Hard at work
Monday, November 20, 2017
testing our lightships
We used our design criteria, combined with our knowledge of sinking and floating, to design, test, modify, and build lightships.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Friday, November 3, 2017
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Slippery slopes!
How do you stay safe while you are working on a roof? One of the most important considerations is what is on your feet! Our lab was contracted by a new local roofing company to develop recommendations for safe footwear for their employees. We used two roof models to test 5 kinds of footwear: sneakers, sandals, boots, hi-tops, and flats. One model roof surface was a wooden board to simulate a bare roof before they nail on shingles. The second roof model was a board with shingles. Here are the results of our testing:
Shingles:
Bare wood:
Then, we had to help the roofing company again. We used what we learned from our roof shoe slide experiment to design structures that roofers can use to hold their tools and supplies when they are on a roof.
Bare wood:
Then, we had to help the roofing company again. We used what we learned from our roof shoe slide experiment to design structures that roofers can use to hold their tools and supplies when they are on a roof.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Last Week, Today: 10/23-10/27
Reader's Workshop
We continued reading informational texts this week! We:
- developed and used a rubric to score our informational text maps
- used an informational text map to analyze Gail Gibbons' book Seed to Plant.
- found examples of informational text features that authors use to make it easy for us to learn from them
- read and interpreted a new poem, "Plip, Plop, Raindrop"
Writer's Workshop
We finished our publishing process by conferring with Mr. MacLellan and making final illustrations.
Math
We continued to work on three digit addition, and had an assessment to see how our learning is progressing.
We worked on fact fluency with bar models, math mountains, and a game called "Make 10 Memory."
We started to film instructional videos about math games you can play at home!
Science
We planted bulbs in our school garden! We put them around the base of the new apple trees to help protect the trees from animal pests that don't like the smell of daffodils. We also drew careful, precise, specific, scientific illustrations of bulbs, flowers, and seeds. We pulled flowers apart to see where the seeds develop.
We thought about what kind of material you would use to build a trampoline.
Social Studies
We made maps of the school!
Morning Questions
Would you rather be a bumblebee or a squirrel?
Would you rather be a dolphin or a sea turtle?
What do you like to do on a rainy day?
Have you ever been on a bus?
We continued reading informational texts this week! We:
- developed and used a rubric to score our informational text maps
- used an informational text map to analyze Gail Gibbons' book Seed to Plant.
- found examples of informational text features that authors use to make it easy for us to learn from them
- read and interpreted a new poem, "Plip, Plop, Raindrop"
Writer's Workshop
We finished our publishing process by conferring with Mr. MacLellan and making final illustrations.
Math
We continued to work on three digit addition, and had an assessment to see how our learning is progressing.
We worked on fact fluency with bar models, math mountains, and a game called "Make 10 Memory."
We started to film instructional videos about math games you can play at home!
Science
We planted bulbs in our school garden! We put them around the base of the new apple trees to help protect the trees from animal pests that don't like the smell of daffodils. We also drew careful, precise, specific, scientific illustrations of bulbs, flowers, and seeds. We pulled flowers apart to see where the seeds develop.
We thought about what kind of material you would use to build a trampoline.
Social Studies
We made maps of the school!
Morning Questions
Would you rather be a bumblebee or a squirrel?
Would you rather be a dolphin or a sea turtle?
What do you like to do on a rainy day?
Have you ever been on a bus?
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Last Week, Today: 10/16 - 10/20
Reader's Workshop
We did a lot of work looking at the structure of informational texts. We identified the main idea and supporting details, used an informational text map, and developed a rubric to assess how we did. We read a number of books by Gail Gibbons, including Giant Pandas, The Boat Book, and Building a House.
We also read and interpreted a poem: "October, the Hunter's Moon".
Writer's Workshop
We are deep into revising and publishing our stories!
- Revising comes from the re- prefix, meaning "again," and vis, like in vision, so it means to look at something again
- We worked in partners to fix and identify spelling mistakes, using a dictionary to help with tricky words.
- Our partners helped us find sentences that didn't make sense, or where there was missing information. We added information with spider legs.
- We used a checklist and a writing buddy to make our stories the best they could be.
Math
You can't have ten of something in one place, so you have to regroup! We did lots of regrouping when we added 3-digit numbers together this week. We are good at regrouping in all places now.
We also analyzed the work of some imaginary students to try and figure out where they made a mistake. This helps us avoid those mistakes in our own work!
Science
Continuing our look at observable physical properties, we tested two kinds of paper towels to see which was more absorbent, and which was stronger when wet. Then, we helped a roofing company choose which shoes their workers should wear on two different roof surfaces.
Social Studies
We finished up our classroom maps, and gave each other plus/delta feedback about our work.
We did a lot of work looking at the structure of informational texts. We identified the main idea and supporting details, used an informational text map, and developed a rubric to assess how we did. We read a number of books by Gail Gibbons, including Giant Pandas, The Boat Book, and Building a House.
We also read and interpreted a poem: "October, the Hunter's Moon".
Writer's Workshop
We are deep into revising and publishing our stories!
- Revising comes from the re- prefix, meaning "again," and vis, like in vision, so it means to look at something again
- We worked in partners to fix and identify spelling mistakes, using a dictionary to help with tricky words.
- Our partners helped us find sentences that didn't make sense, or where there was missing information. We added information with spider legs.
- We used a checklist and a writing buddy to make our stories the best they could be.
Math
You can't have ten of something in one place, so you have to regroup! We did lots of regrouping when we added 3-digit numbers together this week. We are good at regrouping in all places now.
We also analyzed the work of some imaginary students to try and figure out where they made a mistake. This helps us avoid those mistakes in our own work!
Science
Continuing our look at observable physical properties, we tested two kinds of paper towels to see which was more absorbent, and which was stronger when wet. Then, we helped a roofing company choose which shoes their workers should wear on two different roof surfaces.
Social Studies
We finished up our classroom maps, and gave each other plus/delta feedback about our work.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
The first few weeks of school
We have been hard at work in school so far! Here is a little video of clips Mr. MacLellan made this month.
September Snapshots from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.
Reader's Workshop
We have read a lot of books so far! We have been focusing on realistic fiction and other engaging narratives. We read a number of books about the first day of school, including School's First Day of School, by Adam Rex. This book takes the familiar concept of a character unsure about the first day, and flips it by telling the story from the perspective of a brand new school building! You should check this book out of the Watertown public library and take a look.
We also read a few authors to get some tips we can use in our own writing. We read Kevin Henkes, Mo Willems, Donald Crews, and Peter Brown, who can all teach us about how to write some spectacular, funny, thoughtful narratives.
We will soon be starting Fundations, and we have been thinking a lot about words, spelling patterns, sentence conventions, and how to talk about books. We read two poems, "Lunch" and "Coming to School," and put each into our poetry notebook. See if your student can recite either of these at home!
Writer's Workshop
We are writing personal narratives: true stories from our lives. We started with stories from the summer, and then thought about ways to make our stories interesting. We noticed that most books we read have a problem in them, and we developed a list of possible problems that happen to kids, things like getting hurt, having something bad happen, or getting lost. We read some books written by Mr. MacLellan's former students, including some amazing ones by Derek. We can learn about good writing by studying lots of authors, even kid authors!
Math
We are studying place value. Place value is one of the most amazing and useful math concepts ever developed, and students need a solid understanding of it to be successful in the rest of the year. So far, we have:
- worked on reading and writing numbers up to 1,000, using standard form, word form, and expanded form
- learned how to draw very large numbers quickly
- compared three-digit numbers with the >, <, and = signs
- put three-digit numbers in order from least to greatest and greatest to least
Comparing two 3-digit numbers, 1 from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.
Comparing two 3-digit numbers, 2 from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.
Science
Scientists make careful observations of the world around them, and we practiced this skill by doing scientific illustrations. We looked at the notebooks of real scientists, thought about how they use drawing and writing to capture what they notice, and practiced on our own. We drew plants in our lab, leaves from around our building, and things we saw in the garden.
Next up, we will be focusing on materials.
Social Studies
We are working on building our classroom community! We have slowly developed a list of 4 rules for our class this year:
- Be safe
- Take care of the school
- Have fun, be kind, don't bully
- Try your best
To get to these four, we thought about behaviors we want to see in school, ideas we had for rules, and how to treat other people. We thought all of our rules should be about what to do, instead of what not to do. We also wondered if we needed to have any rules at all!
News and Other Information
If you want to place a Scholastic book order, I will be submitting the order in the morning on Friday, 9/29. You can easily place an order online, using our class code: LJLT8
Mrs. Phelan has a second grade parent coffee tomorrow morning, 9/29, from 8:30 to 9:30 in the cafeteria.
September Snapshots from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.
Reader's Workshop
We have read a lot of books so far! We have been focusing on realistic fiction and other engaging narratives. We read a number of books about the first day of school, including School's First Day of School, by Adam Rex. This book takes the familiar concept of a character unsure about the first day, and flips it by telling the story from the perspective of a brand new school building! You should check this book out of the Watertown public library and take a look.
We also read a few authors to get some tips we can use in our own writing. We read Kevin Henkes, Mo Willems, Donald Crews, and Peter Brown, who can all teach us about how to write some spectacular, funny, thoughtful narratives.
We will soon be starting Fundations, and we have been thinking a lot about words, spelling patterns, sentence conventions, and how to talk about books. We read two poems, "Lunch" and "Coming to School," and put each into our poetry notebook. See if your student can recite either of these at home!
Writer's Workshop
We are writing personal narratives: true stories from our lives. We started with stories from the summer, and then thought about ways to make our stories interesting. We noticed that most books we read have a problem in them, and we developed a list of possible problems that happen to kids, things like getting hurt, having something bad happen, or getting lost. We read some books written by Mr. MacLellan's former students, including some amazing ones by Derek. We can learn about good writing by studying lots of authors, even kid authors!
Math
We are studying place value. Place value is one of the most amazing and useful math concepts ever developed, and students need a solid understanding of it to be successful in the rest of the year. So far, we have:
- worked on reading and writing numbers up to 1,000, using standard form, word form, and expanded form
- learned how to draw very large numbers quickly
- compared three-digit numbers with the >, <, and = signs
- put three-digit numbers in order from least to greatest and greatest to least
Comparing two 3-digit numbers, 1 from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.
Comparing two 3-digit numbers, 2 from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.
Science
Scientists make careful observations of the world around them, and we practiced this skill by doing scientific illustrations. We looked at the notebooks of real scientists, thought about how they use drawing and writing to capture what they notice, and practiced on our own. We drew plants in our lab, leaves from around our building, and things we saw in the garden.
Next up, we will be focusing on materials.
Social Studies
We are working on building our classroom community! We have slowly developed a list of 4 rules for our class this year:
- Be safe
- Take care of the school
- Have fun, be kind, don't bully
- Try your best
To get to these four, we thought about behaviors we want to see in school, ideas we had for rules, and how to treat other people. We thought all of our rules should be about what to do, instead of what not to do. We also wondered if we needed to have any rules at all!
News and Other Information
If you want to place a Scholastic book order, I will be submitting the order in the morning on Friday, 9/29. You can easily place an order online, using our class code: LJLT8
Mrs. Phelan has a second grade parent coffee tomorrow morning, 9/29, from 8:30 to 9:30 in the cafeteria.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)