Students are still loving "The Giver" and I'm loving their enthusiasm!

This novel is so rich with vocabulary and concepts that I am able to moderate phenomenal student discussion each time I read to the class. Students are so eager to share their ideas, questions, and predictions, that it is often difficult to even get through a chapter in a period. Their reading strategies are evolving as evidenced by their insightful predictions and use of evidence from the text itself and connections to other pieces of information gathered from a variety of sources. I highly recommend parents to read the book and I promise that you will be able to replicate the rich discussion at home with your children.

Also excited about Math!

Would you believe that your child was able to add 2.178 and 3.745 in their head?

They likely were able to as a result of drawing upon the numerous mental math strategies that we have be practising all year. Helping students focus on what they KNOW to be true and not on what overwhelms them is the key to increased confidence in Math.

See if they can show you how the question was broken down into simpler parts to solve rather than stacking the numbers and using a traditional algorithm.

Short, but busy week (+ new Math unit)

It sounds as though most people had an enjoyable March Break. The students were asked to prepare a brief talk and shared their experiences either today or will present tomorrow. Most have organized their thoughts and described their ideas much better than earlier in the year, and their comfort level speaking in front of others has also shown increased confidence.

In Math, we've reviewed what we can remember about decimals from previous years and started practising skills that involve decimals that include thousandths (3 numbers to the right of the decimal point). Students will be expected to represent, order, and compare decimal numbers. Next, they will add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers involving decimals.

Add & Subtract: decimal numbers to thousandths
Multiply & Divide: decimal numbers to tenths by whole numbers
Multiply: whole numbers by 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001
Multiply & Divide: decimal numbers by 10, 100, 1000, and 10 000 using mental strategies

Remember the old saying... "Practice makes perfect!"

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In honour of Dr. Seuss' birthday, I read one of my favourite Dr. Seuss books to the class - "Green Eggs and Ham." I think they enjoyed it.

It allowed me to introduce an assignment that they will likely enjoy and also have a very good opportunity to achieve a very good mark.

They are to choose a favourite picture book and practise reading it aloud. We talked about how they can increase the interest level for the audience by altering their voices - sound, pace, and volume. We have library time tomorrow where they can select a book from the school or they may choose to use a book from home. I can help students select a book that will likely earn them a better mark based on the success criteria. (Some books are easier to add interest in a variety of ways than others.)

Practising at home with family members is strongly encouraged. Have fun with this assignment!