Where We Are in Place and Time

Diving into… A Different Pond

lrupp Learner Profile, Literacy, Social Studies, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

On Monday, we finished reading Goodbye, Vietnam, so we opted to explore another text today that also connected to Vietnam. As we read, we tried to make connections between the two texts, comparing and contrasting the struggles the families in each book faced.

The embedded video below is an excellent interactive read aloud of A Different Pond. While designed for a slightly younger audience, Mai models a number of wonderful strategies that scholarly readers do including:

  • making predictions.
  • using text and graphic features.
  • envisioning (picturing the scene in your mind).
  • pausing to check for understanding.
  • using context clues to tackle tricky words.
  • making inferences.
  • connecting to self, text, and world.
  • questioning  (inquiring).
  • empathizing (putting self in the shoes of the characters).
  • reading with expression and fluency.
  • summarizing (SWBST).

If you are interested in doing the craft shared at the end of the video, check out Mai’s website.

Multiple Source: Mai Storybook

In class, we challenged our thinking by analyzing the author’s craft. Specifically, we looked at the author’s use of figurative language. As we examined quotes excerpted from this and other texts we’ve read, we determined whether each was a simile or metaphor, provided evidence for our thinking by annotating the quotes, and provided a explanation of what the author meant.

Crafting with Creative Comparisons

While we realized similes and metaphors are commonly used by authors to enable readers to visualize more vividly and experience emotion more evocatively, our challenge now is, can we, as authors, do the same?

Peruse this previously-posted padlet and consider sharing examples of figurative language found in books you are reading or adding YOUR OWN original figurative language examples.

Made with Padlet

Solutions Surface from Struggle (Problem Solvers & Survivors)

lrupp Birthday, Classroom Community, Literacy, Math, TASOK, Visible Thinking, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

As our spelling words for this week were revealed, we realized that many reached across subject areas and caused our brain to cross and connect between the visual and verbal. Work we’ve been doing about research, using multiples resources, analyzing, and synthesizing all came together in this week’s list. The challenge will be, how will we put not only the words but also the skills and strategies they represent into practice? That’s what scholars do!

We are so grateful for Ms. Kraft and the time and effort she spends each week searching for resources that connect to our unit. She really encourages us to consider different points of view and to explore different facets of our countries of focus. Today, she shared two videos with us that allowed us to see some unique aspects of Cambodia. First, she introduced us to Mosha, an elephant injured by one of the millions of landmines that still remain in Cambodia. We had read about the danger of landmines in our read aloud Half Spoon of Rice, but were intrigued to see how they not only affect people but also animals.

Multiple Source:

Ms. Kraft also shared with us another video about a creative way Cambodians are clearing the landmines… with giant Gambian rats.

Multiple Source

How do these videos expand our ideas about struggle and survival?

Particularly, considering perspective, how has the struggle for survival in Cambodia lead to opportunity?

As promised, we put our measurement multiple source to work today as we converted various units of measurement in input-output tables. To show our evidence, we made sure to record the process (ex. 3 kg x 1,000 = 3,000 g). We also identified a rule for each table (ex. Rule k x 1,000 = g). After completing some conversions, we applied our knowledge to some multi-step word problems. Remembering to activate our visual and verbal parts of our brains, we used number lines and bar models to visualize the problems and equations to capture our mathematical process.

A magnificent moment marked the end of our day as we celebrated Mathew! Mathew’s mom and dad arrived at the end of the day with a delightfully delicious cake with a lovely lime flavor and sweet and sour candy. Mmm… marvelously mouthwatering! Happy birthday, Mathew! We hope YOUR day is as special as YOU!

          

 

Celebrating CENT = The 100th Day

lrupp Birthday, Classroom Community, Literacy, Math, Social Studies, TASOK, Visible Thinking, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

Quote of the Day: “Mrs. Rupp, look at how many multiple sources we are using!”

Today, we continued our read aloud of Goodbye Vietnam, learning more about Mai, her family, and her village. We made it to “Part 2: The Journey,” which described the secret departure from her home… a home that had been in her family for generations. In this section of the book, the author revealed a number of struggles caused by the move and allowed us to consider connections,  changes, and perspectives related to those struggles. Grandmother’s stubbornness was a focus of some discussion. As the family entered the town of Go Cong, they (and we) encountered a suspenseful moment. For the first time, Grandmother’s stubbornness was helpful.

Reflect: How does one’s character or character traits relate to struggle and survival? (Scholars… consider different points of view!)

The following video is from a market in Go Cong taken during Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year).

(Note: the description of the video provides a bit more information about Tet).

