Week of 9/22/08

WOW! What a week!

Thanks to all of you who attended conferences this week. It was great seeing you all and being able to discuss your child's progress with you.

Here is a recap of our week;

Morning Read and Write:

Read 4 Today: This week we learned about the suffix "less" We learned that it means without. We also worked on using context clues to help us understand vocabulary in a passage, identifying the setting and problem in a passage, and the long "i" sound of igh! We also learned about quotation marks and when to use them!

Write 4 Today:

Write 4 Today concentrated words that are capitalized in an address. We studied many addresses and identified what needed to be capitalized in each one. We also learned about past-tense verbs. We used the correct past-tense verb in sentences. An example of this would be; One green frog ____ (saw, see, seen) the big bugs on the other side.

Reading and Social Studies: We continued our study of Explorers. We read a recipe for hard tack and learned what it was. We also completed activities that we had begun the week before with the other explorers.

Math: We completed chapter 2 this week and took the chapter assessment today. The class did well as a whole. Students were asked to complete the addition and subtraction problems on this test using the partial-sums and trade first algorithms. It is necessary for them to become proficient at these algorithms in order to understand future ones. From now on, unless the directions state that a specific algorithm must be used, they can choose a method that they like best to solve the problems. If you are still a little confused about these algorithms, visit these video presentations to help you out!

Partial-sums algorithm

http://www.swsd.k12.pa.us/baresvle/MathMaterials/alternat_algor.htm

Trade-first algorithm

http://www.swsd.k12.pa.us/baresvle/MathMaterials/alternat_algor.htm

There was an open response question on this test like the one that was on chapter 1 assessment. Here it is if you would like to try it out as a family!

A Brithday Dinner!

Mr. Brown is cooking an 18-pound turkey for Keron's birthday dinner.
The turkey must bake about 15 minutes for every pound.
For how long does the turkey need to bake? ____hours and _____minutes.
At what time should the turkey go into the oven for dinner to be ready at 5:00 pm?

We will begin chapter 3 on Monday.

The week was short due to conferences, but we still got a lot done! Have a great weekend and I will see you on Monday.