Effort

This week we've considered how effort affects everything we do! It affects the quality of our interactions, our levels of understanding, and the quality of our work products. Our effort creates our abilities and it's so empowering to know that we are limitless! We've also spent time this week understanding a variety of tools that help us to improve the quality of our work across subject areas. These include criteria charts, mentor texts, and rubrics. These are powerful tools that elevate the quality of our work all throughout the school year!

In math, we've started a place value unit of study. We're learning how to read numbers through the ones, thousands, millions, and billions periods. We celebrated the 10th day of school on Monday by exploring the power of 10. We used an online tool to zoom in and out by multiples of 10, helping us to better conceptualize our base ten place value system. Many students wanted to show parents at home, so here's the link for you all to enjoy together: Powers of 10 . We also learned a game that only requires pencil, paper, and one die. It's called 101 and You're Out. We love that it helps us multiply by 10 and that it exercises our mental math muscles. Several of us played a few rounds and then tried a version called 1001 and You're Out. We love games like this where the levels of challenge are limitless!



In Reading, we have been exploring and applying habits of a good reader. We selected "Just Right" books for our Independent Reading. This book is a good fit, and they should be reading this in class daily as well as at home for 20 minutes for their Learning Habits. In writing, we are working through the writing process. We've brainstormed, planned, and begun drafts. We also worked with a peer editor to garner critique. That important feedback from a reader is now spurring us on to make improvements in clarity. Our Word Work Workshop is in its fledgling stages...we have learned several routines that have us examining word meanings and patterns. We are discovering the challenge and excitement in studying words!

Don't forget to read and sign those Take Off and Landing notebooks with your child -- they have lots to share with you!