Ask, Imagine, Plan

Gr3 Math - Schoolcraft:   Third graders were introduced to the third grade SBAC tasks in mathematics.  Students were able to practice logging in, explore assessment tools and review strategies together.  Mathematicians also synthesized their learning from the March calendar and created bar graphs to display data provided on the calendar as charts or pictographs.  A Division Checkpoint was assigned as a mid-unit assessment on Thursday.  Finally, students learned a new workplace, Line ‘Em Up, in which a single quantity must be divided into equal groups of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and remainders noted.  It is challenging and fun!   

Gr4 Math - Weegar:    Fourth graders continued exploring angles; parallel, intersecting, perpendicular lines.   Everyone used geoboards and geobands to make sense of learning and to connect new vocabulary to real life examples (e.g., railroad tracks, lines of latitude, roads that come to intersections).   Ask your mathematician what makes perpendicular lines a special set of intersecting lines!

Gr3 Writing - Stewart:    This week in writing has been unusual!  On Monday, all writers participated in a great Four Winds sessions about Owls!  On a couple of days students worked on editing and revising pieces they’d begun last week.  We also squeezed in some practice for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium “SBAC”, which we’ll be administering over the next two weeks.

Gr4 Writing - Ward:     The Core Writing Idea this week was “Tackle the Nitty-Gritty Sentence Details.”   BrainPop, Flocabulary, connected worksheets, and focused DLR instruction helped students pointedly practice the finer details of grammar, conventions, and sentence structure.   Much time was also spent reviewing strategies to tackle the Short Answer Response of SBAC.   Please talk to your writer about the power of an introductory sentence!

Four Winds Nature Science - Eqx:   Parent volunteers enthusiastically taught children about the sharp eyes, flexible necks, sensitive ears, strong beaks, silent wings, powerful talons, and deadly claws of owls!   Students also enjoyed dissecting regurgitated owl pellets - filled with the skeletons of past dinner entrees.   The found bones were classified and discussed; new learned recorded in Science Notebooks.

Science/Engineering - Eqx:   Geotechnical Engineers started the Engineering Design Process with the steps of Ask, Imagine, Plan.   Partnerships considered the factors of village elder requests, curvature of the river, soil types, and the price of compaction as they crafted proposals for the best site for the Sarhig River TarPul.   Many engineers were able to move forward with testing their selected sites.   Improve and ReImagine are the next steps!