I have a fairly important announcement to make.  Please see the bottom of the post for more information.

Today we were focused on our projects.  For the rest of this week and the beginning of next this will be the majority of our days.

In science we are continuing to research biomes.  I am constantly reminding students to use this time wisely to get as much information as possible read and written down in their own words.  The better their research is done, the easier the rest of the project will be.  We talked especially about how they will need to research specific animals to figure out who eats whom in their biome.  This will make it possible to create a food web.

We also finally got a chance to measure our plants today during a lull in the rain.  We had quite a bit of new growth and seeds that have sprouted.  Rain isn’t all bad!

In Writing we continued to work on our Bad Road for Cats version 2.  Today we shared our ideas with the class.  Many students have some REALLY neat ideas, and I’m looking forward to reading their stories.  Some students created characters that were non-human, and I like how they are adjusting their story to deal with that.

Tonight students should continue to do at least *some* writing.  I expect the rough draft to be multiple pages written.  Students should also write double spaced.  This is so we have space for a  good deal of revising.

Students should also finish their last two words of the vocab list tonight.

wordlistject

In math we continued to play the banker and boss game and talk about a standard way to divide something.  Tomorrow we will work together to come up with a standard algorithm for division.

Thank you so much to all of the parents that were able to do the math homework with the students last night.  Many students today were very happy to talk about doing their work with their parents.  I know it’s extra work to ask of you, but the kids really like sharing with you what they are learning in class.  Tonight I would like you to please attempt two more problems with your student.  I would also like for students to attempt to do the problem using long division, and think of parallels between the two.

mathhomeworksep21

so, tl;dr

Biome research at home if you would like.  You should have plenty of time to get this done at school, however

Get some writing started of your A Bad Road For Cats Version 2

Finish the vocab squares for this week’s list

wordlistject

Do some more banker boss and attempt the standard algorithm for long division.  Do you see what’s going on?

mathhomeworksep21

and read!

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Announcement:  Unfortunately I will be transferring schools at the beginning of the second quarter.  I sent home a letter today addressing this.  Please read this letter, and if you have any questions or anything you would like to discuss, contact me.  I am attaching the letter here as well:

letterhome

Monday! I love Mondays!

Unfortunately, this Monday I have a meeting I have to go to, so this will be very quick.  My apologies!

In math we are working on the idea that when we are multiplying by fractions, we are actually doing quite a bit of dividing.  This is because fractions themselves are all about dividing.  Something like 1/3 x 9 asks us to take 1/3 of 9.  This means we have to DIVIDE 9 into 3 equal parts, and take one of them.

We are using this understanding to help us realize that multiplication and division are the inverse of each other, and we can really change any division problem into a multiplication problem, and any multiplication problem into a division problem.

Tonight students have 3 division….or was it multiplication? problems to do.  They should write out how each of these problems could be a division problem OR it could be a multiplication problem, and solve.  As always we have some examples!

divisionormultsep19

We also got a new vocabulary list with -ject words.

Tonight students should do vocab squares for the first 4 words:

wordlistject

This week we’ll take a really close look at A Bad Road for Cats.  We will start by addressing this prompt in our reader’s response journals:

The main character Magda in “A Bad Road for Cats” seems to change from the beginning of the story to the end.  Explain how she seems to have changed.  Use evidence from the text to support your explanation.

bad_road_for_cats_take_a_stand_14-15

So some division/multiplication problems, 4 vocab squares, a reader’s response, and a reading log.

That’s not too much I don’t think.

Sorry for the quick post today,

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Jeez how is it already Thursday?

We had an extremely involved conversation this morning about how to prove that 6/8 is equal to .75

One of our problems this morning gave us two answers depending upon how we did it.  One came up 6/8 and the other came up .75

So we took our our play money and found 6/8 of 1.  We already know that .75 of 1 would be .75 of course, so if 6/8 of 1 was equal to .75, it would indeed be equivalent.

