Weekly Update

If there’s one word to describe our week, I think it’s techie. It seems that we have so many projects coming together with technology right now.

In reading late last week the children wrote book talks on a nonfiction book of their choice. This week I filmed them, taught them how to import their video into iMovie, add in a credit slide, sound and transitions. Then they saved a picture of their book and inserted that into the movie. It wasn’t easy but they persevered and had a lot of patience. They just have a little bit left to do, then they’ll export their movies and put them on their blogs.

In writing your children were busy typing their information books. They are typing them in Google Slides, so they can always login from home and show you their progress. It’s their same login as school, just with @plainvilleschools.org at the end of their login name. Next week they’ll learn how to add in pictures and other text features, as well as set backgrounds. Hopefully by the end of the week they’ll be finished. I’ll then convert their books to an e-book format, and upload them to our class website. If all goes as planned (it’ll be my first time trying to convert pdf files to epub format) they’ll be able to download and read each others’ books on their devices and computers at home.

On Tuesday we had a special center activity in math. The children used a new iPad app, Pic Collage, to create an infopic to illustrate the concept of division. You can read more about it, the video they watched ahead of time to learn about some techniques to try, and see their final products here. Next week there will be a center activity using the iPad app, Educreations, to create a presentation on division. Stay tuned for upcoming greatness!

Keep practicing those math facts at home. Next week we have our district math fact assessments on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. These are the 100 question tests similar to what I shared with you at conferences. Mastery is 90% or higher, and Goal is 80-89% on each test. Of course this is the beginning of division, so this test will just be their baseline.

Here's what we'll be learning about next week:

Reader’s Workshop: Finish editing book talks and Comprehension strategies
Writer’s Workshop: Finish Information books
Spelling: Unit 17 - Words home on Tuesday, test on Friday
Math: Topic 8, Division

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. Together we are partners in your child’s education!