Happy Friday! Another week down, and one to go before vacation.
Here is this week's rundown:
Math: Our main focus this week was on creating decks of fraction cards. The "wholes" were made up of blank squares or squares divided into thirds or fifths, and the students had to decide which whole to use to make 3/12, 2/10, etc. This was harder than I anticipated, but they worked in groups and helped each other. Today, each group spent some time comparing each card in their deck to landmark numbers like 0, 1/2, 1, and 2. They are getting better at noticing equivalent fractions and learning to put fractions in order!
Reading: This week, I continued assessments while the class had free reading time. We are working hard to build our stamina as readers, trying to really dig in to read for 30 to 45 minutes with no interruptions. This is harder in a classroom full of peers than it is at home, because there are clearly more distractions! But we keep working at it, and we will get there. The students also wrote letters to me about their reading this week -- telling me about the themes, the main ideas, the characters, etc. I have not read them all yet, but I look forward to it!
Writing: We are in the final days of our persuasive writing unit. The students are working on making sure they have an introduction with a hook, a thesis with 3 solid reasons, and body paragraphs with lots of good evidence for each reason. We've had a lot of practice with this format, so it is definitely getting easier, and I am excited to see them all understanding what a paragraph is!
We finished watching Cool Runnings today, and the class really seemed to love it. They are asking for another movie, but I think we will wait until after vacation. Now that we have been informed that they can talk without their masks on, I'd rather let lunch be a social time rather than a time to look at a screen.
We have been cleared to go to Camp Swampy again next Friday! I will keep a careful eye on the weather and be in touch with you again mid-week to verify, but we are all looking forward to seeing our forts and being in that special place again!
Please check backpacks today for notices from the library. Many students have overdue books!
That's all for this week! Enjoy your weekend.
