Month: January 2020

Pressing on in Pajamas

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On this, the last day of January, we were able to finish off the month with some fun. Thanks to STUCO for planning this special spirit day!


Despite being in our pajamas, our day was anything but sleepy. Drawing on our own poetry-writing experience, we used our Writer’s Express book as a resource for researching special aspect of poetry and considering a plan for presentation. We worked together to plug in the pieces to our schedule. Sequencing of the lessons was a critical component of the structure that needed careful consideration.

As we continued our pursuit of parts, we were presented with a set of perplexing problems… how to find the whole when given a part as a fraction.

How would you solve the question: If 2 fifths pieces are 1/3 of the whole, then what is the whole?   Tricky!


To end our day, we were treated to an assembly hosted by Grade 2. They shared with us their learning about endangered animals and invited the audience to get involved. They were very knowledgeable.

Problem Solvers in Action

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Since our Who We Are: Problem Solvers unit is yearlong, we are always on the lookout for real life problem solvers. Today, they were out in full force, trying to find and diagnose a problem with… the power. Early this morning, long before students arrived, Papas Louis, Dennis, Medard, Axel, and Ricky were hard at work tracking down the trouble. With extreme efficiency, they tested the lines, turning lights on and off to isolate the missing link in the line. Before the bell rang, they found the fault in the server room and were able to find a temporary fix to ensure learning continued throughout the day.

   

Grateful the lights were on, we got into some serious problem solving of our own. With self-selected thinking buddies and an opinion writing checklist in hand, we sat down and shared our essays and evaluated ourselves in the areas of structure, development, and conventions. Using teacher, peer, and personal feedback, we proceeded to make adjustments to our writing. Development or elaboration seemed to be the most common area in need to revision.





We also continued our work with fraction decomposition, looking at home to represent fractions as sums of unit fractions and sums of fractions.

MathMania: Putting Together PARTitioning

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For math-mania today, we cycled through a series of stations with a focus on our new learning with fractions and our previous unit focused on multiplication. The highlight of the day was seeing how students were able to show so many strategies for solving multiplication problems. Partitioned rectangles, partial products, and the lattice method were all featured on Seesaw posts today.

Partitioned Rectangles

Partial Products

Lattice Method

Alert: This is a GREAT video explaining WHY lattice works. What connections can you see to the PARTitioned rectangle?




From Paragraph to Poem

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After reading a portion of Varsha Bajaj‘s book T is for Taj Mahal yesterday, we began our day, using this text as a mentor, to inquire further about structure The book, through a combination of prose and verse, highlight important people, places, and elements of India and its culture. After reviewing ideas on the W portion of their KWHLAQ charts, each student identified a topic of interest and used a variety of informational / nonfiction texts to gather facts. Using the facts gathered, researchers began to freewrite in paragraph form.

Once paragraphs were written, students reread their work and considered reSTRUCTuring by adding line breaks to create a poem. While somewhat challenging to rethink reading with poetic pauses, students worked through the process of transforming a paragraph into a poem. The final step involved revising with poetic elements like rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and figurative language in mind. This final step often requires rewriting, multiple attempts at lines and stanzas until the sound is satisfying.

This afternoon, during art with Ms. Rydah, we continued our work on our hands. Ms. Paula came by to admire the art.


 

An Inquiry Into…

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Our Monday started with our usual inquiry into… words. Today’s list lead some into literary terms, while others explored planning structures and mathematical vocabulary. It was especially interesting to see how students are beginning to experiment with visual thinking structures in their word work notebooks. Students captured their learning in charts, tables, webs, word maps, and lists. Some also opted for color-coded systems to expand their thinking and make connections.

Based on feedback received from student-created survey’s, scholars began to think about ideas for their student-planned I Love to Read and Write Week lessons. Together in their teaching teams, students:

  • made a list of reading / writing focus ideas.
  • numbered the choices in order from most to least important / valuable.
  • brainstormed activities to go with each idea.

Similar to what teachers do, students considered the structure of planning and learned about the importance of keeping the end in mind. Throughout the next few days and weeks, we will continue to explore the what, why, and who of learning and teaching.

