Raney's Rock Stars: Week of March 8, 2021

This week was filled with beautiful weather, muddy boots, soggy snow gear, and lots of learning! With temperatures reaching above 40 degrees almost every day, it was easy to get back into our normal routine of being outside more often. By Thursday, we were able to spend the entire day outside. It was wonderful!

This week we had a special performance from one of our reading groups. This group has been working with Mrs. Mock for a few weeks on the Velvetine Rabbitt reader's theater. Through reader's theater, students get a chance to focus intently on their intonation when reading, as well as the use of dialogue within a text. On Friday this group was able to present their play to the rest of the class. I was very impressed by this group as well as all of our audience members who made our classroom a safe space where others felt comfortable taking this academic risk.

While outside on Thursday, students were able to write new forest poetry. This is something we haven't done since the fall but no one seemed rusty in their poetic skills. Their pieces were absolutely magical and the inspiration for our Writer's Celebration on Tuesday. Hopefully, many of you will be able to join us for their readings. If you need the Google Meet link, please contact me directly.

In math, we began our next unit, learning fractions. At the beginning of the week, we focused on the importance of fractions being equal (fair) pieces. Everyone understood the importance of sharing a cookie, sandwich, or their favorite candy bar equally! Next, we built fractions using polygon pieces. Students took time to build and compare unit fractions based on their size. Finally, we built a fraction number line between the trees in our classroom, comparing several fractions across the same line. This allowed students to identify equivalent fractions as well.

Here are some activities to spark conversation around fractions:

Make a grilled cheese sandwich, ask your child if they want their sandwich in halves or fourth? Have them explain which way will give you more/less pieces and how do they know.

Pull various measuring cups out. Have your child place the measuring cups in order from smallest to biggest. Ask them to read the fractions on each cup.

Measuring cup extension-Have your child predict how many "scoops" it would take for each measuring cup to equal 1 cup. Then, allow your child to test of their prediction. Have a strong conversation around how important the denominator (bottom number) is, and how it tells you how many scoops you would need to make 1 whole cup. They could even pour their scoops into the 1 cup measuring cup to see for themselves.

Ask them questions such as:

Which is longer: half of a show or half of a movie? explain why

Which is heavier: 1 pound of flour or 1 ounce of sugar? explain why

Here are some pictures from the week: