It's been a busy week wrapping up our Mars Rover 2020 work! We've found that learning about Mars and NASA's mission has led us to a better understanding of our own planet, too. Our next project has us revitalizing the keyhole gardens around campus, so we'll explore much closer to home.
SBLC mathematicians are continuing to develop an understanding of multiplication and division. We've created arrays of all sizes and are becoming experts at representing these two operations with a variety of representations. We're also considering that counting by fives is a great strategy for a problem like 5 x 9, but that we also need strategies that work for bigger numbers. For the 9s, we like that we can "overshoot" the number and multiply by 10, then take away 5. We can represent this in a multistep equation as (5 x 10) - 5 = 45. Since 10 is such a compatible number, we also use it to help with the multiples of 5. You can ask your SBLC mathematician about multiplying by 10, then dividing in half to multiply by 5. It's been a week of building mental math muscles for sure!
We worked SO hard, and we did it! All 45 SBLCers have thrown their hat in the ring and entered the "Name the Rover" contest! It was jaw dropping to see everyone working so hard to draft, revise, edit, revise again, edit again...until they were absolutely satisfied with their quality work product. So many writers realized the value of feedback and resources as they CRAFTED pieces. They checked rubrics, looked up research. WOW. The power in the work Fingers crossed! In writing we also examined COMMAS and their job. We know they are there to SEPARATE -- in several different ways. If we notice these important punctuation marks, we are able to unlock the key in identifying dependent clauses and prepositional phrases from independent ones that contain the subject and the predicate. We are analyzing, color coding, and practicing!
We reached the end of hearing Red's story from his own mouth -- and now we are challenged to make the world a better place. We realized that, as Red did, it's not our purpose here on Earth just to care for ourselves (play it "safe" as Red says). We want to dare boldly, to speak up when we see where we can improve things (be a buttinsky -- also Red's words). We have read far more than a story told by a tree. We are changed. In fact, the kids came up with an action step all on their own today. Ask them about the word "STAY."
Enjoy this gorgeous fall weather! Next week we've got Book Fair, a field trip, and much more!
SBLC mathematicians are continuing to develop an understanding of multiplication and division. We've created arrays of all sizes and are becoming experts at representing these two operations with a variety of representations. We're also considering that counting by fives is a great strategy for a problem like 5 x 9, but that we also need strategies that work for bigger numbers. For the 9s, we like that we can "overshoot" the number and multiply by 10, then take away 5. We can represent this in a multistep equation as (5 x 10) - 5 = 45. Since 10 is such a compatible number, we also use it to help with the multiples of 5. You can ask your SBLC mathematician about multiplying by 10, then dividing in half to multiply by 5. It's been a week of building mental math muscles for sure!
We worked SO hard, and we did it! All 45 SBLCers have thrown their hat in the ring and entered the "Name the Rover" contest! It was jaw dropping to see everyone working so hard to draft, revise, edit, revise again, edit again...until they were absolutely satisfied with their quality work product. So many writers realized the value of feedback and resources as they CRAFTED pieces. They checked rubrics, looked up research. WOW. The power in the work Fingers crossed! In writing we also examined COMMAS and their job. We know they are there to SEPARATE -- in several different ways. If we notice these important punctuation marks, we are able to unlock the key in identifying dependent clauses and prepositional phrases from independent ones that contain the subject and the predicate. We are analyzing, color coding, and practicing!
We reached the end of hearing Red's story from his own mouth -- and now we are challenged to make the world a better place. We realized that, as Red did, it's not our purpose here on Earth just to care for ourselves (play it "safe" as Red says). We want to dare boldly, to speak up when we see where we can improve things (be a buttinsky -- also Red's words). We have read far more than a story told by a tree. We are changed. In fact, the kids came up with an action step all on their own today. Ask them about the word "STAY."
Enjoy this gorgeous fall weather! Next week we've got Book Fair, a field trip, and much more!
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