Writer's Workshop
      We've started a new unit of study: Persuasive Essays!  We learned that an essay must have a thesis, or strong opinion.  It also has to include reasons that support the thesis.  Essays are written in first person, and we plan them using a box & bullets.  An essay usually has 5 paragraphs, and it's important that the author is passionate about the topic.  This week, we wrote an essay about a person that is inspirational to us.

Reader's Workshop
     In Reading, we've been studying Informational Text.  Informational Text, A.K.A. nonfiction, gives us true facts and teaches us new information.  Informational Text includes a variety of features like labeling, photographs & captions, cut-aways, special bring (bold, italics, highlighted), and more.  We also practiced finding the main idea of a section of Informational Text.  We recorded the main idea along with three supporting details.  This format reminded us of our essay box a bullets (a thesis & three supporting reasons).

Math
     We have been studying multiplication for quite some time, and students are really getting good!  Thank you for continuing to help your child practice his/her facts at home.  This is making 2 by 1 and 2 by 2 digit multiplication a cinch.  Parents, I also have to compliment your bravery and willingness to learn new methods of multiplication.  Most of learned math in a very different way 20+ years ago, and I appreciate you understanding the importance of our young ones understanding the process of multiplication.

Social Studies
      Students have been learning about Missouri's culture.  We discovered that jazz music is an important part of our state's history as many jazz musicians got their start in Kansas City and in St. Louis.   Missouri also boasts many visual artists, people who create jewelry, sculptures, paintings, and other art we can see.  Many writers are a part of MO's literature, including Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mark Twain, and T.S. Elliot.  We also celebrate sports & recreation.  Many of us love watching football, baseball, and hockey, and Missouri offers many outdoor activities for us to do.

Ms. Meese stops by to watch students decorate cupcakes. 

Mrs. Heine & Miss Brockman show off their costumes!

Zoe, Jake, & Maddie show their cupcake-decorating skills.

Students & adults try to transport a ping pong ball from one end of the classroom to the other using pieces of blinds. 

Samantha is confident she's fished out the eyeball! 

Zach, Griffin, & Sam smile for the camera. 

Henry, Ben, & Anina watch the costume parade. 

Gaby, Zoe, Jacob, & Jack look positively spooky in their costumes! 

Ciara, Gage, Miles, & Alondra wish you a happy Halloween! 

Maddie, Rachel, Luis, & Javeion celebrate at Crestwood. 

Samantha shares the speech she wrote for Miss Roth.

Griffin, Ben, Gage, & Gaby pose with Miss Roth on her last day. 

Jacob, Alondra, Anina, and Jack celebrate Miss Roth's time with us! 

Zach, Miles, Javeion, Henry, & Luis squeeze in one last hug with Miss Roth. 

Miss Roth shows one of many gifts she received on her last day of student teaching. 

Math
 

Javeion explains his math thinking with the class.  He and his group worked together to solve a multiplication problem using repeated addition. 

Samantha shares her group's work involving the area model of multiplication. 

Anna shows students how her group solved an equation using multiple strategies. 

Maddie explains how her group used a model of rods and cubes to solve a multiplication problem.  

Writer's Workshop

     Students celebrated finishing their Realistic Fiction pieces!  Thank you to parents & Crestwood adults that were able to attend, read students' writing, and leave positive comments for students in both Miss Dausmann & Mrs. Branding's classes.

Students enjoyed donuts & juice or milk after reading the comments about their piece. 

Rachel & her dad read another student's story together. 

Jacob rereads Tomie dePaola's Oliver Button is a Sissy, a mentor text we used to help us understand the features of Realistic Fiction. 

Miss Roth leaves a compliment for Alondra. 

Gage writes a thoughtful comment after reading Javeion's piece.

Ciara reads Anina's work.

Jack & his grandma show off his story's cover.

Alondra & Anina read Anna's story together.

Anna & Miles study the work of Rachel & Miles. 

Maddie, her mom, and her grandma smile after reading Mile's published piece.

Henry & Ben pose with Ben's mom.

Gaby & Jacob pose with Mrs. Shrewsbury.

Social Studies

     For the past two weeks, students learned about the first Missourians:  Native Americans.  We studied photographs of Cahokia artifacts to help prepare for the field trip.  We learned about hunting and gathering methods as well as some similarities between the first Missourians and our current society.  We also created timelines of important Cahokia events and personal timelines which included our own life events. 

The class poses proudly at the top of Monks Mound.

Zoe, Jack, & Sam enjoy each other's company on the bus ride. 

Luis & Henry share their excitement for the trip. 

Griffin & Ben smile as we arrived at our destination.

