Wow! I cannot believe that it is already November! This school year feels like it has been flying by!  It must be the amazing group of students that I have this year!

We had a hauntingly good time celebrating Halloween yesterday. A huge thank you to ALL of the parents that volunteered to help with our party and/or donated items.  The students really enjoyed themselves!

We have been plugging away at our curriculum.

Math ~ Students have learned different methods for multiplying 1 digit by multi-digit numbers.  These methods help the students to learn WHY the shortcut method works.  We then learned how to use the shortcut method to multiply larger numbers.  we will continue to work on this.  I have noticed that many of the students do not have a solid grasp of their multiplication and division facts.  These need to be memorized! Please have your child practice these at home so that they have instant recall. There are many apps on the ipad, flashcards and oral drilling work great too!

Writing ~ We have been working on revising and editing our realistic fiction stories. The emphasis has been on paragraphing and punctuating dialogue.  We will be writing our final copies next week and then share them with our classmates.

Reading ~ We are reading The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo as a class. We are using this story to really dive into a study of character.  We have talked about putting ourselves in the characters shoes and read as if we are the main character.  We have acted out scenes and have talked about being empathetic to our characters feelings.  We have also talked about asking questions as we read to help us better understand what we are reading.  We are working on asking “Thick” questions (inferential) over “Thin questions” (literal).  Thick questions push us to think deeply.

Social Studies ~ We are currently learning about migration/immigration and have discussed migrations in U.S. history (Underground Railroad, Orphan Train, Relocation of Native Americans).  We have discussed push and pull factors that cause a person to leave their home.

Take a moment and check out our Halloween Party photos!

and a few of Finn and Clayton 🙂