Parents Notes
October 26-30, 2009
No ARTS block on Tuesday due to grade level planning with the ARTS staff for the 2nd nine weeks.
MATH
This week we continue to work with large numbers. We will continue to work with the “base ten blocks” (Please have your child use the orange, paper version we sent home last week.) A new strategy we'll be introducing this week is the “open” number line. This is a line with no numbers on which the students write their “counting up”. Example:
NUMBER THINKING for 27 + 18 : “I'll start at the largest number, 27. Since 18 is 1 ten and 8 ones, I will first skip-count up 10, then add 3 ones to get to the next 10 (40). There is 5 more left in the 8, so I'll skip-count up to 45.
__________+10_____+1 +1 +1____+5______
27 37 38 39 40 45
(Note: I can't show the curved 'jump lines' they will be drawing on the top of the line.)
Students will need to be able to:
· make reasonable estimates of the number of objects in a collection with fewer than 100 objects;
· read, write, compare (less than <, more than >), and order numbers through 999
· round 3 digit numbers to the nearest 100 (Example: 356 is rounding to 400. The “rule” is any number that has 50, or 5 tens, and above is rounded up to the next 100.)
· recognize, extend (continue), create, and explain number patterns of addition as represented in charts, tables, and varied forms of skip counting. Skip counting is the term for counting by 10's, 5's, 2's, 3's, 4's, etc. These patterns do not always start with 0 or 1. Example: 6, 16, 26, 36 is a pattern of adding 10, starting at 6.
An example of a chart would be # of People/Fingers
· use ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.)
· solve addition story problems and problems from graphs using large numbers.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS / READING
Phonics / Spelling: The Long i sound can be spelled different ways:
i with a silent e (bike), igh (light), ie (limited use: lie, die), and y at the end of words with no vowel in front of it (cry, dry, shy, fly, etc)
Vocabulary Skills: Using a Thesaurus to find Synonyms (words that mean the same)
fluttered, giggled, peered, recognized, snuggled, vanished
Comprehension: 1. Making Inferences 2. Asking Questions during and after reading
Writing: Non-fiction and Friendly Letter
Grammar 1. Possessive nouns; 2. Contractions
Study Skills: Using illustrations and captions in nonfiction text
SCIENCE: WEATHER
Last week we did not finish all of the planned work due to some schedule changes and an early dismissal I forgot to take into account. This week we will begin our experiments to measure evaporation. Students will get to demonstrate precipitation using a cotton ball and water. Condensation will be demonstrated by teacher. We will extend the naming of clouds to 6 types. The 3 main categories of clouds are: stratus (low lying blanket of clouds), cumulus (the “puffy” clouds), and cirrus (very high wispy clouds made of ice crystals).
Fog is a type of stratus cloud that touches the ground. Cumulonimbus are large, tall, dark, puffy storm clouds. Nimbostratus clouds are low level dark storm clouds that cover the sky like a blanket.