6/8 of 1 means we take our one and break it into 8 equal groups, and then we take 6 of those.  When we broke our one down into 8 equal groups, we found each group to be equal to .125

We then added that up 6 times, and we figured out that 6/8 is indeed equal to .75

Tonight students have a few more multiplication with fractions problems to do.  They should have many pages of examples at this point in their journals.

multfracsep15

In Language Arts we read a really neat story called A Bad Road for Cats.  This story is a good example of how a character can change throughout a story.  We had some great conversations about character traits and how we can use evidence from the text to help explain our thinking.  We managed to make a good chart using evidence from the text to describe Magda, the main character.

charactermagda

Tonight students should re-read this story, and fill in a story map detailing the story elements:

bad_road_for_cats_take_a_stand_14-15

StoryElements

In science we talked briefly about biomes and an upcoming project we have where we will build a travel brochure inviting people to visit a specific biome.  Tonight students have some reading in their science textbook to do, and some questions to answer.  They should read pages B60 – B84 in their science textbook.  Then on a separate piece of paper, they should answer questions 1-6 on page B86, and questions 16-21 on page B87.

so, tl;dr

Use your math manipulatives to do some fraction multiplication problems:

multfracsep15

Read story and fill out story map

bad_road_for_cats_take_a_stand_14-15

StoryElements

Read B60-B84 in science textbook.  Answer questions 1-6 on page B86 and questions 16-21 on page B87.

And read! I told students the science reading can count as part of their reading log tonight.

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

We got so much done today!

This week has been absolutely fantastic.  The students have been working diligently, we have a vast majority of students getting their homework done, and we are following directions and exhibiting some good ROAR behavior.  We have gotten 3 paws in every special so far this week.

This morning we had a VERY long talk about what multiplying fractions actually means.  I am happy to report that many students are starting to get this, and I’m feeling quite encouraged.

Tonight students have 4 more problems to do.  As always the examples/notes we took today are attached, but students should have these in their math journals as well.

multfracsep14

In Language Arts we finally had a chance to talk a bit about the characters we had created.  We talked about how different characters would react to different situations.  In The Mysterious Benedict Society, Reynie would react differently to being teased than, say, Kate would.

Tonight students should take their character, and put them in one of the following situations. Write a short story about how they react to the situation.
They find $20 on the way home – what do they do with it?
They stub their toe – how do they react?
Their grandma gives them a really bad birthday present – what do they do/say?
Another person calls them a name – how do they react?
They get teased on the playground – what do they do?
They forget their homework – what do they tell the teacher?

Different characters would definitely react differently in these situations.  Try to put yourself in your character’s shoes, and think about what they would do or say.

In Social Studies we talked some about Christopher Columbus and Ponce De Leon.  What is Christopher Columbus famous for?  If you said discovering America, that would be incorrect!  It was actually Ponce De Leon who was first to land on America.  Tonight students have a short reading on Ponce De Leon and some questions to answer.

ponce-de-leon

In Science we talked a bit about herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.  Sometimes vocabulary can be an issue with science, so we are going to make sure we get a good list of vocabulary in our science journal to help facilitate our understanding of animals and ecosystems and how they interact.

Finally we went outside and measured our plants.  I’m hoping we start seeing our new seedlings by next week.

so, tl;dr

Math problems involving multiplying fractions.  What is really going on in each problem?

multfracsep14

Write a short story using your character (put them in one of the situations listed above)

*Also finish your last two vocab squares*

Read about Ponce De Leon and answer some questions

ponce-de-leon

and as always, read!

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday!

Ok…multiplying fractions.  This is proving to be quite challenging for students.  That’s ok.  We’re running into some issues because some students are still rocky on what fractions actually are.  A fraction like 1/2 describes ONE piece of something that has been split into TWO equal parts.   3/4 describes THREE pieces of something that has been divided into FOUR equal parts.

Again, we are very interested in CONCEPTS here.  What exactly does multiplying by a fraction MEAN?  Oftentimes the ‘x’ symbol means “of”.  For example, 2 x 3 can mean 2 group OF 3.  So something like 1/2 x 3 can means 1/2 OF 3.

