Monday, January 28

What a glorious day in Room 110! In Math, we practiced and practiced and practiced multiple digit multiplication. We worked with the value of numbers using the partial products method. This is kind of the long way of doing it but makes the traditional way much easier and helps them to see what and WHY we are doing things. Tomorrow, I will be teaching them the traditional way to multiply numbers (like we learned and know) so practice, practice, practice this week! That is really the only thing that is in this unit of study so we will not be spending too much time on this. Have your child teach you the partial products method... this is the best way to see their understanding. Ask them questions as you work together. They will feel like pros! The Beaded Moccasins was a little gross today as Mary learned what really happens when deer hides are tanned to make leather! Yuck! I did give a warning ahead of time though. In Reader's Workshop, we talked about plot and the plot roller coaster of stories. We are going to be changing reading groups up next week so this week, for work board, we have more of a task list and students will be working at their own speed to get things completed. In Writer's Workshop, we began the planning and research portion of our historical fiction personal experience narrative. Students may have brought books home today or may want to research on the computer some to help with their writing. Finally, in Social Studies, we read and discussed about the frontier wars in Ohio. We talked about the causes and effects of these battles and treaties. I saw some a-ha moments too! Ask your kiddo why they speak French in parts of Canada...