Friday, March 13, 2015

Following Iditarod and the Declaration of Independence



We started following the Iditarod this week and spent some time each morning catching up on where our mushers were at in the race and which checkpoints they had come to.  You can read a lot of information daily at www.adn.com (Alaska Dispatch News).  We definitely enjoyed reading some of these articles each morning.   Most interesting is Brent Sass getting disqualified for having an iPod Touch with him on the race.  Check out the website to learn why he was DQ’ed for it!  We were excited to make it in the Holland Sentinel last week as well!

This week we will be reading about the Declaration of Independence and continue learning about all the events that led to war with Great Britain and ultimately American Independence.  We will continue to work on a Patriot and Loyalist role play that is quite fun and humorous.  I’ll pass along some photos when we finish! 

 I can…

Describe the Declaration of Independence in kid language

Write to Inform.

Create situation and solution equations from word problems involving addition, subtraction, mult. / div. 

Monday, March 9, 2015

Dog Sled Building and the Ikidarod 2015






It was a super fun week.  It’s always great to meet with all of you parents during the student conferences.  I think about how positive those meetings are and love to see the kids do so well talking about their academic performance and behavior here at school.
The dog sled building was pretty unforgettable!  The kids did a great job adding and subtracting decimals for the official times today.  They all had to agree, I’ve never seen them so motivated to do math!  Stay tuned for the video I’ll create and post on our site.  It was a great Iditarod culminating event as we prepare to check in next week each morning and see what’s going on in “The Last Great Race” of the Iditarod 2015. 
Next week we will jump back into the American Revolution and the causes the really pushed the colonists to want separation from Great Britain.  Thanks again for the loaner tools.  It was so much fun! 

 I can…

Describe some of the causes that led the colonists to want separate from England

Write to Persuade.

Use multiple strategies to solve division equations using decimals