Thankful for Bailly Elementary

 

Hello Bailly Families!! It's hard to believe we are already approaching Thanksgiving break. There will not be a blog next week, since it is only a 2 day school week. I hope you all are able to spend some extra time with your family and friends over the holiday break! I am thankful to have the opportunity to work with your children! I do have to apologize that I often get caught up in what we are doing in class and sometimes forget to take pictures of the kiddos to include in the blog:(

11/19- Last day of Barnes and Noble Week

11/24-11/26- Thanksgiving Break

12/9- No School 

ELA

My first grade friends wrote a persuasive paragraph this week. They were writing to persuade readers that all first grade students should learn Pig Latin. Together, we came up with an opinion sentence, three supporting reasons, and a conclusion. We started by organizing our ideas in a hamburger model organizer and then transformed them into a paragraph. 

Students then recorded themselves reading the paragraph on the Pages app on their iPad. They included a picture of a pig for fun!

MATH

First grade students used the shape cards from Groupo and the shapes they had created to play a new game called What Happened?. Each student drew one of the shape cards and recreated it using their cutout shapes. They had some time to study the shape and try to remember exactly what it looked like. Next, they turned the shape card over, turned around, and closed their eyes. The other player spun the spinner and either moved one shape, took off one shape, or did nothing to the original shape depending on where the spinner landed. The guesser then turned back around and had to describe what had happened to their shape while they weren't looking. The shape card was then turned over and their answer was checked to see if it was correct.  

ELA

Second grade is moving right along in The Tale of Despereaux! We had a great discussion over Book the Second and began reading Book the Third together in class. I thoroughly enjoy seeing them make deep connections between the use of light and dark throughout different parts of the book. They are doing a great job of pulling meaning out of the story. Students should finish Book the Third by Monday. 

 

MATH

Second grade students completed a Think Deeply this week. We discussed the questions and did it together on the overhead projector. Students had to look at a tessellation and identify the basic shape that was used and what shapes comprised it. Next, they had to determine which movements were used to transform the basic unit into a tessellation.  

ELA

Third grade completed a Venn Diagram comparing Myths/Legends and Tall Tales. We used sticky notes so that things can be moved around as we add other genres of Folktale to the comparison. 

Next, students read Billy Beg and his Bull. They read the story to themselves and then, using what we have learned so far about Folklore, determined what type of story it is. 

MATH

In third grade, we moved on to our next lesson which was all about seeing patterns in algebra in a different way. In chapter one, our patterns were in tables and now we are exploring patterns in charts and arrays. This chapter will focus on looking at patterns on the 100's chart. Patterns will continue to be a theme we work with in our algebra unit as we are helping them see the why it works. 

ELA

The fourth graders have spent their time this week reading, reading, reading! They have been researching the subject of their biography project. Next week, we will utilize some of the information they have gathered to begin working on the biography summary. 

MATH

In fourth grade we learned the Cover Up  method to help solve algebraic equations. It is just an additional strategy to help with solving to find the variable in equations. Students are loving solving equations so much!! We are really having a lot of fun in math this year! 

-Mrs. Marquardt

Week of November 7th

 

Happy Friday Bailly Families!! Please read on to see what students have been up to in HA  this week. 

November 13-19 - Barnes & Noble week to support Bailly

November 18 - PTO Meeting

November 19 - Frozen Friday

November 24-26 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)

ELA

First grade translated a song into Pig Latin and then gave it their best shot at singing it! I have included the video below. It was a tad difficult for them. 

We then discussed whether all first graders should learn Pig Latin. We will be writing a persuasive paragraph on this topic. Students learned about using the hamburger model to create a paragraph. Ask your child if they remember the parts of the hamburger:) We will continue on this next week. 

MATH

First graders completed a Think Deeply page in which they chose one of the given shapes and had to create their own, different shapes with four of the same characteristics. They then had to write and explain what four things were the same about the two shapes and what was different. Next, we played a fun game reviewing all of the shapes and attributes we have been learning about. Next week we will start a new lesson. 

