Literacy:
Our essential question this week was "How do animals adapt to challenges in their habitat?" Animals adapt to challenges in their environment such as the weather, type of land, and plants that grow there. Their fur might change color to help them blend into the natural features where they live. They might seek shelter in dens or caves that are no longer used by other animals. The texts we read included "African Lions", "Gray Wolf! Red Fox!", "Amazing Wildlife of the Mojave", and "Little Half Chick". We worked on the comprehension strategy: reread, the comprehension skill: compare and contrast, the genre: expository text, and the vocabulary strategy: sentence clues. The children worked with a partner using a venn diagram to compare and contrast the gray wolf and the red fox. They also enjoyed viewing wolves on the live wolf cam at the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN. We worked on Greek and Latin roots, main and helping verbs, and spelling words with variant vowel sounds.
Our essential question this week was "How do animals adapt to challenges in their habitat?" Animals adapt to challenges in their environment such as the weather, type of land, and plants that grow there. Their fur might change color to help them blend into the natural features where they live. They might seek shelter in dens or caves that are no longer used by other animals. The texts we read included "African Lions", "Gray Wolf! Red Fox!", "Amazing Wildlife of the Mojave", and "Little Half Chick". We worked on the comprehension strategy: reread, the comprehension skill: compare and contrast, the genre: expository text, and the vocabulary strategy: sentence clues. The children worked with a partner using a venn diagram to compare and contrast the gray wolf and the red fox. They also enjoyed viewing wolves on the live wolf cam at the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN. We worked on Greek and Latin roots, main and helping verbs, and spelling words with variant vowel sounds.
Math:
This week we learned about the order of operations in longer mathematical problems using PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally). This means we solve the problems inside the parentheses first, exponents second, multiplication and division from left to right third, and finally addition and subtraction from left to right. The children practiced solving problems with parentheses and also placed parentheses around numbers to make the equation true. We applied this skill to scoring in basketball and also worked with name collection box problems that had parentheses. We learned about extended multiplication and division facts and solved puzzles with extended facts.
This week we learned about the order of operations in longer mathematical problems using PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally). This means we solve the problems inside the parentheses first, exponents second, multiplication and division from left to right third, and finally addition and subtraction from left to right. The children practiced solving problems with parentheses and also placed parentheses around numbers to make the equation true. We applied this skill to scoring in basketball and also worked with name collection box problems that had parentheses. We learned about extended multiplication and division facts and solved puzzles with extended facts.
Social Studies:
We learned about some basic Chinese symbols and made red Chinese scrolls! We also watched a short video to introduce us to Ancient China, found China on the map, and colored the flag of China. Below are photos of our "Dragon Dance".
We learned about some basic Chinese symbols and made red Chinese scrolls! We also watched a short video to introduce us to Ancient China, found China on the map, and colored the flag of China. Below are photos of our "Dragon Dance".
We celebrated our 100th Day of school on Monday! We completed a writing project and started working on solving some fun puzzles using our 100 grids in math. Below are the images of our "100 year old" students using an aging app!
Future World Changer:
Luke Klaphake was our featured student this week! If they made a postage stamp of Luke, he would be sitting on his tractor. He likes to drive tractors and snowmobiles. A person from history he would like to meet is George Washington. In social studies he would like to learn about the animals that live in Canada. He would like to visit Canada and Alaska because it's cold there. Luke likes to fish and take care of animals on his farm. His favorite color is blue, favorite seasons are spring and fall, favorite subject is math, favorite foods are spaghetti and pizza, and favorite sport is football. Luke shared his collection of tractors and Lego creations! He told us about his family and answered questions from his classmates. He is sure to be a "Future World Changer"!
Luke Klaphake was our featured student this week! If they made a postage stamp of Luke, he would be sitting on his tractor. He likes to drive tractors and snowmobiles. A person from history he would like to meet is George Washington. In social studies he would like to learn about the animals that live in Canada. He would like to visit Canada and Alaska because it's cold there. Luke likes to fish and take care of animals on his farm. His favorite color is blue, favorite seasons are spring and fall, favorite subject is math, favorite foods are spaghetti and pizza, and favorite sport is football. Luke shared his collection of tractors and Lego creations! He told us about his family and answered questions from his classmates. He is sure to be a "Future World Changer"!
This March, our classrooms at Albany Elementary will be collecting non-perishable food items in partnership with MN FoodShare's March Campaign. According to their website, the March Campaign is "The largest grassroots food and fund drive in the state, the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign brings together various community organizations, businesses, and faith communities to help stock nearly 300 food shelves statewide." Our items will be donated to the Albany Food Shelf.
To make this a fun experience, the student council has decided to turn it into a month-long contest among the classrooms and grade levels. The contest will run for four weeks: March 1-5, 8-11, 15-19, and 22-25. Every morning the students will bring in any items they wish to donate. These may include nonperishable food items, or items such as Kleenex, toilet paper, diapers, etc. Our student council members will tally up the total of donated items, then bring them to Mr. Resley's classroom. The classroom that brings in the most at the end of each week will win additional free time the following week.
To make this a fun experience, the student council has decided to turn it into a month-long contest among the classrooms and grade levels. The contest will run for four weeks: March 1-5, 8-11, 15-19, and 22-25. Every morning the students will bring in any items they wish to donate. These may include nonperishable food items, or items such as Kleenex, toilet paper, diapers, etc. Our student council members will tally up the total of donated items, then bring them to Mr. Resley's classroom. The classroom that brings in the most at the end of each week will win additional free time the following week.