In math we are learning about place value. The students are learning to write numbers in different forms, including numerals (standard form), expanded form, number word, and unit form. Here are examples of each:
- Numeral or Standard Form: 234
- Expanded form 200+30+4 = 234
- Unit form 2 hundreds, 3 tens, 4 ones
- Number word: two hundred thirty-four
Help reinforce this standard at home by asking your child what is the value of certain digits in a three digit number. For example, if a book has 129 pages, ask your child what is the value of the 2 in 129. Here is a place value game you can play. First, draw a place value chart with columns for hundreds, tens, and ones. Use a deck of cards (remove the aces, face cards, and tens). On each turn, players take a card from the deck and put it on the place value chart. When all players have filled their chart the winner is the person whose number has the highest value.
Foundational skills are part of our common core standards. We have been learning to read words with tricky spellings, and to read and write words with inflectional endings. Students are practicing using context and punctuation to understand text structure and meaning. In addition, we are learning the proper use of apostrophes in contractions and quotation marks in dialogue. Also, students are working on remembering to capitalize the pronoun I and the first word in a sentence.
As we read stories and books in class, students are expected to answer questions about the story both orally and in written form. We have been focusing on learning to identify characters, setting, and plot in the stories we read.
In addition, students are learning to use their background knowledge and personal experiences to make connections to text and interpret text. And, by the end of the trimester they should be able to independently write a summary/review of a story that was read.
Finally, we learned about Barry Clifford an explorer who thinks he may have found the Santa Maria, one of the ships Columbus sailed to the new world that sank more than 500 years ago. Ask your child what clues are scientists using to try to prove or disprove the ship was the Santa Maria. Learn more about the discovery by clicking below.