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

Readers Theater - Working on Fluency!

3 Little Pigs Readers Theater

Did You See Chip? Readers Theater

Here are 2 Readers Theaters' plays some of our friends have worked on this week. As soon as I can get them to show up in youtube, I will actually embed the youtube file. Until then, click on the links to enjoy!

If you are interested, you can subscribe to my youtube channel so that every time I upload a video, you will automatically receive an email notification if you so choose.  If you are interested, click the link above, then click on the 'subscribe' button at the top of the webpage.

Enjoy!

Science: Properties of Water!

In Science, we've been learning about properties scientists use to sort objects. We've also learned what properties define water and the different stages of water (matter). Sam is using his sense of smell to figure out which cup is pure water (We learned pure water is odorless).

Kinsey isn't enjoying the vinegar-smelling water so much :)

Meeka is investigating water using her sense of smell to decide between almond-extract water, vinegar water and pure water.

Haylee is using her sight to decide which of the 3 cups are pure water.

The final property of water is it's taste. Water is tasteless, so the children had to investigate the three cups based on which one was tasteless.

Destiny is trying the sugar water.

Riley is getting ready to try the salt water.

This group is investigating water taking different shapes in different shaped-containers.

Sam is using the tube to see how water travels.

Using many tools to see how water travels.

 Families,

Here is the note that will come home from Harcourt's Math Expressions Common Core Unit 4 opener. This will give you some idea as to where we will be starting. Hopefully, we are building upon some schema(background knowledge) your child has from Kindergarten, as we switch gears in our math learning!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.