Friday, May 20, 2011

May 20, 2011

Dear Parents,

Here are some highlights from this week:


Our Horizon Banner


With Ms. Beeken, Horizon students finished creating the HORIZON banner that will be hung above the lockers on the wall as you enter Horizon House. It started with a Kiva meeting where we showed many slides of different horizons, and we asked the kids to tell us how they felt looking at those slides. We got words from “Scared” to “fantabulous” to “hungry”. We got something like 180 different words. Then, we created a landscape using those very words, and painted around them. Many of the kids hadn’t seen the final banner until today. We showed it to everyone in our Kiva meeting, we sang The Horizon Cookie Baking Company song, and then we talked about how every time we see that banner, we should look at the words and let them remind us that we can be anywhere and still feel “awesome” and “proud” and “fantabulous” about who we are and what we have accomplished that day.

We will have every student sign their name to the back of the banner to celebrate that these kids are the Horizon founders.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (our read-aloud)

Mrs. Frisby, the field mouse has courageously faced threats like the Owl from the woods and the cat named Dragon to save her son, Timothy. Right now, she has ventured into the rosebush and three feet underground, she has met the leader of the Rats, Nicodemus. She has also met Arthur the engineer and she has met Justin, the leader of the guards. The owl , out of respect for her deceased husband, Jonathan Frisby, did not eat her, but instead, sent her to see if these mysteriously-intelligent rats could help her figure out how to save her buried-in-the-garden cinder-block home from Mr. Fitzgibbon’s plow. If she stays where she is, Timothy will die. If she takes her family and leaves, he will also die (from the chill of the spring air.) What will she do? The chapter we are on is called, “Powder for Dragon.” Hmmm. What could that mean? And how might it help her to save Timothy? Ask your child for his or her ideas.

In Math,

Second grade had math studio this week. The kids worked like dogs. They were figuring how to add numbers like

24
36
+28.



Some kids found 24 on the number line, then counted 36 more by ones, then counted 28 more by ones.

Other students counted up the “ones” first, and got 18. Then they counted up the tens and got 70. 70 + 18 = 88.

Other kids added the tens first: 20 + 30 + 20 = 70, then they noticed that 6 +4 = 10, so they changed the 70 to 80. What’s left? Just the 8. So, 80 + 8 = 88.

Finally, one student said, “I can do 28 + 30 + 20 = 78. Then I can just add the 6 and the 4. 78 + 6 + 4 = 88? A lot of students decided this was the most efficient way to solve these problems.

Amanda showed the class how she does it the “traditional” way … adding up the ones, and carrying the “1” to the tens column. The kids tried to think about why it is that that method works, and then, they figured that when you “carry” the 1, it’s the same as taking 18 and “trading” ten of those 18 “ones” for 1 ten and putting that ten (from 18) into the tens column to join the other “tens”.

Today, Evan challenged the class: “Hey guys, if you have 150 presents to divide up among 30 kids, how many presents does each kid get?”

First, they all drew a picture/diagram of the presents and the kids. They tried to give each kid ten presents, but that left half of the thirty kids without any presents. Harley said, “Wait! Let’s just give those fifteen kids half of 10, or five each. That way fifteen of them will get one half of ten, and fifteen will get the other half of ten…so, I guess that means they all get half of ten presents, or they all get 5 presents.” Andrew added, “Yah. That means that 150 divided into 30 = 5.”

In Mrs. Powers’ 1st grade Math, students are using paper and tape and markers and “money” to create their own farms with pens and animals. They are figuring area and perimeter and lots more!

In Writing, we wrote short pieces on “What would it be like if my backyard got completely flooded?” We also wrote letters to our buddy, Nico.

Our New Word Wall: thank you, Sally Polley, for redoing/moving our Word Wall! It’s beautiful. We moved it closer to the door so that kids would look more frequently at those words-to-know-in-first-and-second-grade.

In Science, second graders did an experiment on magnets, and first graders did an experiment sorting rocks.

A word about Friday Folders: due to assessments last week and Studio Math this week, (and there will be a couple more next week) I have, unfortunately, been out of the class for a total of four days in the last ten. Consequently, We did not do a Fundations test this week (or last week). The math and writing the kids have done, I have had time only to take notes on as I prepare for report cards.

And beyond that, there are times when I have to make a choice: either spend an hour preparing an engaging, effective lesson on the front end, or give that time to writing notes on a second-grader’s math work so they can take it home and maybe or maybe not look at it over the weekend. Most of the follow-up I do with these kids at this age happens right in the classroom -- usually verbally, (“Come here, Sean. Tell me what you were thinking here…” or “Jagger, what do you need after a period…?) or in writing I talk with them about notes I have put on their classwork as they they move, for example, through revisions towards a final draft. If you feel that you are not sure how your child is doing or if you have specific questions about a Fundations test or an end-of-unit math test, please don't hesitate to email me or call me so we can have a chat.

That’s it for now. Thank you everyone, for the goodies and the cards. We teachers feel very appreciated. Always. Today we were talking about how we are getting sentimental as we look out into Morning Meeting and see the faces of these second graders who will shortly be moving on. On to new Horizons.

Have a great weekend.

David