Tonight students have some more fraction multiplication problems to do.  They may pick just one way to do each problem.  For example if they have something like 3 x 1/2, they may either do 3 OF 1/2  or they may do 1/2 OF 3.  They should be careful though…usually one way is much easier than the other.  Students who are still having some difficulty with this concept should definitely continue to try both ways.

After these problems they have a question (really 4 questions) to respond to.  I expect a well thought out response here.  Not one sentence, and probably something involving some pictures explaining their thinking.

multfracandresponsesep13

In Social studies today we read some more about explorers and talked about what life was like for sailors on the ships making those extremely long voyages.  The students learned that being a sailor during these times was not glamorous or adventurous so much as it was dirty and dangerous.  Ask the students if they remember what scurvy was, or what sailors often ate.

Tonight students have some reading to do.  They should use this reading to help them label the parts of a Spanish Galleon.

labelingspanishgalleon

We then read a whole bunch of the Mysterious Benedict Society.  This book is so great.  The kids are getting ready to travel to the mysterious Nomansan Island where they will spy on Ledroptha Curtain and figure out why he is sending these subliminal messages all across the globe.

Tonight students should do vocabulary squares for the next 4 words on their -dict list.

vocablistdict

In science we started talking about ecosystems and biomes and somehow ended up talking about our gut biomes and all the little things that live on our bodies.  I seriously have no idea how these things get this way sometimes.  Oh well.  After that we went outside and replanted some seeds of some of our plants that had unfortunately died.  Hopefully these plants fare better.

so, tl;dr

Answer some math problems and a math prompt:

multfracandresponsesep13

next 4 words of vocab list vocab squares:

vocablistdict

Label a Spanish Galleon

labelingspanishgalleon

and read!

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Another Monday, another full week of opportunity!!

This morning we had a LOOOONNNNGG talk about multiplying fractions.  This entire concept is very important, and we are focusing on the actual meaning of multiplication and what multiplying fractions actually MEANS.  We are not interested in shortcuts, we are not interested in the fastest, quickest way to do a problem involving multiplying fractions.  We are interested in understanding what is actually going on with multiplication involving fractions.

so something like:

1/2 x 4

This can mean 1/2 OF 4, or it can mean 4 OF 1/2.  Sometimes we will find that one way of thinking about a problem can lead to an easier solution.  We used our math manipulatives (the play money) to help us work out a lot of these problems, and students should use those same manipulatives tonight when they are working on homework.

As usual we took some notes:

multfracsep12

Our homework tonight is to do 4 fraction multiplication problems.  They should be done EXACTLY as we did our examples.  This means a question like 1/10 x 3 should be done as 1/10 OF 3, AND as 3 OF 1/10.  These don’t look the same, but they give us an equivalent answer.  As always, there are examples that precede the homework:

multfracexamplesandhomeworksep12

In Language Arts we barely had time to talk about our new vocabulary words and our new root this week: dict.  Monday schedules are so screwy.  Tonight students should work on their vocabulary squares (rectangles really) for the first four words on their vocabulary list.  They should also know how to spell these!  The vocabulary test is the only test during the week where spelling matters.

vocablistdict

In science we went and measured and watered our plants.  Lots of our plants are actually growing quite well.  Some are measuring almost 20cm already.  However some of our plants didn’t fare too well in the last week, so we will be replanting some of our seeds tomorrow.  We got to talk about how spiders being around our plants is actually a good thing today.  Ask your student if they remember why spiders are good for our plants. (hint: they eat the bugs)

So, tl;dr

Some multiplying fractions problems, JUST as we did them in class (use your play money!)

multfracsep12

multfracexamplesandhomeworksep12

First four vocab word squares in vocabulary journal

vocablistdict

And read!

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Tomorrow is early release.  Please know that school will end at 12:30.

We are also having our first celebration tomorrow.  The students earned 75 paws, which got us our first medal.  For our celebration students decided we would watch a short film, followed by some board game time.  All the while we will be chewing gum.  Make sure you get all of your homework finished, as students who have outstanding homework will instead spend celebration time working on that.

This morning we did more work with decimals and multiplying simple fractions by whole numbers.  We continued discussing how we can take numbers like 3.4 and think of it as 3 and 4/10 or 3 + 4 x 1/10 in order to solve different problems.