Reader's Workshop

     In Reading this week, students practiced close reading skills using very specific strategies.  They practiced harvesting words.  To harvest words means to annotate and collect new words that we want to incorporate in our speaking and writing.  Students harvest words that are unfamiliar, interesting, and tricky.  We also practiced identifying the author's purpose using the acronym PIE: persuade, inform, entertain.  

Writer's Workshop

     In Writing, students finished up their Realistic Fiction pieces.  After editing, the kids published and printed their work.  We will have a Writing Celebration next Friday at 9:00 am.  Hope to see you there!

Math

     In Math, we learned about factors and multiples.  Factors are the numbers we multiply together to get a product, and multiples are the products a number and zero through infinity, including zero!  For example, 12's factors are 1,2,3,4,6, & 12.  Multiples of 12 include 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, and so on.  We also practiced solving word problems.  

Jacob & Miss Roth play chess during indoor recess.

Kids participate in a Just Dance brain break. 

Math

     In Math, students spent time exploring multiplication and and division.  We practiced creating fact families (two multiplication and two division problems using the same three numbers). We learned that the multiplication symbol actually means "groups of," and we spent time drawing and using manipulatives to create arrays for various multiplication expressions.  Students also played Multiplication Baseball and reviews skills using ALEKS. 

Alondra, Gaby, & Gage make equal groups using of M&Ms.

Maddie, Jacob, & Ciara split their M&Ms into colors before using repeated addition to find the total amount. 

Zoe, Anina, & Javeion separate the total amount into smaller parts using cups. 

Miles & Rachel plan devise a plan to find the total amount of M&Ms using multiplication. 

Ciara uses the Part & Whole method to model the relationship between multiplication and division.  

Writer's Workshop

      In Writing, students spent time publishing their Realistic Fiction story using Google Documents.  Students can access Google Docs. through their Lindbergh Google account, and they can access their work on any computer through the Google Website.  We learned how to create, title, share, and type in a document. 

Reader's Workshop

     Students were introduced into a new magazine: StoryWorks.  StoryWorks includes several genres including fiction, informational, poetry, opinion, and more.  We used the magazine to begin practicing Close Reading.  Close Reading is the process of studying a shorter, challenging passages for multiple reads.  Students learned some common annotating marks to help them stay engaged in their reading.  

Social Studies

     In Social Studies, students learned about two more United States regions: The West and the Midwest.  They studied a text and created a brochure to demonstrate their new learning.  They also participated in Midwest Jeopardy!  

Science

     Mrs. Branding and the kids learned about the different types of rocks and how each is made, including metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous.  

Homework

• Complete math rest review, test tomorrow (see key below).
• Spelling homework

Reminders

• Tomorrow is Picture Day!  

Homework

• "Show, Not Tell" Writing homework
• Math pages 103-104

Reminders

• Get midterm report signed and return tomorrow.
• Return Cahokia Mounds field trip permission slip and $6.00 at your earliest convenience. 

I'm working on making a Science tab...here's the links for today's device time:

Magic School Bus Games

National Geographic Videos

Math

     This week in Math, we spent time reviewing adding and subtracting with regrouping, a skill we learned and practiced in third grade.  We also practiced estimating sums and differences.  Later in the week, we learned the importance of annotating story problems in math.  Annotating helps us to find the important facts, decide what exactly we need to solve, identify unimportant information, locate any labels, and more.  

Alondra uses a highlighter to make important facts stand out. 

Zoe & Griffin show off their annotating skills.

Anina proudly shares how annotating can help us better understand a math problem.  

Writer's Workshop

     In Writing, we continued with our unit of study on Realistic Fiction.  We learned that writers organize their scenes into paragraphs.  We start a new paragraph when a new person speaks, when something big is about to happen, when time moves forward or backward, and when the setting changes.   We also learned about using dialogue in writing, as it infuses emotion into the story.  

Reader's Workshop

     We learned the nuts and bolts of fluent reading this week.  To read fluently involves reading voraciously, never feeling like we've had enough practice.  To be fluent readers, notice and react to punctuation.  We read with emotion, and phrase groups of words together, pausing to give the listener time to absorb and think about new information.  To become more fluent, we can practice repeated reading, using any text: poems, lists, songs, parts of stories, and more.  

Maddie, Jacob, Ciara, & Luis on Pajama Day

Henry, Gage, Alondra, Zach, & Gaby share their stuffed animals.  

Miles, Jack, Anna, Rachel, & Samantha look cozy in their pajama pants. 

Anina, Zoe, Griffin, Javeion, & Ben have fun on our Marble Celebration Day!