Curriculum Update September 17-21

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and upcoming week. Please remember picture day is on Wednesday.

The lap-a-thon was a huge success. Thank you for returning the pledge envelopes.

Reading
We will continue Theme 2, Life in Many Places in Rigby. The comprehension strategy focus is asking questions. Your child should ask questions before, during and after reading which will continue to make them "think" about what they are reading. We have also been continuing to ask questions.
The vocab words are: distinguish, popular, coast, voyage and creek.

Math
We began Topic 2, number sense: addition and subtraction. The students have learned different strategies for mental math. This week, we will work on rounding, estimating sums, estimating differences, making sense of addition and subtraction equations, and reasonableness.

SS
The students began to learn about their Shawnee community. We talked about roles of different people in the community, focusing on the mayor of Shawnee. The students completed their "Where in the World is?" posters and their circle map, which focused on how their city relates to the rest of the world.

This week, we will continue to learn about rural, suburban, and urban communities. The students will create their own communities.

Science
We are continuing with our solar energy unit. This week, we learned about how earth materials absorb solar energy at different rates. In conducting our investigation, we discovered gravel heats the quickest, with sand coming in very closely. Tree bark absorbed the least solar energy.

Earth material photos:

This week, we will test the effectiveness of sun screen and create solar water heaters.

Spelling
The Rigby spelling theme will focus on word families.
List 1: tulip, slip, relay, today, began, plan, clown, frown, black, fold
List 2: battleship, fingertip, midday, highway, yesterday, mailman, quarterback, attack, withhold, blindfold
Extension List: The prefix is poly (many) polychromatic, polyclinic, polydactyl, polyglot, polygon, polygraph, polyhedron, polymorphous, polysyllabic, polytheism

Writing
We completed our beginnings for our narrative we are writing on a family vacation. The students were able to choose between a fiction or nonfiction story. We now will begin to develop our plot. They are working hard on making their story interesting by using "colorful" and no "worn out" words (nice, big, little, etc.)

The students were so excited to receive letters from their pen pals in Kentucky. This is a rural school, so it was interesting learning how so many students lived on farms and owned horses and cows. We will finish writing them back this week.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Kerpoof Project

The students created pictures on Kerpoof. They chose their own backgrounds and designed a scene that stood out to them. Afterwards, they had to write three things they learned in Topic 1 in math and had to make two connections, a skill we previously worked on in reading. They were very creative and did a great job with their pictures!

Caleb: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuapMo3cghO-c-527a76
Bridget: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuanMo3cghg-c-31fc6c
Kylee: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuapgo3cgi13M00-d-0cbc31
Lauren: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuaqgo3cgi16M00-d-f74f5a
Aidan S.: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuaowo3c0hl-c-02e9f9
Paiten: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuaqMo3cggY-c-bcc887
Kate: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuao0o3cwh3-c-665898
Jack Da.: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuar0o3c0i15M00-d-b394de-x1
Meredith: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuaqwo3cwhR-c-5fe5c6
Jack De.: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuaoMo3cgi59w00-d-d266cb
Macayla: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuango3cgh3-c-bbc742
Carson: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuarwo3cggz-c-c496ed
Jack B.: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuas0o3c0gl-c-e16ff3
Mary: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuarMo3c0gy-c-c9eae9
Noah: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuaq0o3dgi17000-d-e9567a
Aiden L.: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuargo3cwi13g00-d-077315
Khalel: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuapwo3cwgQ-c-c31f82
Evan: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuqkMo3cwhQ-c-cee032
Gabrielle: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuaogo3cgi2vM00-d-e97860
Ben: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuap0o5cjg4wjI0-e-7b0c76
Zach: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuanwo3c0h4-c-01b08c
Alec: http://www.kerpoof.com/#/view?s=2gs11cuasgo3cghB-c-f7d967

Curriculum Update September 10-14

Have a great weekend! The kids worked hard and did a great job with MAP testing. Next week we will resume with our regular daily schedule. Please don't forget lap-a-thon is on Friday.

Reading
We will begin Theme 2, Life in Many Places in Rigby. The comprehension strategy focus will be asking questions. Your child should ask questions before, during and after reading which will continue to make them "think" about what they are reading.
The vocab words are: landform, breathe, anxiously, architecture, location
Math
We will take the Topic 1 math test on Monday, which focused on numeration. We will began Topic 2: Number Sense: Addition and Subtraction on Tuesday. The lessons will cover addition meaning and properties, subtraction meanings, using mental math to add and using mental math to subtract.

SS
We will continue our communities unit this week focusing on how their neighborhood relates to their city, county, state, country, continent and the world. We will begin learning about suburban, rural and urban communities.

Science
We are continuing with our solar energy unit. We will focus on how the earth heats different earth materials and we will test the effectiveness of sun screen on different types of sun beads.

Spelling
The Rigby spelling theme will focus on initial consonant blends.
List 1: credit, grand, detest, dragon, grease, quest, drizzle, sprinkle, prove, crowd
List 2: cricket, gravity, problem, grocery, broadcast, drowsy, crumble, creative, grammar, crooked
Extension List: The prefix is mono (one) monochrome, monocle, monolingual, monolith, monologue, monophobia, monopoly, monorail, monosyllabic, monotone

Writing
We completed our letters to our pen pals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey this week.

We will continue to focus on strong beginnings and using words that will best capture the reader's attention.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Animoto Connection Videos

The students have been learning about making connections. To apply what they learned, they created videos displaying their understanding of making connections.

