busy busy busy!<\/p>\n
(see bottom of post for announcement about electronics day)<\/p>\n
Day 8, and we’re already scrabbling for time!<\/p>\n
We spent a good amount of time this morning talking about character traits, and how we can incorporate thinking about character traits into our writing. \u00a0Authors should think about what kind of characters they are writing about. \u00a0Those personality traits should influence the character’s thoughts and actions.<\/p>\n
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To practice this, we started short stories about Timmy. \u00a0Timmy is going to buy a video game. \u00a0Our assignment is to think up a character trait for Timmy, and then write about his journey to buy a video game, and how a character with that character trait would act. \u00a0We don’t come straight out and say Timmy is shy, or boastful, or resourceful, or curious, or brave. \u00a0Instead we let Timmy’s thoughts and actions make that apparent to our reader. \u00a0I gave the students this as my example, and asked them to guess what character trait I was thinking about:<\/p>\n
Timmy<\/a><\/p>\n Could you guess what character trait I had in mind for Timmy?<\/p>\n Students should finish their own TImmy story tonight in their writing journals. \u00a0They should really think about how someone like Timmy would act, and write about that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We talked a good bit about plants today, and their adaptations. \u00a0Some plants don’t have stems, for example mosses, and therefore must live in very wet environments since they lack a strong transport system to keep themselves hydrated. \u00a0Other plants like the venus fly trap must supplement their diet with insects.<\/p>\n We then did some notes on chlorophyll, chloroplasts, xylem, phloem, and all that great stuff. \u00a0See if your student remembers what xylem and phloem are (the equivalent of veins in plants – they carry water and nutrients throughout the plant).<\/p>\n Next we read a bit more of the Mysterious Benedict Society. \u00a0We had a great discussion about how Sticky’s actions when the other children talk about parents reveals that he must have a secret about his own family. \u00a0It was really awesome to hear everyone’s theories and ideas about that.<\/p>\n Tonight students should finish their char trait sheets for either Kate or Sticky (whichever they didn’t do yesterday)<\/p>\n Sticky Char sheet<\/a><\/p>\n Kate Char sheet<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the end of the day we discussed multiplication facts, and how essentially the entire class needs to work on fluency with these. \u00a0Some of us know our facts, but the great majority do not. \u00a0Without very good recall and understanding of basic multiplication facts, many 5th grade math concepts will be very difficult for students to understand, let alone master. \u00a0Therefore we started making some math fact flash cards in class. \u00a0We will be doing these a few times per week so we can catch up on this.<\/p>\n We also talked more about breaking numbers down into easier to work with parts, and how breaking down some problems can make them much easier. \u00a0I used this to introduce the distributive property of multiplication over addition. \u00a0This is the property that says something like:<\/p>\n 8 x 9<\/p>\n is equal to 8 x (5 + 4)<\/p>\n which is equal to (8 x 5) + (8 x 4) \u00a0<——- distributive property<\/p>\n So maybe a student doesn’t know what 8 x 9 is. \u00a0But they probably know what 8 x 5 is, and they can figure out what 8 x 4 is easily enough.<\/p>\n They can break something like 8 x 9 down into (8 x 5) + (8 x 4) and then solve it. \u00a0We will work a LOT with this property, as it is integral to many mathematical concepts, and to a lot of the standard algorithms that we will learn in math.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tonight students have a simple digit rearranging worksheet. \u00a0This is again testing whether or not they really understand how our number system works.<\/p>\n RearrangingDigits<\/a><\/p>\n Also if students still had questions incorrect from their base 10 sheet, they should fix those tonight.<\/p>\n Base10Sheet1<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n so, tl;dr<\/p>\n Write\/finish your Timmy story in your writing journal<\/p>\n Finish Sticky and Kate sheets (both are due to be turned in tomorrow)<\/p>\n Sticky Char sheet<\/a><\/p>\n Kate Char sheet<\/a><\/p>\n Do rearranging digits worksheet<\/p>\n RearrangingDigits<\/a><\/p>\n and finish base10 worksheet if you had any incorrect from yesterday<\/p>\n Base10Sheet1<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As always, read for 35 minutes and get your reading log signed!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n P.S.<\/p>\n Electronics day!<\/p>\n We have our first celebration for receiving our bronze medal on Friday. \u00a0The students voted and decided upon electronics day. \u00a0The children are welcome to bring in a device of their choosing, and we will have some time at the end of the day where we may play on our devices. \u00a0Students must be responsible for their own devices. \u00a0We will have some computers here for students to use as well and I normally bring in a few games of my own for students to play with. \u00a0I’ll be sending home a short note about this tomorrow just to double check. \u00a0If you have any questions or concerns please contact me at my school e-mail.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Have a good one!<\/p>\n -Mr. Potter<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" busy busy busy! (see bottom of post for announcement about electronics day) Day 8, and we’re already scrabbling for time! We spent a good amount of time this morning talking about character traits, and how we can incorporate thinking about character traits into our writing. \u00a0Authors should think about what kind of characters they are … Continue reading Homework Aug 5 (Wed)<\/span>