Community 3
November 13, 2015
Coming Up....
The Native American Project
Our next project will focus on the early people of Alabama. Learners will study the prehistoric and historic Native American cultures, governments, and economics. With this project, we want learners to examine the Native Americans of Alabama, describe their way of life, and learn from the mark they left on history.
This topic will also allow us to look at some "bigger ideas" in history such as, why we study the past, "how" we learn about the past, and how history is passed from generation to generation. These ideas will drive our project as we ask students to, first, study these early people and then design a project to communicate this knowledge to others. Stay tuned to see where this takes us!
READING
Writing
Math
Until now, we have focused a great deal on teaching various strategies to understand and "figure out" a math fact. Such strategies included using the properties of operations. You may have seen these properties listed within the standards on Fresh Grade. But, what does "using the properties of operations" mean? There are three properties that we want students to understand and use:
- The Commutative Property - If I know that 4 x 3 = 12, then I also know that 3 x 4 = 12. The order of the factors does not matter.
- The Associative Property - If I have to multiply 2 x 4 x 3 = _____, then I know that I can first multiply 2 x 4 = 8 and then 8 x 3 = 24. Or, I can first multiply 4 x 3 = 12, and then 12 x 2 and I will still get 24. The way that I group the factors does not matter.
- The Distributive Property - I can use this property to figure out multiplication problems that may be too difficult or that I haven't committed to memory yet. When I use this property I can "break apart" one of the factors into small parts and then "distribute" the first factor. For example, if I don't know 6 x 9, then I can break the 9 into 5 + 4. Then I can figure out 6 x 5 (which is 30) and 6 X 4 (which is 24) and add the two products together to get the answer. 30 + 24 = 54, so 6 X 9 = 54. Once students understand this process, they can figure out problems such as 7 x 15 = ____ before learning the traditional algorithm. Most often, students will use this property to figure out an unknown math fact by thinking of the fact that is one less and adding on another group. For example, I don't know 6 x 5, but I know 5 x 5 is 25 so I simply need to add on another 5.
Now that we have learned these various strategies, it's time to challenge ourselves to become faster at recalling our facts. Keep practicing at home! This will remain a focus over the coming weeks, even as we shift our focus to other concepts in math. Coming soon: area and perimeter!
Raptor Center
Screechowl
Barn Owl
They have many cool adaptations.
Their face is shaped like a funnel so that sound is funneled to their ears. One ear is higher than another so that this owl can pinpoint exactly where the noise is coming from. Their neck turns nearly all the way around at 270 degrees--this owl will find exactly what he is looking for.
Great Horn Owl
You might know this owl even better as a Hoot Owl
The birds that were brought from the Raptor Center have been rescued and treated by the Raptor Center. We were very impressed by this!
The Can Project
Learners have been creating bar graphs and pictographs from raw data.
Learners will use their own graphs to analyze and draw conclusions from the data.
We want learners to be able to see a graph and answer questions based on the information in the graph.
We can use the information to know how much we contributed as a community. We can also analyze what type of food was the most popular and least popular. Learners are beginning to understand why analyzing data is important. We can't stop at the answer-we need to draw conclusions.
Building Ecosystems!
Veterans Day Speaker, Technical Sergeant Jackson!
Spirit Week!
The Hook Project
This year, learners will learn how to measure to the nearest 1/4, 1/2, and whole inch.
The hooks project has been an authentic way to practice measuring.
We have been impressed with our learners problem solving skills. Many of their yardsticks and measuring tapes were not long enough to measure some of the learners from the older communities. See the pictures and notes below to see how learners solved the problem.
We are beginning to see more resilience in problem solving. Learners are becoming aware of the need to push through when things are tough, and look towards a solution.