Weekly News from IRE 003!
February 4, 2016
Happy February!
I can't believe it is February already! We have been lucky with the weather and the kids have been able to go outside for recess most days this week. We've been busy learning lots of new things. Winter months are great months for learning! Below are some highlights from our week.
Learning About Fractions
Fraction Image
We spent a great deal of time with this math image throughout the week. When we look at it, we focus on what we see, what we think and what we wonder. Each time we look at it, we notice new things and connect the learning we are doing. Take a close look at the image. What do you see, think and wonder?
Sharing Our Thinking
We are working to show and track our thinking. We have discovered that looking back at work and seeing how we've grown helps to stretch us as learners. We are now working on a display to share our fraction learning with others in the hallway. This is the start of the wall display. We'll continue to share more as we learn more about fractions!
The Brownie Problem
This week, we solved this problem: "There are 2 free brownies in the cafeteria. Mr. Hoover said you can have them if 3 of you can share them equally. How can you do that?" We also solved problems about sharing pizza and sharing candy bars. A great way to support this math learning at home is to involve your third grader when sharing things or dividing things into equal parts!
Tale of Despereaux
We started a new book this week. The Tale of Despereaux was written by Kate DiCamillo and tells the story of a little mouse. We are learning that as books become more complex, there is more to think about. So we are learning to pay attention to details that the author mentions over and over again. We are keeping notes as a class and each child is also tracking their thinking about the book in his/her own way using notebooks, iPads or laptops.
Planning and Revising our Informational Writing
Mrs. Leutje visited our classroom to share the process she used to plan and revise an informational book using the iPad app, Book Creator. She had to make so many decisions about her book. She shared her thinking process as she decided which images to include, why she added sound and which links to add. Thinking about her decisions is helping us to think about making our own informational writing better.
Spelling and Editing
We have been working on the spelling pattern -ight this week. This is a pattern that comes up a great deal in writing and one that is a bit more complicated for children. We went on a search for words with this spelling pattern and are looking closely at some of them. We are also working on paying closer attention when editing our work so that we catch misspelled words and use our spelling tools (such as our Try It Sheets) to use what we know to spell more words correctly.
Fair of Hearts!
The Fair of Hearts will be held on Friday, February 12. We will have a bit of time in the morning to exchange Valentine's Day cards with classmates. In this week's Friday Folder, students have a list of names for their cards. They can make a box or bag to collect their own cards! The Fair of Hearts Raffle information is also in the Friday Folder. This is an exciting day at IRE!