While I was at this meeting Richie helped the students experiment with wheels and axles. They configured different designs using large and small wheels in a variety of combinations. See the pictures below and the Foss Science Balance and Motion website for more information about the experiments we have been doing and an interactive "roller coaster design" game your whole family can enjoy.
You'll also see pictures of us celebrating Sophia's birthday this week with cupcakes that had mini marshmallow snowpeople on them, and a applesauce and cinnamon dough project with Sophia's Mom and brother. You may have seen some of the extra dough come home on Wednesday afternoon in a Ziploc bag. Your child can use the dough to make something and set it out to dry for a few days and it will harden into a cinnamon-scented masterpiece! MaryJo suggests that you bake it at 200 degrees for about an hour to thoroughly dry it out. Our masterpieces will come home at the end of next week.
This week in math we looked at patterns in addition facts, such as what happens when you add zero or add one, and when you switch the order of numbers (2+3=5, 3+2=5, 5=2+3, and 5=3+2). We also started to memorize the "doubles" (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 ...) and the pairs that add up to 10 (0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5). Please help your child practice those kinds of problems at home so they can become automatic and use those facts to help them solve similar problems. Up until this point we have been using manipulatives like pennies, fingers, calculators, or drawing a picture to solve addition problems, and throughout the rest of the year we will be encouraging students to do more "mental math" and build off the addition facts they have memorized. For example, if you know 6+6=12 then you can easily figure out 6+7. Many of the students are using this strategy already in addition problems but aren't as comfortable using it in subtraction problems.
We also introduced the Function Machine in math, where students have to figure out the "rule" that is being applied to numbers. This is very similar to the Frames and Arrows number patterns students have been doing, but it is usually displayed with a box showing numbers going in and out, and then the input and output numbers are in a table or list. It can be a bit of an abstract concept for students and the visual organization often confuses them, so I try to simplify it by asking students how to get from the first number (input) to the second number (output). This week we wrote a friendly letter to our buddies in first grade at Northeast Elementary School who will be going on the field trip to the Museum of the Earth with our class on March 9. We should be receiving letters from them soon and will communicate with our pen pals throughout the rest of the school year!
Next week we will study these wight words: gave, keep, house, name, had
Please make sure your child has not accidentally brought home someone else's snow pants, and be sure that your child's name is in every article of clothing that comes to school! Also make sure your child has extra pants, socks, and underwear here at school for when snow accidentally gets clothes wet during recess.
Please note that students are dismissed at 11:00 on both Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6. Conferences will take place both afternoons. Scroll down to sign up for a conference time if you have not already done so (I will email you or send a note to confirm your requested day/time).
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