Tonight students have a few more equivalencies to write.  I wonder if tomorrows quiz is going to look JUST like this…

formsofdecimalsandfractionssep8

We continued our talk about explorers (or should we call them exploiters?) today.  It’s interesting to get students’ ideas about these individuals.  Student images of them are usually pretty positive, and often people see their contributions to the modern day as good things.  However rarely were they motivated by a love of humanity or knowledge.  When we get down to it, many of these individuals weren’t exactly the best of people.

Tonight students should finish the questions that go along with our reading.

ageofexploration

In science we took a good look at our gardens.  A few of our seeds have not yet germinated.  This means we will replant some of them tomorrow.  We also started measuring.  We decided that we can use string to measure the plants from soil to tip of stem.

Finally we spent a good amount of time today organizing our math manipulatives.  They have turned into a great big pile of messes, and we sorted and organized them today.  It’s funny how much the students enjoyed this.  I’m fairly certain none of them go home excited about cleaning and organizing their room, or folding their clothes.  However when it comes to sorting play money into bins or putting pop cubes in bags, they are having the time of their lives.

so, tl;dr

Finish some math equivalencies:

formsofdecimalsandfractionssep8

Finish the questions that go with our reading:

ageofexploration

And as always, read and get your reading log signed!

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Reminder: Tomorrow (9-8) is PICTURE DAY!

This week is so short!

This morning we continued talking about how decimals are simply fractions in base 10 form.  We talked about multiplying simple fractions, and how we can represent numbers in these different forms.

For example:

4 x 1/10 = 4/10 = .4

These are all different ways to represent an equivalent value.  They aren’t the SAME, but they ARE equivalent (have the same value).  This is important because sometimes different forms of a number will help us to do certain things easier.

Tonight students have some of these equivalencies to do.  As always there are examples (In the form of last night’s homework)

decimalfractionpracticesep7

This week we began our foray into social studies by talking about the human timeline on Earth up to the age of exploration, which really begins the modern day history of the United States.  Tonight students have some more reading on this to do, and some simple questions to answer.

ageofexploration

In science we went outside, took a look at our plants, and realized they were missing two VERY important things: Water, and sunlight.  We had placed our plants right up against the side of the building so as to avoid the tropical storm that hit us this Labor Day weekend.  This unfortunately meant they weren’t getting much sunlight.  We moved our planters out into open sunlight and gave them a good watering.  Hopefully we’ll see some improvement in the next few days.

We talked a great deal about how we can see if our plants our doing well or not.  We decided one way to do this would be to measure their growth.  We then talked about how we can go about recording this data in an easy to see and understand way.  This lead to us creating some graphs that we will use to record the growth data on our plants.

Please remember TOMORROW IS PICTURE DAY!!!

so, tl;dr

Write out some equivalencies:

decimalfractionpracticesep7

Read and answer some questions (the first five) about the age of exploration:

ageofexploration

And read!

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Fastest update ever, because I need to go pick up my daughter from her first day of school – apologies!

Math!

Examples PLUS equivalencies to write:

MathSep6

Social Studies (explorers and such!)

ExplorationSep6

And read!

Students also took home their interims today.  Please take a look and get those signed.

have a good one!

-Mr. Potter

APTT is tonight!  I hope everyone is able to attend.  You may arrive at 5:15 to drop your children off.  There are activities for students and smaller children as well.  We will then begin our session at 5:30.

Today was basically a huge effort in getting our seedlings transplanted in our planters outside.  This took a LOT of our day, but hopefully everyone had a good time.  I have a ton of pictures that I will be sharing with everyone later.

That said, we did get a bit of other work done, and have just a *bit* of homework:

Write me an introduction for your character you created last night.  This should be 2-3 paragraphs and look like the beginning of a story, when a character is introduced.

Also, answer these problems:

DecimalProblemsSep1

And that’s it (besides reading of course!)

Students had a bit of time to work on these in class when we weren’t going crazy with all of our planting and such, so I’d be VERY surprised if they have much of this left to finish.

Again, I hope I see you tonight at APTT,

-Mr. Potter