Fifty-First Day of School

 On Friday, for Engineering and Life-Science, we completed our first engineering task related to our Science unit of study. Our task, using the engineering process, was to work in pairs to design and create a model of an animal using structures to defend itself from an attack from a predator. Our models were then "attacked" by a predator "claw" to test the design. If the design was not successful, we then modified it for a second trial. Several models were impressively successful during the day's trials.

Fiftieth Day of School

 In Writing, we finished our drafting with closures. Papers were collected for grading.

Math Workshop application problem: 

    There are 12 beads on the floor. There is the same numer of white and red beads. A student     picks up the white beads. How many beads are still on the floor?

This marks the end of the first Math unit. A unit assessment will be administered soon.

Forty-Ninth Day of School

 In Writing, we reviewed openings and took another pass at it.

Math Workshop application problem:

    “It’s not going to rain,” said Sherell. “There are only 8 clouds in the sky.” 

    “You missed those over there. There are 14,” said Tony.

    

    How many clouds did Sherell miss?

Grades for this assignment have been posted in Schoology.

Forty-Eighth Day of School

 In Writing today, we drafted openings. This was a struggle for the class this year. We may need to revisit this again tomorrow.

Math Workshop application problem:

    Today the teacher dropped 18 beads on the floor. A student picked up 17 beads. How many     beads remained on the floor?

Grades for this assignment have been posted to Schoology.

Forty-Seventh Day of School

Today in Writing we added another fact/page to our draft and connected that with a transition.

Math Workshop application problem:

    Eighty-three beads dropped on the floor. A student picked up one bead. How beads were left     on the floor?

Grades for this assignment have been posted to Schoology.

Forty-Sixth Day of School

 In Writing today, we added transition(s). Typical informational transistions are: also, another, other, additionally, moreover, etc. Additionally, asking a question is another way to transition in informational writing.

Some writers needed redirecting in their writing today to avoid from inserting themselves into their text with statements beginning: I like.., I love..., or I went.... As we are not writing personal informational pieces (as we did at the beginning of the year) we will avoid making the information about ourselves and strictly about another topic.

Forty-Fifth Day of School

 In Writing, we drafted the first 2 ideas (only 2 are required) of our informational piece. Our goal was to write ONLY one idea per section.

Math Workshop application problem:

    Nine children were playing outside. One child played on the swings. The rest of the children     played tag. How many cildren were playing tag?

The grades for this assignment have been posted to Schoology.

Forty-Fourth Day of School

 In Writing today, we made a plan (quick sketch) for our informational text. We examined an  anchor text for what it means to support a main idea with details. Adding details to our writing will come during revision.

Math Workshop application problem:

    There were 8 juice boxes. Some of the children drank a juice box. There were then 5 juice         boxes left. How many juice boxes were drank?

Grades for this assignment have been posted to Schoology.

Forty-Third Day of School

 In Writing today, we examined anchor texts to see how authors developed main ideas to see if we may be able to do the same thing in our own writing. We then touch and talked our topics on our new non-fiction paper.

Math Workshop application problem:

    Shanika counted 5 pigeons on the roof. Some more pigeons landed on the roof. Then, she         counted 8 pigeons on the the roof. How many pigeons landed on the roof?

Grades for the narrative writing assessment have been posted to Schoology.

Forty-Second Day of School

 In Writing today, we brainstormed our list of topics which we felt we had expertise in enough to write.

In Math, we took a fluency test on the parts of 9.

Today's application problem:

    Francine had 10 action figures. Five of them are heroes. How many of them are villains?

Grades for these have been posted to Schoology.

Fortieth Day of School

 Math Workshop application problem:

    Eight ducks were swimming in a pond. Four ducks flew away. How many ducks were still         swimming in the pond?

Grades for this assignment have been posted to Schoology.

Thirty-Ninth Day of School

 Math Workshop application problem:

    Shanice had 9 pencils. She gave 4 away to her friends. How many pencils did she have left?

Grades for this assignment have been posted to Schoology.

Thirty-Eighth Day of School

 Today's Math Workshop application problem:

    Marcus had 9 strawberries. Six of them were big. The rest were small. How many were             small?

Grades for yesterday's and today's Math have been posted.

Thirty-Seventh day of School

 In Writing today, we learned how to use a checklist to make sure we have all of the required elements to achieve a score of 3 on a narrative writing assessment.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will take our narrative writing assessment. Some students will find it a good idea to run their writing plan by an adult before the test tomorrow. Adults might listen to see if their student can state the setting and characters, the plot, an opening, and a closing.

Today's Math Workshop application problem:

    There were 5 students in the cafeteria. Some more students came late. Now there were 7         students in the cafeteria. How many students came late.

Life Science focus question:

    What are some things plants do to protect themselves?

Homework Debrief

 The bonus homework should have included these 8 equations:

1. 4 + 5 = 9
2. 5 + 4 = 9
3. 9 - 4 = 5
4. 9 - 5 = 4
5. 9 = 4 + 5
6. 9 = 5 + 4
7. 4 = 9 - 5
8. 5 = 9 - 4

Thirty-Fourth Day of School

 In Writing today, we revised (using our process again) our plot pages (2 & 3). Since this should be a completed story, it is also our first chance to achieve a score of a 4 other than on the initial assessment.

Bonus Homework

 

Write as many equations as you can which are suggested by this bond model. Can you write all 8 of them?

Thirty-Third Day of School

 In Writing today, we revised the first page of our narratives. Our process for revising is as follows:

1. Re-read
2. Ask yourself:
• Is this clear?
• Is it complete? (does it have all the necessary elements and information?)
• Is it interesting.
3. If the answer to any of these questions is 'no', then revision is necessary. Add clarifying information or interesting details.

Thirty-Second Day of School

 On Thursday in Writing, we added closings to our narratives. On Friday, we added openings and our papers were collected and scored for necessary narrative elements.

Today in Writing, we selected which story we would be revising of the two we already began. Then we added any of the elements that may have been indicated on our paper.

Today's Math Workshop application problem:

        The teacher told Dylan to get 8 linker cubes. Dylan took 4 blue cubes and 3 red cubes.             Does Dylan have the correct amount of cubes?

Grades for this report have been posted to Schoology.

Social Science focus questions: 

• How were schools different in the past than they are today?
• How are the ways we communicate now different than ways we communicated in the past?