Jack De: http://animoto.com/play/atbPimhQhqRdsd0aAVQHXg
Gabrielle: http://animoto.com/play/n0Azo8LDKR0a9RxOpKwFZw
Mary http://animoto.com/play/1lD4D5TfeGFYsNOrtycnkA
Jack Da: http://animoto.com/play/RtZeKtKWqrD9ZC05ct6nEw
Aiden L: http://animoto.com/play/mpIiZPScmXDESz3G5yfkkg
Meredith: http://animoto.com/play/PE03xzdbdw8JquAzXkC0SQ
Caleb: http://animoto.com/play/0FMKleWcjdoJSSQte2sHkg
Kate: http://animoto.com/play/1RTkdwsUNZD4z5gA3Y8kUA
Evan: http://animoto.com/play/av9yijQFtVBVugcRRY8dRw
Khalel: http://animoto.com/play/z2NA7hGE7xs2pt6uURs0XA
Paiten: http://animoto.com/play/z4sS8bI2sMbuIuccZSfTww
Alec: http://animoto.com/play/jWlpipKwbFK10BEVXn3ZOg
Aidan S.: http://animoto.com/play/bQtrc0b5JeON9EY0ioDMRw
Noah: http://animoto.com/play/TzhlFGy4DSM1lPTweoPdxg
Bridget: http://animoto.com/play/c9vt4xF0x0zmBuxxXujB7w
Kylee: http://animoto.com/play/JEO1oh1fVd0VC7L8XKyfyA
Zach: http://animoto.com/play/Ygw1blIbeqF1w2MNWEpTpw
Macayla: http://animoto.com/play/gj1O6Dw2ZPD6DdoRUz6i0w
Carson: http://animoto.com/play/DNmaS0yfIujS4SWAUq3CJg
Lauren: http://animoto.com/play/myND01BbU1595YovMmXdpQ
Ben: http://animoto.com/play/V5spNEOQtBpOzDWI4p4z1g

Curriculum Update September 4-7

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Labor Day weekend. It was nice that we were able to get some rain, but some sunshine as well.

This week, we will take MAP testing on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:00-10:30 am each day. It will be reading, math and language arts. This is nothing your child will be able to prepare for, but rather an assessment that will provide us with informative data letting us know where your child is at in each of these academic areas.  The test will be given again in the Spring to see how much growth your child has made throughout the school year.

Please remember to RSVP for Common Core night on September 19 from 6-7 pm if you plan on attending.

Reading
We will continue our Community Spirit theme this week in Rigby. We will continue practicing making connections before, during, and after reading with ourselves, other texts, and things throughout the world. Our vocabulary word focus will be arrive, establish, appeal, household and lifestyle.

Math
We will continue our Numeration unit in enVision. This week we will be working on comparing numbers, ordering numbers, problem solving: make an organized list, and reviewing for our test on Monday. Please remember the students are able to take log on to view the lesson again or their math book online at www.pearsonsuccessnet.com.

SS

We will begin our SS unit on communities. The focus questions will be What make a community a community? Why do I need a community? Why does a community need me? What makes a successful community?

Science
We are going to continue our solar energy unit. Last week, the student learned about sun dials and tracking their shadows to tell time. They traced their shadows every hour and created sun dials. This week, we learn about thermometers, focusing on thermometers in the sun and shade and earth materials in the sun and shade.

Here are some pictures of the sun dials and the kids tracking their shadows.

Spelling
The Rigby spelling theme will focus on initial consonants.
List 1: balloon, marble, dairy, dolphin, fixture, morning, belong, finger, visitor, double
List 2: brief, breakfast, vacation, doubt, friendship, minimum, maintain, violin, venomous, fantasy
Extension List: The prefix is post (after) postdate, postgraduate, posthumous, postindustrial, postmark, postmeridian, postmortem, postpone, postproduction, postscript

Writing
The writing focus will be on beginnings. I will work with the kids on creative beginnings that will capture the reader's attention.

We will also being writing our pen pals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This will go along with our communities unit where the students will learn about other communities throughout the world.

Have a fantastic week!

Coach Snyder Thank You

This is the kids version of a thank you for Coach Snyder that includes pictures and video from the trip. The MVHS students are working on the professional documentary for the students.

Place Value

We have been working on place value in class. The students have learned about standard form, word form and expanded form. Here is an example:

Place Values - Expanded Form

Each digit of a number, such as 495,786, has a different place value name.

4 9 5,7 8 6
| | | | | |__ digits' place value
| | | | |____ tens' place value
| | | |______ hundreds' place value
| | |________ thousands' place value
| |__________ ten-thousands' place value
|____________ hundred-thousands' place value

There are 4 sets of one hundred thousand, 9 sets of ten thousand, 5 sets of one thousand, 7 sets of one hundred, 8 sets of ten, and 6 ones in the number 495,786. Expanded form shows the number expanded into an addition statement. The expanded form of 495,786 is 400,000 + 90,000 + 5,000 + 700 + 80 + 6.

Word Form shows: Four hundred ninety-five thousand seven hundred eighty-six

Place Value Games & Practice
http://www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err=503&engine=15
http://media.emgames.com/emgames/demosite/playdemo.html?activity=M2A050&activitytype=dcr
http://www.aaamath.com/plc31-placevalue.html
http://www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err=496&engine=5
http://www.mathcats.com/explore/reallybignumbers.html