Today, we also dove in to our new math unit by inquiring into the structure of fractions. The concept of decomposition was on full display as students moved through a variety of stations with a thinking buddy. Methods and models, sums, partitioned rectangles, and more-than-one-answer math tiles were all options open for observation, interaction, and reflection. Many thinkers and problem solvers engaged in thoughtful discussion, posing questions to one another and on paper for further investigation.

Multiple Sources

We ended the day with a read aloud of Varsha Bajaj‘s book T is for Taj Mahal.

Home Learning for January 27-31 (Week 20)

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  1. Read for at least 30 minutes each night.
    • Check out the new reading choice board for scholarly, agentic readers.
    • Reflect on your reading:
      • on Seesaw.
      • by completing the online reading log OR one on paper (Copies are available in class).
      • by having a thoughtful conversation with another reader.
  2. Option: Use the Pobble 365 prompt to inspire your writing.
        • Use lined paper from your binder OR the Google Doc in your Google Classroom.
  3. Reflect back on your Week 19, and complete the “Reflection: Learner Profile & Approaches to Learning” form.
  4. Explore the recommendations on IXL.com. These connect directly to what we have been learning in class.

**A Scholar has a goal: We got off to a great start this week. This week we:

    • answered 446 IXL questions.
    • spent 3 hours 19 minutes on IXL.
    • made progress in 16 IXL skills.

Announcements

  1. Library is scheduled weekly on Thursdays.
  2. P.E. is scheduled weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays.
    1. Come dressed to SWIM – swimsuit, towel, dry clothes
    2. Bring a water bottle
  3. Check your lunch card balance weekly.

Coming Soon

Below is a list of upcoming events of which to be aware.

  • January 27 – ES Soccer Team vs. Congo English School
  • January 31 – Pajama Day
  • January 31 – Assembly
  • February 17-21 – I Love to Read and Write Week
  • February 28 – Trimester 2 ASAs End

Condor Sports

  • January 27 – ES Soccer Team vs. Congo English School
  • February 6-8 – SAISA Basketball Tournament
  • February 21 – Swim Meet

We’re on Twitter!

Follow TASOK @TASOKinshasa

Follow TASOK PYP @TASOKPYP

Follow Fourth Grade @Scholarsare

Hashtag #TASOK

 

Learner Profile Trait of the Month – PRINCIPLED


**Check back later in the week for additional homework related to in-class discussions and activities.

 

Home Learning for January 20-24 (Week 19)

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  1. Read for at least 30 minutes each night.
    • Check out the new reading choice board for scholarly, agentic readers.
    • Reflect on your reading:
      • on Seesaw.
      • by completing the online reading log OR one on paper (Copies are available in class).
      • by having a thoughtful conversation with another reader.
  2. Option: Use the Pobble 365 prompt to inspire your writing.
        • Use lined paper from your binder OR the Google Doc in your Google Classroom.
  3. Reflect back on your Week 18, and complete the “Reflection: Learner Profile & Approaches to Learning” form.
  4. Explore the recommendations on IXL.com. These connect directly to what we have been learning in class.

**A Scholar has a goal: We got off to a great start this week. This week we:

    • answered 818 IXL questions.
    • spent 5 hours 43 minutes on IXL.
    • made progress in 35 IXL skills.

Announcements

  1. Library is scheduled weekly on Thursdays.
  2. P.E. is scheduled weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays.
    1. Come dressed to SWIM – swimsuit, towel, dry clothes
    2. Bring a water bottle
  3. Check your lunch card balance weekly.

Coming Soon

Below is a list of upcoming events of which to be aware.

  • January 31 – Assembly
  • February 17-21 – I Love to Read and Write Week
  • February 28 – Trimester 2 ASAs End

Condor Sports

  • February 6-8 – SAISA Basketball Tournament
  • February 21 – Swim Meet

We’re on Twitter!

