Skip to main content

We Are Thankful...



This week held some exciting events! Fourth Grade put on their dancing boots and performed their wonderful play THREE times on Thursday! We certainly appreciated all the hard work they put in to making it a spectacular performance!

On Friday, we actively enjoyed Kiker's annual Track and Field! It's always such a great day of Team Building and bonding with one another outside the classroom! We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather too -- smiles all around!






In reading, we started a new novel, Winnie's Great War. It's a historical fiction piece that gives an account of the real Winnie the Bear, a mascot for a Canadian Brigade in WWI. AA Milne was inspired by this orphaned black bear and his brave adventures to create Winnie the Pooh. It's a neat account based on the author's great-grandfather's diary. We also integrated social studies and nonfiction reading by reading, questioning,and analyzing an article about an inventor of our own choosing. Some of that reading has ignited ideas for Science Fair and for further independent investigation!

In ELA, we are analyzing and discovering all the pieces to what make great sentences! We are watching for patterns, identifying how they work together, and then creating our own. We are becoming pros at understanding and using dependent and independent clauses, commas, and conjunctions. Knowing the WHAT and WHY behind how words are chosen and put together to form thoughts helps us feel powerful as writers.

SBLC mathematicians have figured out that it's immensely helpful to know their multiples with fluency. 3rd grade has worked with division in many different ways this week, including using multiplication to divide and playing a game with remainders. In all of these settings, it's been useful to connect factors to divisors and to connect dividends with products. While division seemed like a whole new language at first, it's becoming more familiar and we're even finding ways that we use division for many real-world contexts in our home lives, too.

4th graders have a whole new appreciation for multiplication fluency because they've been learning how to use the 2-digit by 2-digit standard multiplication algorithm. Effective use of this traditional approach to multiplication requires a deep understanding of place value, mindful regrouping, and careful organization. When we already know our multiples (especially those tricky 6s, 7s, and 8s!), we are better able to focus on the other components of this multidigit work. When we don't yet know our multiples efficiently, then we have to constantly stop in the middle of our algorithm process to calculate. This increases the chance to make an accuracy error and we're learning that one error makes the whole problem inaccurate. Yikes!

If you make time for a little multiplication fluency this Thanksgiving break, here are a few resources to consider:

Visual Multiplication Strategy-based Flashcards

Kakooma game

Fluency Parent Info


As always, promote accuracy and flexibility first, then build fluency over time! Try a little practice each day or choose one fact a day to practice, then gradually build up over a week.


For each and every one of our SBLC family! We hope you enjoy this time of feasting and being together with loved ones.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Patriotism, Good Citizenship, and Important American Symbols

This week we are studying in depth the intent, meaning, and importance of many American symbols, documents, songs, and speeches. In doing this, we are using some neat tech resources: Star-Spangled Banner Smithsonian Site Our Country's Flag Flag Manners The Pledge of Allegiance The Declaration of Independence The Constitution The Bill of Rights American Symbols

Properties of Matter

Hi, Scientists! Use the links below to learn more about properties of matter. When you are finished, leave a comment below stating something that you learned. Be sure to check for spelling, punctuation, and capitals! Third Grade http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/magnets_springs.shtml Fourth Grade http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/magnets_springs.shtml Second Grade http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/characteristics_materials.shtml

Scavenger Hunt: Communities & Heritage

*Parents, this is an in-class assignment. :) Hello, citizens of SBLC! Today, you are going on a scavenger hunt with your partner to explore some of the communities you belong to and the heritage of our state. Remember to treat each other the way we agreed in our SBLC Constitution and--this is VERY important-- read the directions under YOUR grade level!  And of course...have fun! :) *2nd Grade: Our Communities Directions : 1. Add Scavenger Hunt to the Table of Contents in your Social Studies Notebook. Turn to the the next clean page to record your answers. 2. Use the link below each question to find your answers. Record your answers in complete sentences! 3. If you finish early, post a comment with your favorite fact. Then, explore the websites to discover other interesting facts. :) Example : (click on the picture to make it bigger) 1. School The SBLC is a part of  _____________ Elementary. Our school was named after ___________ . http://www.ki...