Our week has been full of research, multiplication, small group challenges and whole class challenges. We also had the opportunity to meet Greg Trine, author of the Melvin Beederman, Jo Schmo and Willy Maykit series. It was really fun to meet an author that most of the children knew through his books. He shared how he came to writing and how many years of writing and rewriting and rewriting again it took (12) before he had a story published in a magazine. It took six more years after that before he had a story long enough to become a book and then a series. Mr. Trine drew for us, held an evil laugh contest and had members of the audience act out a super hero story as he told it to us. Later on some in our class had the opportunity to meet in the library for lunch with the author. They learned about his upcoming books – a new series with a dog and a cat. We’ll have to look to see when that will be published.

S.E.L. – Self-Awareness

We added Self-Awareness and its three “I can” statements to our Social Emotional Learning chart. We are growing our understanding of how learning about ourselves can help us achieve more, while also creating a more peaceful learning environment for everyone. We shared books and tried to discover how feelings affect behavior and the choices we’re making. We are exploring our strengths and challenges and connecting this back to the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Additionally, we are learning how a positive outlook helps us meet challenges. We learned to add “yet” to statements when are not working out. “I don’t get it…yet.” “I can’t do this…yet.” One little word changes everything because it encourages us to see failures and mistakes as opportunities to learn.

At the end of last week during our discussion about Responsible Decision Making and Self-Management the class decided they would like to do something to reduce disruptive behaviors interfering with learning. Many shared management systems that had been used before to encourage students to be more mindful and respectful. And so we have come up with a process of keeping track of behavior. Talk to your child to see how s/he feels this process is helping make more time for learning.

Invisible Forces

We have begun a study of force. We began our week by flying the three different types of paper airplanes we’d created the week before. One was designed to go fast and straight. The second was designed to glide gracefully and stay aloft for a long time. And the final plane was designed to spin and turn.

From those experiences the class has worked in small groups to design a plane to represent their group in a competition.   Looking at how those four planes fly will help as discover more about the invisible forces that impact our lives – the pushes and pulls that effect every movement.

Learning to Use the Distributive Property

Last week we discovered how many multiplication facts we already know – they were as easy as doubling or counting by 5’s and 10’s. We may need to practice a bit for them to be automatic, but we can figure them out. Using this knowledge we’ve been working to solve problems that ask us to multiply larger amounts and to do this by using the distributive property.

Here’s one of the problems that was a choice this week:

Mackenzie decided to read the Clementine books.

There are seven books in the series.

Five of them have 160 pages.

Two of them have 176 pages.

How many pages will Mackenzie read to finish the series?

Using the distributive property it would be solved like this:

• 5 x 160 =                                             2 x 176 =
• 5 x 100 = 500                                    2 x 100 = 200
• 5 x 60 = 300                                      2 x 70 = 140
• 5 x 0 = 0                                             2 x 6 = 12

The final answers to the two parts come by adding the products of each equation. The class has been trying to practice using multiplication rather than adding or counting. It’s tempting to add because it is more comfortable and familiar. Because of that, it is also easier. In the first part of the problem 5 x 60 is a place value challenge – could it be hundreds? Almost as much as five hundreds? They begin to doubt themselves when multiplying where they wouldn’t when adding 60+60+60+60+60+60. When you review your child’s work with them this weekend, compliment him or her for effort made. Some have become very comfortable with the process, while others remain hesitant – they haven’t used the distributive property “yet”, but they will. All of them should feel proud of how they are each working to understand multiplication.

Bits and Pieces

• We’ll be working to write letters to soldiers next week for the 50 Letters in 50 Days project. If you’ve decided to do that with your family as well, please send them in with your child next week so they are ready to send on Veteran’s Day.
• The class is preparing for student led conferences. Please find a sign up for those to be held before, during and after school in Monday and Tuesday, November 21 and 22.
• Our Zoo will be opening on December 1 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. We are excited to be sharing our animals in their habitats and our first pieces of published informational writing. Save the date. More details will follow.
• Report cards will be coming home on December 2. We will meet the following week for parent teacher conferences. We will use the work your child shared along with other work and assessment samples to set learning goals for your child’s year.