tundra, and also talked some about how our Science Unit this quarter will be on Animals and Ecosystems.  Students answered some difficult comprehension questions in their groups, and practiced using evidence from the text to support their answers.  I was very impressed with how well they worked together, going so far as to take turns presenting evidence and opinions in some groups.

In Language Arts, students have their short story summary that they started last Friday, as well as their Antonym Story to finish.  They were given a good amount of time Friday to work on these, so I don’t expect it to be too big of an issue.

Fix_the_Story_with_Antonyms

In science, students have a short passage about fungi to read and answer some questions.

Gr5_Wk15_Fungi_are_Alive

We then went into the computer lab, and spent some time logged into the website, learning about the posting system and messageboard.  We unfortunately did not have time to go over everything we needed to before we had to leave for specials, so we will be going again tomorrow if we can squeeze in the time, and I will be sending home more information tomorrow.

so, tl;dr

one math worksheet using the distributive property of multiplication over addition

DPoMoA_Worksheet

one summary of a short book they picked out

antonym story sheet finished

Fix_the_Story_with_Antonyms

fungi reading done, and questions answered

Gr5_Wk15_Fungi_are_Alive

If they used their time wisely Friday and today, it shouldn’t take more than 20-30 minutes.

And as always, students should read and get a signature!

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

There is no homework!

Well, except to read for 35 minutes each night (Fri,Sat,Sun) and get a signature for that.

This morning we took our STAR test, which gives me an idea of the lexile level of the students.

We then learned a bit about the computer, some windows shortcuts, and about using tabs and such in google chrome.  On Monday we will spend some more time in the computer lab learning about this website and other essential things.

We had some early D.E.A.R. time, and read a bit more of the Mysterious Benedict Society.

We then took some short books, and practiced writing summaries for them, to help us when we are taking AR tests.

We also worked on some reading comprehension passages, and started re-writing a backwards story full of antonyms.

In math we took another assessment, this time focusing on fractions.  I also started administering the Number Knowledge Test to a few students.  These assessments will give me a very solid idea of where students are, and where they need to go to progress in their understanding of numbers, operations, and fractions.

We wrapped up our day with a quick check out at the library, so students should definitely have books to read this weekend!

so, tldr;

read for 35 minutes a night, and get a signature for that.

Enjoy your weekend!

-Mr. Potter

Another day, another 6 paws.

Our students are really knocking it out of the park this first week.  We have done so well with our lines and our hallway behavior that we have gotten five extra minutes of recess each day so far this week, and are already up to 20 paws on our lion.  It’s unreal.

We spent our morning again reviewing how our classroom should look and act, and then talked a great deal about character traits.  We split our character traits up into categories (negative, positive, and neutral) and had some really great discussions about how we might view some traits as good in some situations and bad in others.  The students really got into debating this among themselves and with me.

Next we took some time to write a short story about an event in our life that we thought was very special, or interesting.  We then talked about how we can expand on this story to add details, and answer questions that our readers might have.  We split into pairs, and did TAG:

Tell something you liked

Ask a question

Give a suggestion

Students wrote down what their TAG partner said, and their homework tonight is to re-write their story using the suggestions and questions from their partner.

In math, we talked again about base 10, and did a lot of work describing numbers in many different ways.  We took a good amount of notes on this, which can be found here:

BaseTenPDF

Students also have a worksheet on this to complete tonight:

Base10Sheet1

Finally while I did some last MClass and other assessments, the students had what I like to call D.E.A.R. time:  Drop Everything and Read time.

So tldr;

Re-write short story from writing today using the suggestions and questions their partner gave them (TAG)

Base 10 worksheet

Base10Sheet1

As always, read for 35 minutes and get a signature

Have a good one!

-Mr. Potter