· This week in Literacy, students became an expert on one of the following animals: bat, ladybug, squirrel, prairie dog, skunk, turtle frog, butterfly. Students created a non-fiction book which includes a diagram of the animal, their habitat, where they hibernate, the food they eat, if they animal is a carnivore/herbivore/omnivore, they labelled where the animal lives in the world, and included interesting facts they learned.
· In Math this week, students had a variety of opportunities to explore ten frame and base tens and ones. These activities and games helped students develop and reinforce concepts of place value and formed a basis for regrouping. Students compose numbers 11- 69 using ten(s) and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones. For example: 20 ones are the same as 2 tens and 18 ones is the same as 1 ten and 8 ones.
Students also had the opportunity to solve base-ten riddles such as: I have three tens and two ones. What number am I? or I have no tens and four ones. What number am I?
Students were encouraged to explain their thinking as they solve the riddles.
· During Inquiry, students pretended they were a bear and were asked, “What would say to a snail and turtle getting ready for hibernation?” Student responses were recorded on chart paper, then students had to write 2 or 3 things that was happening in the environment and what they need to do to prepare for hibernation. Also during this week’s inquiry, students did a think-pair share, and discussed why illustrations are important in a story and what do they tell us? What makes a good/bad illustration (images, mood, setting, colors, seasons)? There was also a discussion on what type of medium to use when creating an illustration (chalk, pastels, markers, pencil crayons, paint) and why? Students created 2 under the sea and 2 space illustrations using 4 mediums (paint, crayons, pastels and felts).
