Friday, November 20, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
Why is Math Different Now?
Parents! Please take ten minutes to watch this great video explaining why math is different now! I often overhear people complaining about this "new math" and asking why it has to be different from when we were in school? Well the math we are doing really isn't different; we are just trying to get kids to understand why it works instead of memorizing tricks, so it looks different.
For example, if we just tell the kids the "add 3 zeros" when multiplying by 1000, we aren't teaching them. We are simply trying to get them to memorize a trick that happens to work. These tricks we are teaching them don't stick for the long term because they don't really understand the numbers and the math. If a child understands that multiplying by 1000 is using the base ten or place value model, they will be able to apply that understanding to lots of things (division, decimals, tipping in restaurants, and the list goes on)! Plus, telling kids to "add 3 zeros" is just bad math. We learn from the Identify Property of Addition that zero added to a number is a that number itself (5 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 5 not 5,000)...
If we teach our kids to understand numbers, they will start to fall in love with math! I promise!
For example, if we just tell the kids the "add 3 zeros" when multiplying by 1000, we aren't teaching them. We are simply trying to get them to memorize a trick that happens to work. These tricks we are teaching them don't stick for the long term because they don't really understand the numbers and the math. If a child understands that multiplying by 1000 is using the base ten or place value model, they will be able to apply that understanding to lots of things (division, decimals, tipping in restaurants, and the list goes on)! Plus, telling kids to "add 3 zeros" is just bad math. We learn from the Identify Property of Addition that zero added to a number is a that number itself (5 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 5 not 5,000)...
If we teach our kids to understand numbers, they will start to fall in love with math! I promise!
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Blanket Drive
Mann School is now participating in a Blanket Drive. Mrs. Sullivan is one of the community organizers and is thrilled that our Student Council has voted to have our school participate. We are joining Oak Park River Forest High School, Julian Middle School, and the local hockey teams in this Blanket Drive.
A blanket of snow is coming and there will be many cold days and nights ahead for Chicago's homeless. Please help us gather new and gently used blankets of all sizes for Chicago's shelters. Help us reach Mann's goal of 150 or more blankets.
Each homeroom will be making a "no sew fleece blanket" so students are active participants in this important service project. The student council generously donated the money to make this happen.
Mrs. Sullivan will also offer the following dates if students want to bring two pieces of fleece (one solid and one patterned work great; use width size of ream and then get 2 yards of each) to make a blanket with her: November 16th, November 23rd, December 1,December 7, and December 8th. from 3:00 - 4:15 in the library. Please send her an email if your child will be participating on a certain day.
***Please bring new or gently used blankets to school between December 1st and December 11th
Monday, November 9, 2015
Literature Circles
Literature Circles!
Students will be participating in literature circles in class, and they will be meeting in small groups to discuss the book that they are reading. The discussions will be guided by students' responses to what they have read. They will be discussing characters, events in the book, personal experiences related to the book, and other story elements. These literature circles will enable students to engage in critical thinking, collaborate with peers, and to reflect on what they have read. We will spend time this week in class reviewing the expectations for their literature circle roles.
The books have each been split into 6 manageable reading chunks. The kids will get a bookmark with their reading assignments on it. They will also write their reading assignment in their Assignment Notebooks. Reading chunks will be due on Mondays and Thursdays each week. The first reading assignment (read chunk, one role page & a sticky every 10 pages) will be due on Monday, 11/16.
Each book we selected fits into our first trimester theme of Accepting and Respecting. I assigned all the kids a book that I believe will be a good fit. What's really cool about these novels, is that none of theme are a traditional, prose novels. El Deafo is a graphic novel while Home of the Brave & Inside Out & Back Again are both written in the form of poetry. I think this is going to be a great exploration into different types of text structures for novels!
Home of the Brave
"Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He's never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter – cold and unkind.
In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she's missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care; an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in Kek's native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother's fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.
Bestselling author Katherine Applegate presents a beautifully wrought novel about an immigrant's journey from hardship to hope.
Home of the Brave is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year." - From www.goodreads.com
Inside Out and Back Again
"Inside Out and Back Again is a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama, this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family and immigration.
For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food . . . and the strength of her very own family.
This moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing received four starred reviews, including one from Kirkus which proclaimed it "enlightening, poignant, and unexpectedly funny." An author's note explains how and why Thanhha Lai translated her personal experiences into Hà's story." - from www.goodreads.com
El Deafo
"Starting at a new school is scary, even more so with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here she is different. She is sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends.
Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom, but anywhere her teacher is in school--in the hallway...in the teacher's lounge...in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it's just another way of feeling different... and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend?
This funny perceptive graphic novel memoir about growing up hearing impaired is also an unforgettable book about growing up, and all the super and super embarrassing moments along the way." - www.goodreads.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our lit circles will meet on Monday and Thursday mornings during the time students are in GTD reading. During this time, Mrs. Mariani's group is a fantastic novel that also fits into our theme, Wonder. If your child is in GTD, please know the way their novel study or lit circle is structured, may be different than what you see from me in blog posts or emails!
Students will be participating in literature circles in class, and they will be meeting in small groups to discuss the book that they are reading. The discussions will be guided by students' responses to what they have read. They will be discussing characters, events in the book, personal experiences related to the book, and other story elements. These literature circles will enable students to engage in critical thinking, collaborate with peers, and to reflect on what they have read. We will spend time this week in class reviewing the expectations for their literature circle roles.
The books have each been split into 6 manageable reading chunks. The kids will get a bookmark with their reading assignments on it. They will also write their reading assignment in their Assignment Notebooks. Reading chunks will be due on Mondays and Thursdays each week. The first reading assignment (read chunk, one role page & a sticky every 10 pages) will be due on Monday, 11/16.
Each book we selected fits into our first trimester theme of Accepting and Respecting. I assigned all the kids a book that I believe will be a good fit. What's really cool about these novels, is that none of theme are a traditional, prose novels. El Deafo is a graphic novel while Home of the Brave & Inside Out & Back Again are both written in the form of poetry. I think this is going to be a great exploration into different types of text structures for novels!
Home of the Brave
"Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He's never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter – cold and unkind.
In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she's missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care; an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in Kek's native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother's fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.
Bestselling author Katherine Applegate presents a beautifully wrought novel about an immigrant's journey from hardship to hope.
Home of the Brave is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year." - From www.goodreads.com
Inside Out and Back Again
"Inside Out and Back Again is a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama, this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family and immigration.
For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food . . . and the strength of her very own family.
This moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing received four starred reviews, including one from Kirkus which proclaimed it "enlightening, poignant, and unexpectedly funny." An author's note explains how and why Thanhha Lai translated her personal experiences into Hà's story." - from www.goodreads.com
El Deafo
"Starting at a new school is scary, even more so with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here she is different. She is sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends.
Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom, but anywhere her teacher is in school--in the hallway...in the teacher's lounge...in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it's just another way of feeling different... and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend?
This funny perceptive graphic novel memoir about growing up hearing impaired is also an unforgettable book about growing up, and all the super and super embarrassing moments along the way." - www.goodreads.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our lit circles will meet on Monday and Thursday mornings during the time students are in GTD reading. During this time, Mrs. Mariani's group is a fantastic novel that also fits into our theme, Wonder. If your child is in GTD, please know the way their novel study or lit circle is structured, may be different than what you see from me in blog posts or emails!
Wonder
"You can't blend in when you were born to stand out.
My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.
August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.
But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.
Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?
Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page." - From www.goodreads.com
"You can't blend in when you were born to stand out.
My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.
August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.
But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.
Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?
Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page." - From www.goodreads.com
Friday, November 6, 2015
Updates from the week!
"Mart" (AKA Math + Art)
To introduce our new math unit on Multiplication and Division, the kids worked out some really challenging problems involving area and perimeter, and then they turned it into art! Here's the sheet the kids started with!
Happy Halloween!! :)  |
| Happy Halloween from the Chrystall Coconuts!! |
Measurement in Buddies
Geography Bee
The PTO's 2015 Geography Bee is going to be held a week from Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m. following the International Fun Fest. Here is the link to the study guide, and you can sign up for the Bee near the office.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)