In Scholastic News we read about the glass frog, which is an animal that lives in the rain forest. We discovered the survival skills this frog uses in each state of its life cycle to stay safe from its predators. Students searched the text for proof of statements such as, "glass frog dads take care of their eggs," and "glass frogs are a mystery to scientists." Then, students had to cite the text evidence that proved these statements were true.
We read about insects that glow and sing and did a firefly art project. And, we learned about the armored tanks of the insect world -- beetles. We learned there are over 400,000 different kinds of beetles. We read about sixteen different types and graphed which one was our favorite. Ask your child to name a few of the varieties of beetles we discussed. See the home page for a beetle slideshow.
Our Project Cornerstone volunteer visited and read Sebastian’s Roller Skates by Joan De Deu Prats. Sebastian is a quiet boy, but has lots of thoughts in his mind. When someone asks him a question he gives one word answers, but in his head he has many interesting things to share. Then, by chance, he finds a pair of roller skates and teaches himself to skate. It takes him several weeks to learn, but after repeated tries and practice, Sebastian gains confidence on the roller skates. Learning to skate gives Sebastian confidence and he begins to voice the thoughts that are in his head. He shares information with his neighbor, his barber, and makes a new friend.
In math, we continue to lay the foundations of multiplication by organizing equal groups into arrays. We used manipulatives to compose arrays one row or one column at a time and expressed the total via repeated addition equations. For example, students arranged one column of 5 counters, then another, and then another to compose an array of 3 columns of 5, or 15 counters. As they compose and decompose arrays, students create different number sentences yielding the same total (e.g., 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 and 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 15). Then, students moved to drawing arrays to distinguish rows from columns by separating equal groups horizontally and vertically (e.g., 3 columns of 5 or 5 rows of 3). Finally, we created tape diagrams to represent array situations.