Dear Grade 2/3 Families,
Our classroom was truly a workshop last week. Had you come in our classroom you’d have seen the following:
In Grade 2
Math Workshop: We will continue working with subtraction this week that involves subtracting two-digit numbers with regrouping. We will play some games that help us practice our subtraction skills, and we will work with manipulatives as well.
Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop: It has been exciting to see the children start to use some of the strategies that we have been learning about. We are seeing good writing from the children, and it’s been fun to see how excited they are to try using the strategies to make their writing better. The children continue to read series books, and they will spend more time working with others who are reading the same series.
In Grade 3
Math Workshop: We took a closer look at two division strategies. The “Sharing Out” strategy reminded many students of the game Leftovers we played at the beginning of our division unit. Another strategy is called the “Partial Quotients” strategy, which reminded many students of the distributive property of multiplication because it requires breaking apart the dividend into “friendlier” parts so the problem is more comfortable to solve.
Ie: 34 2=
(20) (14) 2
20 2 = 10
14 2 = 7
34 2= 17
The way this would look using the “sharing out” strategy might look something like this: Sharing out 34 between 2.
Our classroom was truly a workshop last week. Had you come in our classroom you’d have seen the following:
- children researching
- adults chasing down supplies
- materials everywhere
- volcanoes and caves being built
- crystals forming
- power point presentations being made
- reports being written
- landslides sliding
- questions being answered
- lots of dirty hands
In Grade 2
Math Workshop: We will continue working with subtraction this week that involves subtracting two-digit numbers with regrouping. We will play some games that help us practice our subtraction skills, and we will work with manipulatives as well.
Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop: It has been exciting to see the children start to use some of the strategies that we have been learning about. We are seeing good writing from the children, and it’s been fun to see how excited they are to try using the strategies to make their writing better. The children continue to read series books, and they will spend more time working with others who are reading the same series.
In Grade 3
Math Workshop: We took a closer look at two division strategies. The “Sharing Out” strategy reminded many students of the game Leftovers we played at the beginning of our division unit. Another strategy is called the “Partial Quotients” strategy, which reminded many students of the distributive property of multiplication because it requires breaking apart the dividend into “friendlier” parts so the problem is more comfortable to solve.
Ie: 34 2=
(20) (14) 2
20 2 = 10
14 2 = 7
34 2= 17
The way this would look using the “sharing out” strategy might look something like this: Sharing out 34 between 2.
Most learners finished writing their multiplication story problems. It’s amazing how solving a multiplication word problem is so much easier than creating one of our own!
In Readers’ Workshop, we continued looking at different non-fiction texts and sorted out several non-fiction books into categories. Narrative non-fiction is a class favorite! We also took a closer look at indentations in text. We talked about how indentations are a way to show the reader that a new paragraph is starting indicating a topic change or that dialogue is happening.
In Writers’ Workshop, writers finished up their expository non-fiction pieces. Some started a second one, while others gathered a new idea from their gathering journal to begin a new piece of their choice. We took a look at our writing to see where indentations might be in order if there is a change in topic or to indicate a time change.
In our 2/3 learning community
IB Unit Inquiry: This week during IB time we worked diligently to finish up our projects-- using our rubrics and project management chart to guide us. Those who finished presented their projects with a loud, clear voice and answered questions. We also shared our learning with the 5th graders! On Wednesday, we will continue have an Open House for 1st graders. If you are available at 12:45 this Wednesday, swing by to the Open House to take a look at how we individually understand how the earth’s surface is constantly changing and reshaping itself.
Important Dates and Reminders:
January 17, PJS Curriculum Night @ 7:00-8:30pm *This is a chance for you to visit your child’s classroom for next year. Current 3rd grade parents should attend the 4th grade presentation. Current 2nd grade parents should come to our presentation which will be about the 2nd and 3rd grade curriculum for next year.*
January 19, Pizza Thursday
January 20, Friday Focus
January 30, Monday - ASG - Open Mic
In Readers’ Workshop, we continued looking at different non-fiction texts and sorted out several non-fiction books into categories. Narrative non-fiction is a class favorite! We also took a closer look at indentations in text. We talked about how indentations are a way to show the reader that a new paragraph is starting indicating a topic change or that dialogue is happening.
In Writers’ Workshop, writers finished up their expository non-fiction pieces. Some started a second one, while others gathered a new idea from their gathering journal to begin a new piece of their choice. We took a look at our writing to see where indentations might be in order if there is a change in topic or to indicate a time change.
In our 2/3 learning community
IB Unit Inquiry: This week during IB time we worked diligently to finish up our projects-- using our rubrics and project management chart to guide us. Those who finished presented their projects with a loud, clear voice and answered questions. We also shared our learning with the 5th graders! On Wednesday, we will continue have an Open House for 1st graders. If you are available at 12:45 this Wednesday, swing by to the Open House to take a look at how we individually understand how the earth’s surface is constantly changing and reshaping itself.
Important Dates and Reminders:
January 17, PJS Curriculum Night @ 7:00-8:30pm *This is a chance for you to visit your child’s classroom for next year. Current 3rd grade parents should attend the 4th grade presentation. Current 2nd grade parents should come to our presentation which will be about the 2nd and 3rd grade curriculum for next year.*
January 19, Pizza Thursday
January 20, Friday Focus
January 30, Monday - ASG - Open Mic