Math, Social Studies and Number Corner 1/13/13

    This week in math we have been working again with egg carton fractions.  After a few days of studying and realizing that you cannot split an egg, we finally got to make posters about equivalent egg carton fractions.  Everybody made a unique poster.  On Friday we got to share our posters with our classmates and all were creative and great!  They were presented in the kiva.
    In social studies we have been working on Vermont geography by reading texts.  We got to get on laptops and go to www.grolier.com and read even more about Vermont history.  We took notes in our science notebooks.  One interesting part was about the French and Indian War, which the English were also involved in.
    In number corner this week we continue to turn over calendar squares and record all kinds of things about time (see earlier posts).  Some patterns are emerging.  We uncovered that every five days the time between the day and the day before adds ten minutes.  We thought that was cool.

Reading and Writing

    In reading this week we have been doing silent reading. We have also been going to the computer lab to work on this program called kid blog. We will be doing responses to prompts and we will also post school related things. Every week the whole class will write a response about the book we are reading at the moment. The response will go with a prompt Mrs.Crowther will post on her blog (on kid blog) and also on our goal sheets. We are also reading non fiction text while we are working on “reading with a question in mind” and identifying important information.

In writing this week every Tuesday and Thursday for at least all of January we will be going to the computer lab to do type to learn. We also wrote to a prompt from a test. The prompt was a letter to convince your school librarian to buy your favorite book, again, for the school library since it is missing. Those who want to are still doing the young writers project.   

Other Important News and Events

- No school Monday Jan. 21 because it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day
- The PTO international  potluck dinner had a great turnout! Thanks to all participants!

By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

Math,social studies and number corner 1/6/13

    This week in math we have started a new unit about fractions. We have learned about adding fractions and we have made a list of equal fractions.  We learned about the numerator and denominator, and how the division symbol is related to the division line found in a fraction . On Wednesday we learned about egg-carton fractions--  an egg carton represents a whole (the number one), and the compartments represent the fraction of the whole.  Next week we are going to make posters about equal egg carton fractions.
    In social studies this week we have been studying the geography of the United States by playing trivia games and taking quizzes.  We even took an International New England Test.  Unfortunately no student moved up a level, so we’d better start studying!   Later in the week, students started reading about Vermont transportation including steamships, railroads, paths, roads, automobiles, and communication (telephones and postal service).  
    In number corner we have kept on turning over the calendar squares.  This month’s calendar squares are about time.  Every  morning we record the time, the date, whether it’s a.m. or p.m., the time elapsed since the day before, and the time elapsed since the first.
    Stay tuned for next week’s news!

 Reading and Writing
    This week in reading we are reading articles about early transportation in Vermont. The titles of the two articles that we read was Historic Roots and Steam Travel on Lake Champlain The articles tell us how the transportation in Vermont changed and how that changed the settlement in Vermont. After we finish the article-and throughout it- we have been taking notes. We take notes about the important parts of it or if we have a question to answer we take notes to answer that. We have also been doing silent reading.
    This week in writing we have started going to the computer lab to do type to learn. We will be going to the computer lab to do type to learn every Tuesday and Thursday at writing. We will be doing this for at least all of January. We have also written reflections to Mrs.Crowther about how we think we have grown as a learner since August. We also made goals/hopes and dreams (in the reflection) for the rest of the school year. They didn’t necessarily have to go with school. We have also started the young writers project (YWP) again. Kelly Marcus is, once again helping us write and submit writing pieces for possible publishment. Not all students are doing it, but some are, so ask your child if they are doing it to find out more about it. You can also go to the young writers project website at www.youngwritersproject.org.

 Other Important News and Events

- Red barn fundraiser is currently going on
- The PTO international potluck dinner is on Friday Jan. 18th
- No school Monday Jan. 21 because it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day
-Student exchange! Our good friend Ian has gone to panama for the rest of the year but in his place comes James,the new student!

     By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger