Today the fourth graders completed their visual proof for What’s the Missing Side?  There were quite a few excellent conversations within groups as they tried to determine the best way to show off their thinking, as well as to ensure that their strategy was efficient. Tomorrow they will do a gallery walk to see the other groups’ work.

Third graders completed comparing their Cinderella stories. We had a discussion where we tried to determine what things were important to which cultures as we waded through the differences in each story. We had some great conversations – it’s today’s theme – and most students learned of Ramadan and Eid for the first time.

Though I’d planned for second grade to continue to work on building their 2-D and 3-D shapes, we were a little sidetracked by the fact that I’d rearranged the furniture. I have four trapezoid tables. Two are usually arranged into a hexagon, while the other two are pushed together to create a long trapezoid. Today all four were pushed together and students tried naming the table shape as soon as they walked in:

• It’s a rhombus
• No! It’s a trapezoid
• Wait! It’s a parallelogram

I try to be flexible and roll with their thinking whenever possible and this was definitely one of those days. We spent the day talking about vocabulary; specifically, we discussed word parts with meanings: quad is 4, tri is 3, etc. I gave them the meanings for lat (side) and gon (angle) and then gave them additional geometry words and asked them to determine their meanings. I think they were surprised by the fact that they could easily determine what a word meant by having the word parts.

Fourth grade reading took another circuitous route around our discussion today. One student asked a question about Africa and World War II. We ended up discussing maps, symbolic representations, the Ortelius frontispiece, tectonic plates, Pangea, and the African Rift Valley. I was sad to have to kick them out so they could get to lunch on time.

Third grade math continued their study of graphing. We’ll do a gallery walk and discussion tomorrow to discuss the do’s and don’ts of graphing. The goal is for them to understand that graphs are designed to help people understanding data quickly and easily. They’ll look at the graphs they’ve created to see if there are improvements that can be made based on that new information.

Fourth graders continued trying to determine the missing side of a rectangle with an area of 276 when one side has a length of 6. Today the last group determined the correct length of the remaining side. All three groups are working to showcase their thinking.  The explanatory part of the activities is definitely what is challenging for everyone these days. It’s an important part and we will continue to work on it, but I know it’s hard.

Third graders worked in new groups today to share their different Cinderella stories. They’ll have time to finish on Thursday. It was fun listening to students explain how their stories were similar, but not quite the same. I loved hearing how one was unable to go to a ball, while another was going to miss the Eid Festival, while yet another was unable to go to court and another to attend a feast. All little clues about what was important within that culture.

Second grade was on a field trip this morning so I did not see them for math. Be sure to ask them about their musical adventure!

Third grade came back for more hard work in the dungeon as we started a graphing activity. Students are learning about data and data collection in their classrooms. Students were given data about animals and allowed to choose what data they wanted to graph. From there, students were given very little guidance about what and how to graph. Tomorrow we’ll look at how they started and how to ensure that the data is presented in a way that makes it easy to read.

Fourth graders started a new activity today. It’s called What’s the Missing Side? We reviewed our work of a few weeks ago that asked them to construct visual proofs for multiplication. This activity asks them to determine the missing side of a rectangle if given the area and the length of one side. Needless to say this caused a lot of consternation as they grappled with the idea. Two groups have come up with a strategy – though both strategies are different – and one group is very close to determining a strategy to answer the question. The next step is to ask them to create a visual proof that explains their strategy to other students.

Each group in third grade reading has finished their assigned Cinderella story: they’ve read it, determined the important story elements, and filled out a plot diagram. Tomorrow students from each group will be redistributed into new groups where they will share their Cinderella stories with students from different groups. Our goal is to see how stories change based on the setting, but also on what is important to a culture. Students who finished earlier than others were allowed to choose a different Cinderella story to read.

Second grade is struggling a little in their exploration of geometry. They’ve been asked to create 2-D shapes and to describe their attributes. Precision is not necessarily something second graders have been asked to worry about. In the dungeon, as they like to call it, it is required. Groups have had to go back multiple times to revise their list of attributes if it was not quite accurate. Once they completed that, they were able to move on to 3D shapes. They will compare the attributes of 2D and 3D shapes by the end of the week.

Second grade reading quickly reviewed the story Four Feet, Two Sandals and together, we completed a plot diagram for the story. I then read I Want My Hat Back to them. On Friday, we’ll review the book and they will work in groups to determine the story elements for the book: characters, setting, problem and solution. They were also introduced to the “Somebody wanted but so” method of summarizing. Ask them to tell you about it – it’s a quick and easy way to summarize a book in a single sentence.

Fourth grade completed their visualizing numbers exploration. We had an excellent discussion about how to color-code some of the numbers.

• Why are you coloring that 6 the same as the 2, doesn’t it need to be its own color so that when we get to numbers that are multiples of 6 it shows?
• The only main numbers are 1, 2, and 3 (which was later expanded to add the number 5).
• So…if a number is a multiple of 12, it’s also a multiple of 2?

This is why we do math the way we do. I know it can sometimes drive you a little batty because it’s not the way you (nor I) were taught, but the conceptual exploration forces students to really grapple with the material in ways I never did. While this matters now, it will matter much more as they move into upper elementary and middle school  – when they are asked to apply what they’ve learned. They’ll know how to do it because they understand the mathematical reasoning behind it rather than simply the algorithm.

I read Four Feet, Two Sandals to the second graders today as we talked about plot diagrams. The story is of two girls in a refugee camp in Peshawar who share a single pair of sandals. I introduced the concept of a plot diagram and we will refer back to the story on Monday to help us fill it out. Because writing is an important focus this year, students will also be asked to think about how to use this plot diagram when they write their own story. We haven’t quite finished with the Who Am I? assignment, but we needed a short break before we get back to it.

Third grade math played a new game – and at least one student loved it so much he took some of the extra copies home so he can make you play it too! It’s called Don’t Break the Bank. Students were given a game board and a die. The game board consists of 9 empty boxes, arranged into 3 rows of 3. They roll the die and must decide where on the game board to put that digit. They do this for 9 rounds until the game board is complete. Each student must then add up their 3 3-digit numbers. In order to win, students must come as close to 1000 as possible without going over. This game helps to solidify understanding of place value, but also forces students to estimate and do a lot of mental math. It is fun, but it’s also a lot of work.

Fourth grade continued with the visualizing numbers activity. Today they were asked to take a picture of their color-coding and post it to Seesaw with an explanation. After the explanation was posted, I usually asked a follow up question regarding their understanding of the pattern. Being able to explain their mathematical thinking is an important skill on which we will work for most of the year. Problems of the week are designed to help with this as well.

Third grade reading continued their Cinderella reading. Today they spent more time delving into the story to determine the setting – which includes time and place – as well as the conflict, resolution, and climax. We had some really great discussions and some students were reminded that having background knowledge is important when reading new stories. The Islamic version of Cinderella had a reference to hajj and one of that group immediately knew that this referenced Mecca and Saudi Arabia. Looking for tiny nuggets like this within a story is an acquired skill and it’s a struggle sometimes for students who have always read quickly and easily, to be reminded that slowing down and paying attention to the small things is a really important part of reading.

Second grade continued to build 2D shapes. This part of the activity is taking a little longer than expected because, like the fourth graders, explaining their mathematical thinking is difficult. Students can easily build the required structures, but can’t always explain their attributes. We’ll work on this next week.

Fourth grade reading had another wide-ranging conversation about WWII and how it relates to the book they’re reading with Mrs. Rickabaugh. We talked about rules during war, the formation of the United Nations and the Geneva convention. We discussed chemical warfare and we watched a short video that contained an animation of Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen. Students were given the opportunity to walk away, if they chose, but it did really help them understand why it’s considered such a bad thing. One student, who can always be counted on to ask really great questions wanted to know if it was ever the right thing to do the wrong thing. We touched on that for a little bit, but that is one of those questions that will require a lot of time to think about and discuss. We’ll definitely bring that up again for discussion.

Third grade math continued their study of area. While we will wrap this up on Friday, one group is now pushing their understanding of area and perimeter while a few of the other groups are still struggling to understand just how to prove an area. We’ll have a discussion on what they’ve discovered on Friday.

You won’t hear from me on Thursday, as I will be attending the Camp Albemarle field trip with the fourth graders.

In addition to the students I see in my classroom, throughout the week I also push in to classes so that I can work with more students. I am seeing second, third, and fourth grades classes in writing – which are some of my favorite time slots of the week and I’m pushing into kindergarten math classes on Fridays.

Today my fourth grade math group joined my Seesaw class. They’ll be getting a problem of the week posted in Seesaw and they will post their answers there. These problems require application of the math skills they’re learning and involve having to explain their answers. I sent an invitation to the parents of students in that group. If you join, you’ll be able to see and comment on their work.

Who am I? continues to be a question the second grade is asking itself. We spent some quality time writing today. Students were asked to write a paragraph rather than a list. I asked them to pick one thing they were (answers included: smart, brother, sister, basketball player, girl, and dog lover). They then had to add details to support that sentence, which proved to be more challenging than some expected.

Third grade continued to investigate the concept of area. One group was able to prove the area of a rectangle was 24, even when it was made diagonally rather than along the grid lines. The other groups think they’ve got it, but are still working on how to explain it in a way that they can replicate with a different number. This is a big part of math class – having to explain your thinking – and can be frustrating. They’ll get it, though maybe not as quickly as some would like.

The rain meant that the fourth grade trip to Camp Albemarle was postponed until next Thursday. Students were given a choice between playing Contig or working with the Prime Climb chart, which is something they started last year. Contig is a math game that requires students to add, subtract, multiply, or divide as well as to think strategically about their target numbers.  Prime Climb asks students to take the pattern from the numbers 1-20 and then continue the pattern with the remaining numbers from 21-100.

Third grade continued their study of Cinderella by reviewing the conflict, resolution, and plot. Once we reviewed those pieces, students were allowed to preview different versions of Cinderella including Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, and Islamic versions. Students then ranked their choices for which they’d like to study. Tomorrow they’ll start to read their version and think about how it is similar and/or different to the version I read to them.

Second grade math completed its beginning algebra study. Most students were frustrated at one point or another during the past two weeks, which is good news for me though I suspect students would likely disagree with the idea that that is good news. Students are very comfortable adding and subtracting with small numbers as well as adding and subtracting using unknowns and abstract symbols.

Fourth grade reading had a chance to ask a million questions about the Battle of Britain since there was no reading assignment due today because of the expected field trip. We had great discussions, as always, though it was difficult to stay on track as their questions usually take us to places I hadn’t quite anticipated.

Third grade math has taken their study of multiplication as an array and moved into the study of multiplication as area. Today students were asked to take square tiles to make as many different rectangles as possible with an area of 24. They had to draw and label those rectangles on dot or graph paper. Once they’d conquered that, they had to draw a rectangle with an area of 24 on the diagonal and then prove how they know it has an area of 24. No one has yet been able to prove it, but I heard a lot of good conversations about how to go about it.

The fourth grade math group played the same game as yesterday, with a tweak to the rules. Yesterday they could only add pairs of numbers to help create a multiplication equation. Today they were given a 12-sided die, a 9-sided die and two 6-sided dice. They were allowed, and encouraged, to combine the numbers in any way possible that would allow them to play an array on the board. They added, subtracted, multiplied and divided. Most importantly, they had to strategize in order to come up with equations that worked with the space left on the board. I heard many good math conversations as they worked to find ways to get themselves on the board.

Third grade reading reviewed the basics of story elements. While this was met with some groans of, “We’ve already done this,” I added some depth to their understanding by explaining that setting is both the time and place a story takes place and asked them to consider the words conflict and resolution rather than just problem and solution. I read them one version of Grimm’s Cinderella. This one was certainly different than the one they’ve seen on TV and/or read. There was definitely some groaning as I read them the gross parts. Once we were finished, we reviewed the characters and the setting. When I see them again on Thursday, we’ll review the conflict and the resolution, while also focusing on the plot. Next week students will be working in groups to read Cinderella stories from different cultures. They’ll compare the story elements between their version and the original I read to them. Students will then be asked to compare between their versions.

Second grade math continued their exploration of algebra. Most students have now gotten the hang of it, but still need a bit of practice. As they do, students are being given more challenging problems practicing the same skill. As students show they’ve mastered every type of problem on that front, they’re moving into different types of problem solving. Just as we expect classroom teachers to differentiate within a classroom for the wide range of abilities, I also must differentiate within my classes for the same reasons. This is something that happens in every class at Johnson.

Fourth grade reading learned how to use Padlet, which is a website that allows them, using their school-issued Google account, to create an account, to ask and answer fellow students’ questions and to ask them of me. While I may well answer most of the questions, students were already answering each other’s questions today – which was good because I didn’t always know the answer. They’ve been given the option of letting this replace the use of post-it notes for their reading assignments. Once we conquered Padlet, we broke out some old-fashioned paper maps to answer a question about the Soviet Union. As usual, while we started with a WWII question, we ended up covering a wide range of subjects from the break-up of the Soviet Union to the break-up of Yugoslavia. We ended with a question about how countries are formed, which is going to require a bit more time than we had this afternoon.

We didn’t have our entire group today for 3rd grade math as one class was in iSTEM. So that they didn’t miss anything new, I broke out one of their favorite games – 24. If you’ve never heard of it – ask your child about it. It encourages students to think flexibly about numbers and strengthens their computational fluency. Though this is often done competitively, this group prefers to work collaboratively, which I love.

Fourth grade math reviewed the order of operations in order to play Cover the Field. We reviewed the role parenthesis play in math.  Students played in pairs. Each pair received 3 regular dice and 1 9-sided die. They had to decide how to add two pairs of numbers in order to make a multiplication equation. Their goal was to cover as much of the graph paper they were given. While this seemed like an easy game, students soon learned it was not. They had to combine the numbers carefully so that their array would fit in the remaining spaces, they had to estimate, and they had to plan. Tomorrow they’ll play again, but with a slight change that will make the game both more difficult, but allow them to play for longer.

Third grade reading had an “easy” day as they were given time to read while they were with me. Tomorrow we’ll start discussing the role setting plays in a story and how changing the setting affect the rest of the story.

Most of second grade math continued to work on their beginning algebra assignments. One group was struggling so I pulled them back to my table, which we call the firepit. Sitting at the firepit, we walked through the problem with which they were struggling. The most important part of the conversation was reminding students that it’s smart to ask for help when you need it and that they’re likely to need it while they’re with me. A few students moved onto a more challenging aspect of the algebra by having to figure out the value of sea creatures in a grid rather than simple equations. That group said that was a lot of fun, but still didn’t like having to explain their thinking. A final group is working on solving mysteries called “Mathological Liar,” which requires them to use math clues to determine the culprit behind some crime.

Second grade came back for more during their reading time. We continued to talk about who they are. They were asked to write who they thought they were. Most students started to write a list rather than explaining why they might be one or two things. I asked them to take a break from their writing and asked them to help me write a paragraph about who I was. It was decided that I was the dungeon keeper, with white hair, who wears black when I give kids hard work. They’ll get back to work on their paragraphs tomorrow, hopefully adding more details.