P.D. Day!

Enjoy your day while your teachers are at school hard at work!

See you Monday!

Don't forget to wear blue on Monday to celebrate World Autism Day and to support those who deal with this challenge on a daily basis.

Newspaper Articles

As I reported previously, we have been learning about the attributes of newspaper articles.  We have studied some written by professional journalists, we learned how to craft probing questions properly, and the class even interviewed me about a topic that we mutually agreed upon.  After that we collaboratively wrote a fantastic article, we revised and edited it, then I created a final draft which can be found in our Google Classroom (you might want to check it out - it is quite entertaining).

 Next, I solicited volunteers among the staff of our school, I assigned students to them, they wrote probing questions based on a topic that the volunteers selected, then on Friday the students conducted an interview on location.  They used our iPads as voice recorders and used the camera function so that they could take a photograph.  When they returned to the classroom they sorted the new information into a graphic organizer.  
On Monday the students brought a coffee and some Timbits to the adults that they interviewed as a token of our appreciation.  They agreed to take time out of their busy day to assist us.  That should never go unnoticed.
Now we are working on crafting rough drafts, revising and editing, and our final drafts that look professional!  I look forward to reading the final products!  Maybe we have some future journalists!

Blog Math

Congratulations to the students who completed last week's Blog Math punctually and correctly.  Unfortunately, not all students explained their work using two different strategies that we have been using in class.

Here is a sample idea:  large fraction:  14        small fraction:   1  
                                                               3                                   6

I must determine how many sixths there are in four wholes and two-thirds.
Strategy one:  convert to common denominators, then determine how many parts are needed.
  14   =   28    then use fraction circles.
   3          6


Strategy two:  Addition
  1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +                                                                                                                        6        6        6        6         6        6        6        6         6        6        6        6         6        6        6              

 1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   +   1   =   28   =   14  
         6        6         6        6        6        6         6        6        6        6        6          6         6          3

Other strategies could have been:  Cuisinaire Rods, number lines, subtraction, multiplying fractions (gr 7), and/or dividing fractions (gr 7).

Here is the next question which is due on Tuesday April 4 at 8:10 AM.
One ice cream bar is 10% of the contents of a box of treats.  How many ice cream bars are in the box in all?  If this box cost $7.49, how much does one bar cost?  Is that a better or worse deal than a small box that contains four bars for $3.75?  Justify your thinking.