Week of December 12th

 

Greetings Bailly Families!! It's hard to believe that we are already at the halfway point of this school year!! I look forward to the second half of the year seeing students continue grow and learn! I hope everyone is able to relax a bit and enjoy time with family and friends over break.

ELA

First graders continued on their code cracking journey! First they were presented with a message that was written backwards and inverted. I had them look at the message first without offering any clues. Then, I handed them a mirror. When they looked at the message in the mirror they were able to read it! We also briefly discussed how Leonardo DaVinci used to write his ideas for inventions this way. It is thought that he did this to make it more difficult for people to read his notes and steal his ideas. 

Ask your child what an anagram is! Students were each given four sticky notes with one letter on each P-T-O-S. Next, they were tasked with writing as many words they could make using all four letters on their white boards. They did an awesome job with this! We then talked about how words that have the same letters, just in a different order, are called anagrams. 

Finally, we read The Great Show-and-Tell Disaster, a funny book with tons of anagrams in the story! 

MATH

The first grade mathematicians practiced distinguishing shapes by using attributes this week. We reviewed what we have learned about attributes of 2-D shapes. Next, students took turns sorting shapes by attributes. One person placed alike shapes inside of a square and the other students had to identify the common attribute of the shapes.  Each student had an opportunity to do this twice.

ELA

We finished The Tale of Depereaux movie! The kids really enjoyed watching the movie. They all did an excellent job at recognizing differences between the book and movie. It was about a 50/50 vote as far as preferring the movie or book. Personally, I lean towards the book!

MATH

Second grade math kiddos paired up and used the 2-D shapes that they made last week as bases to create 3-D shapes. We discussed the differences in attributes of 2-D and 3-D shapes. Each pair then presented their 3-D shape to the class and identified the attributes for their classmates. 

ELA

Third graders were introduced to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. First, I read the poem to them and asked what type of mood the poem had. What colors did they think would be associated with the poem if it were a piece of art?

I then read the poem again more slowly and asked students to try and visualize it in their head as they listened. Each student was then given a piece of 12x18 paper to sketch and color the story based on what was heard. 

As they continued coloring, I played the Gordon Lightfoot version of the song. Students were encouraged not to leave any white remaining on their paper. After the song, I played the documentary as they finished working.

MATH

Due to scheduling conflicts with a grade wide presentation, we only had one full day of math this week. We played some fun games reviewing what students have been learning on the patterns 100's charts. It's great to see the students figuring out the patterns without looking at a chart!

ELA

Fourth graders kept plugging away on their biography projects this week. They have been doing amazing at gathering information. Some have started putting information into a timeline, the rest will get there after break. I can't wait to share the finished projects with you!

 

MATH

Due to classroom conflicts, fourth grade math only met on Wednesday this week. Students continued working on a logic puzzle. This really worked their brains! 

-Mrs. Marquardt

Week of December 5th

 

Greetings Bailly Families!! We have completed another fun week in HA. Please read on to see what your kiddos have been up to:)

ELA

First graders began working on word ladders this week. I explained that only one letter can be changed per step and that you can only change a letter once. We started with one step ladders. Students caught on to this pretty quickly. Next, we moved on to the two step ladders. Students were given small cut out letters so that they could manipulate them and experiment with different letters in different places. The two step puzzles proved to be a bit trickier, but they did an awesome job of

transforming one word into another!   

MATH

What a fun week in math! We began the lesson by examining large shapes that I had made on the floor. We talked about attributes of each shape and the difference between a vertex and an angle. 

Next, each student made a protractor with straws and a pipe cleaner. We grabbed clipboards, paper, and pencils and ventured around the school on an angle hunt. Students used their protractors to locate and measure different angles. They made tally marks on their papers identifying the number of acute, obtuse, and right angles they located. The right angles were most abundant on our search, but students did a fantastic job of finding examples of acute and obtuse angles as well. 

