Monday, October 16

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! In the morning, students wrote in their journals - either about their weekends, or in response to the "Guess my Halloween Costume" prompt. Basically, for this activity, they had to describe their costume in detail, without giving it away, and then challenge the reader to guess what it is. I know the students did a similar writing a project a few years back, but it was fun to revisit it with all of their new skills.

I have officially marked the math quizzes and will send them home tomorrow! All around students showed that they've got the hang of place value and comparing numbers. Rounding is still a bit of a challenge but it's something we can keep working on as we move on to other topics. 

On that note - we started learning about 'regrouping' using the Golden Beads material. Regrouping is basically the process of 'carrying the one' and 'borrowing' in addition and subtraction. The golden beads make it easy to visualize that process so it doesn't just become a magical algorithm. But we will eventually be learning that algorithm too because it's a lot more efficient than the beads.

The students cut out their own personal sets of paper golden beads. They're not as good as the real thing (which we have three sets of), but they're great for working through problems together as a whole class.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and learned about the artist Jason Carter. We had some fantastic discussions about his artwork, and his artistic style. We brainstormed common elements found in all of his paintings - landscapes, animals, shapes, dark lines, and bold colours. The students tried their hand at Jason Carter-inspired art in their sketchbooks. We're warming up for our "Art Card Fundraiser", which is going to feature original artwork from the students, inspired by Jason Carter's work, but still incorporating tons of each student's individual styles. 

We ended our day with spelling practice.

Have a nice night,

Zac