Hour of Code this Week!

The 2015 Hour of Code is here, with 191,000 events around the world!

So glad to be doing Hour of Code again this week.  We are taking part in a global event aimed at introducing students to computer science and coding.  We will try to connect to the website and go through the tutorials a few times, but please feel free to try this at home too!  Here is the link: Hour of Code

2nd Mystery Skype

We had our second Mystery Skype this week.  Now that students know how to run one, I stayed out of it as much as possible.  What happened was surprising!  Students really started working as a team, coming up with questions and choosing people to go up to the front to ask the question.  At our debriefing after the event we were able to talk about all the great things that happened during this skype and what improvements we would like to see for the next time.  Hopefully, can get our next Mystery Skype scheduled at the end of December!

Great team work!!

Espanded Notation Method

Here is a great video that explains expanded notation method for division. This one seems to be the most popular method for division in our class!

Place Value Sections Division

Woo hoo, we started division this week and everyone is very excited about learning place value sections division (just kidding).  But really, it is not that bad once you understand what we are doing.  Here is a video showing how the algorithm works.  Hopefully I will be able to put more up later this week.

Math this week

This week we are looking at different ways to use place value in multi-digit multiplication. Here are some videos explaining different strategies.

Place Value Sections Method


Expanded Notation Method

Lincoln Peirce Visit!

BIG NATE came to our school today!  What a great presentation from Lincoln Peirce today.  He told us about how he began his career as a cartoonist.  He started by reading regular books and also comic books like Avengers, Donald Duck, and Peanuts.  Sometimes he would draw inside his comic books and try to copy the artist.  He seemed to like super heros a lot!  One time he made a cartoon hero he called Super Jimmy.  As he got older, he became a better artist and he finally hit it big with Big Nate. However, even that took two years to get printed.  One thing I did not think about when I read the Big Nate books is that the pictures can take sometimes up to 10 hours to draw for just one half of a page. 

Mindfulness

Are you interested in investigating mindfulness in our classroom this year.  Watch the video and let me know what you think about it!

UW-Madison helps students learn through well-being exercises
Mindfulness in an elementary classroom, brought to you by the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and...hip-hop?
Posted by University of Wisconsin-Madison on Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Check out these sites for vocabulary

http://graphwords.com/

https://www.wordnik.com/words/access

http://www.wordsmyth.net/

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/

http://www.bigiqkids.com/spellingwords/onlinedictionary.shtml

Studying Flight

Before our virtual field trip with Virgin Galactic, we need to discuss some ideas about flight.  Here is an article about how to make the BEST paper airplanes!  10 of the Best Paper Airplanes

Author Skype

Today we had a great time interviewing Kristin Levine in Virginia.  She wrote the book we are currently reading aloud (and hoping to finish before we leave for vacation!).  It was a very interesting interview and one of the most shocking things we learned is that it took her 4 years to write 'Lions of Little Rock.'  I was also surprised to learn that she didn't like writing at all when she was in school.  In fact, she said she wasn't a very good writer but she was really good at rewriting and making her writing better. Hmmmm maybe this is something all of us need to think about!!  What really made an impression on you during the interview??

Announcing New Quad Blog!

We are connecting with some new classes around the world this spring.  We have just connected with a new class in New Zealand.  Want to know a little bit more about New Zealand?  Check out these sites.... http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countries/new-zealand/

http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/new-zealand

Swim Day

One of the greatest things about gym at our school is the pool.  Everybody got to swim today.  It may be freezing cold outside with temperatures below zero, but our class was in the pool having fun today!!

Vocabulary

We are beginning a new study of important vocabulary words.  I am really pretty excited about it because there are so many fun things we can do with words.  Here is a game I found using some of the words we are studying this week, can you solve it??  Words are grouped in fours.  Find 4 words that all have the same meaning...have fun and good luck!

Happy Holidays from the White House!

As part of our Holiday Card exchange with 32 other classrooms, we sent holiday cards to the White House as well as Governor Walker and the local police department in December.  President Obama and his wife sent us back a holiday card today, and we were all very excited that they returned our greeting.  Here it is....

Sharks are Important!

Today we had a virtual field trip with a marine biologist living in the Bahamas.  She has been studying sharks for most of her life.  She gave us a lot of great information about sharks.

What was something that you learned from this field trip today that you didn't know before????  Leave a comment below...

Order of Operations! PEMDAS

This is not our class singing, but maybe we should consider our own movie sometime.  This class does a great job of teaching PEMDAS.