Classroom Update: October 3, 2014

In math, we worked on rounding to the nearest ten and hundred. We played a game called “Scoot!” to practice this skill. In addition, we applied knowledge of place value to identify the number of tens in three-digit numbers. Finally, students continued to work on the “Eating Grapes” problem in collaborative problem solving groups.

We wrapped up our current social studies unit on Massachusetts and Arlington landmarks. We began our next unit of study on the Wampanoag tribe. We activated our prior knowledge on this subject by talking about the first Thanksgiving.

In English Language Arts, we concluded our practice of the Finding Evidence competency. We found evidence related to characters, setting, and problems. We also asked the question, “What is the author trying to say here?” Students worked in groups to make claims about the story The Giving Tree. I have recorded students’ evidence for the claim “The Tree is thoughtful” below.

• The Tree gives the Boy apples. She keeps on giving him other things even though he never says thank you.
• The Tree asks nicely if the boy wants to play. She always says, “Come play.”
• The Tree always offers things to the Boy. If the Tree doesn’t have what the Boy wants, she offers something else instead. For example, when the Boy needs money, the tree offers apples.
• “I have no house,” said the tree. “But you may cut off my branches and build a house.”
• She never forgets the Boy. For example, whenever the Boy comes back she’s very happy. It says she “shook with joy.” When he’s away for a while she’s sad.

In writing, students continued drafting personal narratives. One strategy that we reviewed for generating ideas was looking at the work of other writers for inspiration. We read a short story and discussed what the author of the piece did well. Then, we set goals for our own writing. One goal has been to include more juicy words. We learned about thesauruses, synonyms, and antonyms. We used thesauruses to locate juicy words and recorded them on paint chips to demonstrate “shades of meaning.”