ELA

They did it!! Second grade has officially completed their first novel. On Tuesday we began watching The Tale of Despereaux to compare and contrast the movie and book. Students have already noticed many differences between the two and we are only 30 minutes in to the movie! We will continue this next week:)

MATH

Second grade had an in-depth discussion about 2-D shapes. We discussed the differences between 2-D and 3-D shapes and attributes that comprise 2-D shapes. Students also generated a list of as many 2-D shapes they could think of. Next, students worked in pairs to build assigned 2-D shapes with straws and pipe cleaners. We will expand on this lesson next week. 

ELA

Third graders had a Tall Tale grammar week! They used different color highlighters to identify nouns, pronouns, and action verbs in a paragraph from Johnny Appleseed. Next, we discussed prepositions and went back through the paragraph to identify them. We also did a scoot around the room to reinforce what we learned about prepositions. 

MATH

Third graders were tasked with finding missing numbers on sections of a 700's chart. Students were challenged to use the patterns they noticed to find the missing number instead of using the actual chart to look for answers. After answering them on their own, they checked their answers against the 700 chart and then we went over them together. They did a great job of recognizing the patterns on their own and explaining how they filled in the missing numbers!

ELA

Fourth grade researchers continued working on their biography project this week. They are making a lot of progress on their information packets. We will start putting the pieces together soon to create a slideshow and timeline. 

MATH

This week in math we worked on a logic

puzzle. These puzzles really get students brains working! They require students to use multiple steps to solve problems and are a nice change of pace from just being able to look at a problem and quickly solve it. 

-Mrs. Marquardt

Week of November 29th

 

Hello Bailly Families! I hope you have all had a great week. It's hard to believe we only have 2 more weeks until Winter Break! 

ELA

This week first graders completed two new types of ciphers. For the first one, they had to change only one letter in a given word to make a new word that matched a clue.

Example:

boat--->_______ (a jacket)

Students would change the b in boat to a c to make the word coat.

Next, the kiddos worked on an Over Under Substitution Cipher. They were given a  sequence of letters that made no sense. They had to crack the code to reveal the secret message! 

Finally, we read The Disappearing Alphabet by Richard Wilbur and completed a reading analyzer for the book. The reading analyzer helps to break down the book into smaller parts and helps students make connections between the book and its meaning. 

MATH

In first grade, mathematicians completed a Think Deeply that was similar to the game What Happened that we played last week. Students had to look at a shape, name it, and then determine what shape in turned into and how that happened. We completed this together. 

Next, students took a check-up to make sure they have a clear understanding of what we have learned so far before moving on. We will begin a new lesson next week. 

ELA

Second graders jumped back into Despereaux this week! They took a quick check-up just to ensure they are doing the at home reading and have a good understanding of what they read. We began reading Book the Fourth in class. Students were assigned chapters 36 and 37 to read from Monday to Tuesday. They should read chapters 41-46 by Monday. If they want to read on and finish the book, that is fine! I didn't want to make that mandatory if it's too much, but most students are eager to see how this story wraps up. It's hard to believe we are almost done with this novel study!

MATH

Check-up time! Second graders took an assessment to ensure they have a clear understanding of what they have learned so far. Next, we played a fun game of Around the World to practice multiplication skills!

ELA

Third grade recalled the story, Benny and His Bull. We pulled out the elements of the story that make it a Fairy Tale. We then added Fairy Tales as a third circle to our large Folklore Venn Diagram. Students are enjoying learning about and comparing the different genres of Folklore. 

MATH

Third grade math students continued learning the patterns of 100 chart. We took our time and went through the different patterns recognizing the similarities and differences. We also discussed how each pattern shows the multiples of each number.

ELA

Fourth graders have been working hard on their biography research projects! Students were given guide of what will be required in this project as well as a packet of questions that will help them gather the information needed to complete the project. They are really enjoying learning about the person they are researching!

MATH

Fourth graders had the chance to show me what they know! It was check up time. After they completed the check-up, we did extra algebra practice. They are rocking these algebra problems this year!

-Mrs. Marquardt