Happy Friday!
I apologize for the missing blog posts for this week! My blogger website was having a glitch and would not allow me to access or post anything, but the issue seems to be resolved:)
This week in math, we finished up our work with multiplication. Students learned a handy trick to help them with their 9 time tables using their fingers! Please have your student show you this trick. We began our work with division by learning a new game called "Feed the People." This game shows the process of division by sharing. We also began learning how to solve division questions using pictures and arrays. Students learned that if they know their multiplication facts, they can use this knowledge to help them divide as they are directly related.
In language arts, students had the opportunity to finish up their stories from the previous 2 weeks. We also spent some time writing thoughtful messages in cards to the support staff in our building for "Support Staff Appreciation Week." The cards were delivered and highly appreciated by these amazing humans who help our school run as smoothly as it does. To practice writing story endings, we watched an animated story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Students were tasked with creating their own creative ending to the story that is different from the original.
In social studies, we had some great discussion about First Nation's tribes in the past and the roles and responsibilities that the men, women, and children had. Students learned that the men were often expected to take on the dangerous role such as hunting and protecting, and the females were responsible for raising the children, taking care of the tipis, and doing other household jobs. Children were responsible for learning from their parents and the elders around them to begin learning their roles for when they grew up. Students filed out a Venn diagram to compare the roles of men and women.
In science, students rotated through three stations that related to our learning about simple machines. Students predicted and tested that using a roller would make the job of rolling out plasticine easier. They also completed a task using a can and gravel to determine that the less friction the can had, the easier it would be to roll the can over the gravel. We also began creating wagons using paper that we will be using to teach the students about the different placement of the axel on the wheels next week.
On Friday, we did stage one of a cherry blossom art project using watercolor paint. We will be using acrylic paint next week to create the image of a tree next week.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and get out to the enjoy the wonderful sunshine!