Week of December 19 News!

Here we are at last at the end of the first semester of the 2014 - 2015 ISPP school year. It has been a long and busy four months and we will keep up the pace until Friday here in Room 37.

Please keep in mind these important events for this week which can also be viewed in the calendar to the right of this post:

Wednesday, December 17, 2014, 8:15 - 9:45
ISPP Elementary Sports Day at the ISPP field near Boeng Keng Kong Market.
Students in our class must wear RED.

Thursday, December 18, 7:45 - 8:30
Elementary Assembly

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 9:45 - 11:15
Grade 4/5 students are going to secondary to see the Grade 10 personal projects.

Friday, December 19, 2014, 10:35 - 12:00
Class Party (to be planned by our students) followed by early dismissal.

This week, students in room 37 will be learning:

Mathematics
Students begin the week by learning methods of multiplication of multidigit numbers by double digit numbers. We will use base ten blocks to first model an array of this longer multiplication. We will then use grid paper to create a drawn array of this problem. We then will learn written methods such as the grid method or the lattice method. Later in the week, students will take an end of the semester assessment.

Unit of Inquiry and Language Arts
This week these two subjects are heavily integrated. In learning about the attributes of leaders, how leaders make changes, and how leaders show responsibility, students have inquired into the lives of particular leaders based on their own interests. Last week, students began combining notes they had taken into a full biographical report of that leader. This week, students begin the week by finishing drafts of these reports, revising based on a rubric, editing, peer editing, and ultimately publishing their work.

During reading workshop, students will be continuing to record instances when they catch themselves monitoring for comprehension. Monitoring is a skill that good readers develop and make use of while reading. During a discussion, students came up with these ideas about what monitoring is and how good readers do it:

1) Go back and read the sentence or word again.
2) If you don’t understand a word you can break the word into syllables.
3) If you don’t understand a word you can go look it up in a dictionary.
4) If you don’t understand a word, go back and read the sentence around it, because maybe that will help you understand the word (use the context).
5) If you don’t understand a word, look for a word that you do understand INSIDE the word.
6) If you don’t understand what you are reading, your voice might change and get quieter.
7) If you don’t understand a word sometimes you can use the glossary.
8) If you find you are not understanding the text, you can slow down.

Added to this, students will be learning that if you don't understand a text, you could use some of these fix up strategies to help you:

Homework
As this is the last week of class this semester, I will not be assigning homework.

See you all at the events this week!