Thursday February 27, 2014

Alex began our morning for us with a lovely little story about a sleepover in which he hid his iPad in his sleeping bag after being told no electronics and lights out by the babysitter.  Mrs. Hallowell, please take note!  (hahaha).

In My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim's father denies him the opportunity to deliver notes to a town down the road because he does not want his son getting involved with the war between Loyalists and Patriots.  Being denied the opportunity to go on an adventure annoys Tim and he challenges his father, yet he is still denied the opportunity.  Tim is infuriated and devises a plan of how he will help Mr. Heron deliver the note behind his father's back.

Math was all about application today.  We answered real life problems involving the converting of US customary units (standard units).  There was some great team work displayed today!  Students were teachers, leaders, and knowledge seekers.  Superb!

Today's RELA lesson was nearly 100% student driven.  After gathering our text evidence as a class, small groups and independently yesterday, today students organized and began writing their informative essay response to the prompt of "how did humans help bald eagle populations increase."  This is a very tough question to answer because students must use evidence from 3 separate readings, but they rose the the challenge!

Tonight’s Homework

Math
-  customary conversion word problems #16 and #17
Reading
- Read 30 minutes
- NewsELA on Fence Music in Mexico is due March 4th- (Blue and Purple- 980, Pink-830 , Green-690 )
- Complete bald eagle response essays
Vocabulary and Spelling
­- “scrib/script”; PWYK tomorrow; sentences due tomorrow
Other
- Planner signed
- Study Island (optional due Friday Feb. 28th)
     PACCS Math: divide decimals AND compare decimals
     PACCS Reading: compare/contrast AND context clues