Follow TASOK @TASOKinshasa

Follow TASOK PYP @TASOKPYP

Follow Fourth Grade @Scholarsare

Hashtag #TASOK

 

Learner Profile Trait of the Month – PRINCIPLED


**Check back later in the week for additional homework related to in-class discussions and activities.

 

Home Learning for January 13-17 (Week 18)

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  1. Read for at least 30 minutes each night.
    • Check out the new reading choice board for scholarly, agentic readers.
    • Reflect on your reading:
      • on Seesaw.
      • by completing the online reading log OR one on paper (Copies are available in class).
      • by having a thoughtful conversation with another reader.
  2. Option: Use the Pobble 365 prompt to inspire your writing.
        • Use lined paper from your binder OR the Google Doc in your Google Classroom.
  3. Reflect back on your break, and complete the “Reflection: Learner Profile & Approaches to Learning” form.
  4. Explore the recommendations on IXL.com. These connect directly to what we have been learning in class.

**A Scholar has a goal: We got off to a great start this week. This week we:

    • answered 1,222 IXL questions.
    • spent 8 hours 58 minutes on IXL.
    • made progress in 36 IXL skills.

Announcements

  1. Library is scheduled weekly on Thursdays.
  2. P.E. is scheduled weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays.
    1. Come dressed to SWIM – swimsuit, towel, dry clothes
    2. Bring a water bottle
  3. Check your lunch card balance weekly.
  4. ASAs resume this week.
  5. There is NO SCHOOL on Thursday and Friday in honor of Heroes’ Day.

Coming Soon

Below is a list of upcoming events of which to be aware.

  • January 13 – ASAs Resume
  • January 16-17 – Heroes Day (NO SCHOOL)
  • February 17-21 – I Love to Read and Write Week
  • February 28 – Trimester 2 ASAs End

Condor Sports

  • February 6-8 – SAISA Basketball Tournament
  • February 21 – Swim Meet

We’re on Twitter!

Follow TASOK @TASOKinshasa

Follow TASOK PYP @TASOKPYP

Follow Fourth Grade @Scholarsare

Hashtag #TASOK

 

Learner Profile Trait of the Month – PRINCIPLED


**Check back later in the week for additional homework related to in-class discussions and activities.

 

Solving with STRUCTURE

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Today, as INQUIRING readers, we set out to use WORD STRUCTURE to determine the meaning of new or tricky words. Affixes were on the agenda.

We began by thinking about a word with the root “touch” introduced in Gloria Whelan’s book In Andal’s House and in Kids Discover: Ancient India.

We then looked at how the word can be modified by adding PREfix before the root and SUFfixes after the root. We also learned a new secret agent code: PqRS. We then had the opportunity to explore the STRUCTURE of words found in one of our resources. Each scholars was challenged to:

  • Look through the Kids Discover magazine.
  • Identify a ROOT word.
  • ReSTRUCTURE the word by adding prefixes and suffixes.
  • Explain how the restructuring changes the meaning of the word.
  • Create a learning poster to make your thinking visible.
  • Seesaw your process. (We did not get to this today, but will try to Seesaw tomorrow.)

Multiple Sources

Ms. Chofi also suggested we try:

We also continued practicing PARTitioning rectangles and connecting our pictorial presentation to the more abstract PARTial products. Using these two strategies, we multiplied four-digit by one-digit factors.

To end the day, students began to access our prior knowledge about India. With STRUCTURE in mind, we began a KWHLAQ process. In small groups, students began to:

  • Ponder what they already KNOW about India.
  • Pick and prioritize things they WANT to know more about. 

As we worked through the remainder of this process, we will be able to narrow down and focus our inquiries.

Math Mania

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Today as our first round of math mania.

Students rotated through 4 stations, which included:

  • problem solving multiplication equations using math tiles.
  • applying the concrete, pictorial, abstract process and showing evidence and of thinking in their math journals.
  • modeling multiplication equations by building representations with base ten blocks.
  • collaboratively constructing our puzzle of the Taj Mahal.

This STRUCTURE allowed scholars to really apply their thinking, communication, and self-management skills during each of the 30-minute stations.

At one point, Ms. Paula popped in. Pleased with the progress on our puzzle, she climbed on top of some desks to get a tweetable picture.

Once again today, Ben brought in some samples of his rock and mineral collection. Rather than passing samples around the circle, he opted to share using the document camera and big screen. Very professional!

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