Dear families,

This week we learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what an important leader he was to children and adults alike. We described what we thought Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream meant to us and compared his dreams for the United States of America with our dreams for ourselves as we grow up. We then wrote down our 'dream words' that we hoped to experience, feel or be a part of for the rest of our lives. Finally, we worked with an iPad app called "Skitch" (free download for any with iPads/iPods/iPhones at home) where you can take a graphic and describe it with text - kind of a visual graphic organizer surrounding ourselves. After teaching the class how to use the app, for the most part, they were able to manipulate the tools and text boxes themselves.  Mrs. Rottschafer was also a wonderful help in guiding us through this 1:1 process. It was inspiring to see how quickly their brains can understand and apply sequential steps with technology.

Enjoy our "Dream Words"  

Eva

Kinsey

Meeka

Brylee

Natalie

Luke

Destiny

Riley 

Reese

Shelby

Keyland

Jasmine

Mason

Ethan

Casey

Joe

Christian

Colton

Martin

Christy 

Haylee

Nick

Sam

Deaglan

Zack

Christmas Party 2012

I apologize for the lateness of this post! Here are some pictures from our Christmas Party!

Jasmine & Mrs. Creswell

Eva & Mrs. Malaski

Deaglan &  Mrs. Tucker

Christian & Mrs. Rottschafer

Meeka & Mr. VanPortfleet

Kinsey & Mr. Inman

Ethan & Mrs. Rosenberg

Haylee & Mrs. Jordan

Reese & Mr. Nykamp

Riley & Mrs. Clark

Mason & Mrs. Zeerip

Brylee & Mrs. Boetsma

Making "Stained Glass Windows"

Christmas Tree Ornament

Learning how to make the "Stained Glass"

Identifying & Adding Coins To Buy Christmas Tree Ornaments

Joe found a nice place to store his candy cane he won :)

Learning about pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters

mmmmm.....decorating cookies

working on patterns and making more ornaments

Learning in Math: Doubles, Doubles +1 and Doubles +2; Doubles -1 and Doubles -2

What we will learn about doubles this week:

Pattern for Doubles:
As each number being doubled is one more, it results in a total that is two more.

Using Doubles + 1 and Doubles - 1:
When children are able to firmly and fluently know their doubles up to ten, they will see how to quickly find the totals for doubles plus 1. For example
4+4 = 8
4+5 = 8+1 more = 9
or 4 + 4 + 1 = 4 + 5 = double 4 + 1 more = 9

or 4 + 5 = 4 + (4 +1) = 8 + 1 = 9. Does this remind you of algebra? :) We are learning some pre-algebra strategies (without naming it) that will hopefully help your child in future years of mathematics.

Another example would be: 8+7 = 7+7+1 = 14+1.

Also, they can use doubles minus one for the same equation. 8 + 7 = 8 + 8 - 1 = 16 - 1 = 15.

Either way would work, doubles minus one (right above) or doubles plus one: 7 + 7 = 14 and 7+1 = 8 so 7+7+1 = 14+1 = 15.

Doubles Plus 2:
4+5 = the numbers 4 and 5 are 1 number apart: so referring back to doubles: 4+4 = 8 and
 4 +5 = 8 + 1 = 9


4+6 = the numbers 4 and 6 are 2 numbers apart: so 4+4 = 8 and 4+6(is two more than the doubles of 4) so 4 + 6 = 8 + 2 = 10

Your child will also learn how to recognize Doubles Minus1 and 2:
for example: 8 + 7 = 8 + 8 - 1 = 16 - 1 = 15

8+6 = 8 + 8 = 16 -2 = 14