Math,Science/Social Studies and Number Corner

    In math this week we have been moving from working on discovering fractions and adding fractions to division and fractions. We have been working with egg cartons and clocks to help us figure out what the fractions equal (addition) and what fractions we can find. Recently we have been finding out  what people actually do when they divide, what the word division means and what division and fractions have in common. Everybody came up with great definitions and answers to all of the questions!!!!!

In science/social studies this week we have been reading an article about the early history of Vermont. After we took a lot of notes about Vermont's early history we wrote a response to show that we understood what the article was about. We are now currently each separately working on a Vermont timeline. The timeline is starting at the earliest time of Vermont  (that we know of.) to modern days. We have also been studying U.S. geography. We have been playing games and looking at blank maps to learn the states and where they are and what the states look like and their regions.(West, Midwest, Northeast and South.)

In number corner we have been noticing patterns about the calendar and we have been predicting what the last calendar marker will look like. The calendar is all time this month so we have also been predicting what time the last day of the month will be.

 Reading and Writing

    This week in reading we have been working on the fine skill of reading non-fiction text for the study of vermont transportation (see social studies above).  We read lots and after we finished we wrote about the text.    In our response journals, we wrote all we knew about Vermont’s history of transportation.  Some of the facts we learned were:  Lake Champlain and the Erie Canal were used for farmers to ship products to the market, Irish settlers  coming from their rocky homeland to work on the railroads, Vermont getting more than one hundred hotels and inns for tourists to stay, and recently, Vermont losing almost 75% of its farms.
    In writing, we did many different things.  We responded to the book From Dawn to Dusk and we also responded to a prompt that started like this:  “The icicles hung dangerously from the old house.”  Everybody made very interesting stories.  Then a bunch of people went out into the kiva to work on YWP (Young Writers Project).  All in all, everybody had a great week.

     By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger