September 9, 2012

As I sit here and reflect on the past week, I think one of two things: either I need to slow down or I won't have enough to do for the whole year (which isn't true), or I need to slow down or else I might not have energy enough for the full year (which is probably closer to true). I say that mostly sarcastically, however, we did do a lot this week.

Earlier in the week, the kids were each given the same picture of some flowers and a view finder to select a small portion of that picture.  They then drew their selection of the picture and watercolored it.  After they had finished, we talked about perspective and points-of-view.  They all had the same picture and the same view finder, but not one of the pictures was exactly the same.  The same goes for every situation in life.  You may see the exact same thing happen, but you'll all have a different way of interpreting it.  The final moral being to make sure you consider all possible perspectives before coming to any conclusions.  How might someone else have interpreted what just happened?  Pictured below is the students' work.

During math on Thursday, we discussed Order of  Operations: PEMDAS! Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. However they'd previously learned it, they got a bit different perspective on it as we all wrote our own songs or raps to teach the order: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract.  Once all of the songs were performed, the class voted on them with the winning video being one that we will take some time to turn into a class music video.  Below is the preview of that song. 



I have been preparing for Friday's project for the past week by eating upwards of 3 or 4 different canned foods per day.  With as much as I'm sick of canned foods, the project was worth it!  Each student was given a label sized piece of paper.  The directions were to draw an eye or set of eyes on that and then decorate the rest of it as they wished.  We then glued the labels onto the cans.  The final product was each student's physical representation of an "Eye" Can.  These will be displayed in the classroom all year long and referenced back to.  Again, it's the "I Can" attitude that will really take you places in life. 

All in all, I'd say we've had a pretty successful week. On top of all the fun projects, we've had several math assignments, we've begun reading our first story, "The Best School Year Ever", and we began rotations. In science we were introduced to the Scientific Method and then began an experiment, "Which type of water will dissolve toilet paper the fastest?"  The analyzing of those results will take place the first part of next week, so we'll have to get back with you to let you know.  Pictured below is our homework board.  I will post at least this much every week so you can know what has happened this week and what should have been written in their planners.

In an effort to keep you as informed as possible, each time we being a math unit, I am going to post a chart of the different lessons we will be covering and how they match up with our book, if they do. Though I never teach from our math book, I have passed it out as a resource for the students and parents, in case they need something besides their notes to reference. Posted below is the first unit. So far, I have taught through Order of Operations.  The rest of the lessons will come over the next couple of weeks. 

I think I'm about done overwhelming you with information.  Remember, if you ever have any questions on anything,  don't hesitate to contact me.

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." ~Aristotle