ELA

We are just moving right along in our novel! Students only need to read the last 2 pages of chapter 23 by Monday. I didn't want them to begin Book the Third until we were able to dig deeper into Book the Second. We will pull out more connections and meanings of Kate DiCamillo's use of light and dark throughout the book. I hope you are all enjoying this novel journey with your student!

MATH

Second graders presented their tessellation designs to the class. As each student projected their creation, the other students identified what basic shape was used and how it was moved across the paper.

The next day, we played a fun challenging game that covered tessellations, 2D shapes, and lines of symmetry. It was a great review of what we have learned so far and they really enjoyed it!

ELA

In third grade we continued learning about the Folklore genre by reading the tall tale of Johnny Appleseed. Students were able to recognize that there was quite a bit of exaggeration in this story. We then filled out the Tall Tale section of the chart we have been working on. 

MATH

Students were given back the check-up that they had taken last week. We went over all of the questions and answers together so that they could make any necessary corrections. My main goal is just to make sure they have a good understanding of the material covered before we move on to something new. 

Next, we began looking at the patterns on a 100's chart. Students first made observations about how the chart is organized. They noted that columns are vertical and rows run horizontally. They then filled in all of the multiples of 2 and were able to see the pattern that was formed in doing so. 

ELA

Fourth graders looked at a variety of biographies of "change makers" this week to find a person of interest for their biography project that we will be working on for several weeks. Students browsed the books and wrote down their top 3 choices that they would like to conduct further research on. We then voted and narrowed down the choices until each group had their person. Students will work in pairs to complete this project.  Next week they will be doing a lot of reading to gather information as to how the subject of their research made significant changes in the world. 

MATH

My fourth grade math friends continued their adventure into algebra! We discussed what the variable was in their math "tricks" and how the variable could change. Next, we began working on some puzzles in which the variable remains constant. It cannot change. They caught on quickly to these and had fun completing them. We wrap up that lesson next week. 

Have a great weekend!!

-Mrs. Marquardt

Week of November 1st

 

Greetings Bailly families!!

I hope you enjoy this small peak into what we have been doing in HA this week. 

ELA

My first grade friends began learning a fun, secret language this week! They may have come home trying to speak Pig Latin to you! They wanted to practice saying " Hi, Mom" and "Hi Dad" on Monday so that they could greet parents in their new secret language after school. We will wrap this up next week and then tie it in to our next next learning adventure!

MATH

Students took what they had learned about using multiple shapes to create new shapes to play a game called Groupo! In Groupo, the dealer laid out nine cards and students had to use their knowledge of shapes to find matching pairs. Each pair had to meet at least four criteria:

• Same number of sides
• Same number of vertices
• Same shape name
• Same number of inside shapes
• Same kind of inside shapes

The goal was to be the player with the most matching pairs at the end. It was a great opportunity for them to really think and talk about the characteristics of different shapes. 

 

ELA

In second grade, we continued on our journey into The Tale of Despereaux. We discussed the use of "light" and "dark" in the text. The students made some amazing connections between these words and how they were used to convey different feelings in the book. I was very impressed with how deep they were able to dig in to the connections! Students should have read chapters 16-20 for Monday. Thank you so much for supporting them on this novel study! 

 

MATH

Second grade has been busy creating beautiful tessellations! Each student created their own basic shape and then used the flip, turn, and/or slide movements to transform that basic shape into their very own unique tessellation.

ELA

Third graders continued on a noun hunt this week. We also dissected a sentence, locating the subject noun, object of proposition, and discussing different jobs of nouns. Students were not familiar with prepositions so after watching a video about it, we discussed what a preposition is and how to locate it in a sentence. We will continue working on grammar lessons throughout the year. 

MATH

We continued working on growing patterns this week. Students have been working hard to find the function in algebraic expressions. They also took a check-up to be sure they have a solid understanding of what we have done so far. Those will come home later this week. 

 ELA

Fourth graders have been wrapping up the Greek/Latin lesson. They have been breaking apart words into word parts and using those parts and definitions to find the meaning of the word. We will begin working on our biography project this week. The first step will be to find the subjects of our research! 

MATH

Fourth grade mathematicians were able to create their own "magic trick" this week. They were all super excited to try out their tricks on each other and explain how they developed them. We will move forward on our algebra journey next week. 

- Mrs. Marquardt