Fourth grade completed their geometry project today. Most students were able to figure out how to determine the area of a non-quadrilateral shape. Some needed a few questions to help them on their way but they did a spectacular job. Thursday it’s on to place value. I’m excited, which has made them a little nervous. I have no idea why.

In third grade, I read a myth about Minerva and Arachne. We compared that to the myth we’d read earlier about Athena and Arachne. We discussed how Greek and Roman myths were similar and often had the same gods and goddesses with different names. They immediately noticed that Roman gods had been named after planets. After explaining that the planets were named after the gods, we had a quick word lesson – which seems to be a fan favorite – on the root word tele when discussing the word telescope. We also looked at telephone, television, and telegraph. It’s a lot of fun to watch them work out word meanings as they’re told what individual word parts mean.

Second grade math continued to grapple with fractions. Today they use cuisenaire rods to put fractions on a number line. For the most part, students did really well putting 1/3, 1/4, 1/2, etc on a number line. They ran into a little trouble when asked to put 2/4 or 5/6 on a number line, but this lent itself it to a great conversation about number lines and how they work, along with the idea that while each piece might be 1/6, when you have 4 of them together, you have to write it as 4/6.