Multiple Sources

 

After reading, we put our hands to writing. Since it was the 100th day of school, we enthusiastically embraced today’s writing challenge… writing a collaborative 100-sentence story. Students, working in groups of 4 or 5, took turns (sentence by sentence) drafting a 100-sentence story. Writers had the option to draft on paper or on a Google doc. And, groups could decide to focus on one story or craft 4 or 5 collaborative stories simultaneously. The energy and engagement for this activity was high. In addition, students naturally initiated thoughtful writing conversations about the effectiveness of hooks, word choice, figurative language, character development, plot development, and conventions (spelling and punctuation).

 

This afternoon, we spent some time reading independently in order to build up our reading stamina and apply some of the strategies we have been learning about. Scholarly readers:

  • preview and predict
  • monitor comprehension and clarify understanding (pause and ponder, tackle tricky words, reread)
  • generate questions (about the text and about the author’s purpose and intent)
  • make inferences (prior knowledge + text evidence = inference)
  • envision / visualize (brain crossing)
  • make connections (to self, to other texts, to the world)
  • consider text structure (use graphic organizers)
  • synthesize / summarize (SWBST)
  • think about thinking (metacognition)
  • evaluate (determine importance)

Phew… reading is a complex activity that requires a  W  I  D  E  variety of skills and strategies.

  • Which skill or strategy allows your to soar as a reader?
  • Which skill or strategy do you struggle with… and how can that struggle make you a stronger reader?

We finished our week by completing a multiple source for measurement. This tool will be very useful in the week ahead as we apply our knowledge to a variety of problems.

Multiple Source: Math is Fun – Measurement Index

Our 100th day of school ended with a flourish this Friday as we celebrated Jessica’s birthday. Jessica herself baked a beautiful batch of chocolate cupcakes to share with icing and sprinkles to add some sparkle. We are grateful that her mom was able to join us in celebrating the joy that is Jessica!

 

 

Quality Questioning… Quenching Curiosity

lrupp Classroom Community, Learner Profile, Literacy, Math, Social Studies, Visible Thinking, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

After being hooked yesterday by Gloria Whelan, the author of Goodbye, Vietnam, we were anxious to continue our reading of the story featuring Mai, a 13-year-old girl from a village in Vietnam. The first chapter introduced us to the characters and allowed us to envision life in her village. The details provided by the author caused us, as readers, to QUESTION… an important (and scholarly) reading strategy. Our inquiring minds caused us to wonder about Vietnam and Vietnamese culture.

In an effort to satisfy our curiosity, we paired up and logged into our Google Classroom, where we found an assignment entitled “Visualizing Vietnam.” The primary resource we used today was an article from Encyclopedia Britannica. As we read, we tried using Cornell Notes to save and organize our ideas. Since this was our first official attempt at Cornell Notes this year, we realized there is a lot of room to grow.

To learn about Cornell Notes as a note taking structure, listen to Mr. G explain. While it sounds like he is talking to an older audience, I think his visuals will be beneficial.


If you’d like to take your Cornell Notes to the next level by combining them with Sketchnotes (which we talked about on Tuesday), check out Doug Neill’s video. I think you’ll LOVE this as an option for learning.

In the personal example he shares, I was especially amazed at the neatness of his work and how purposeful and patient he was in putting together all 11 pages. I can infer that the book he read and the topic he was researching was important to him.

As I was researching sketchnoting AND our region of study last night, I came across an amazing site that combined the two. Eva-Lotta Lamm has posted some of her sketchnote journal entries from her travels. Two are posted below (one about Cambodia and one about Vietnam). In addition to the unique facts and bits of information sketched,

  • what are some common, organizational elements that she includes in her sketchnotes?
  • Also, what elements do you notice that connect to the videos we watched about the building blocks of sketchnotes?
  • What do these examples make you wonder about?

This afternoon, we revisited partitioning, looking at some larger numbers, one of which had some unusual characteristics. One of the most powerful QUESTIONS during our math time today was about zeroes.

  • What do you do with the zeroes in the MIDDLE of  number?
  • How do you represent those using an array (PARTitioned rectangle)?

Lots of GREAT thinking came out of that QUESTION.

Visualizing… Vietnam

lrupp Classroom Community, Literacy, Math, Science, Social Studies, TASOK, Visible Thinking, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

Today we started looking at another country in our region of study… Vietnam! Right next to Cambodia, Vietnam also provides us with an opportunity to inquire into our central idea of struggle and survival.

We started our new book, Goodbye, Vietnam by Gloria Whelan, which prompted us to make prediction and connections to Chu Ju’s House, by the same author.

To get a glimpse of what life might have been like in Mai’s village, take a tour of these villages. How might where Mai lives be connected to our central idea?

For math today, we played with a practical problem set right here in Kinshasa – a traffic jam! By visualizing the road and the long rows or cars, we made connections to arrays and PARTitioned rectangles. We connected the visual representation to a numerical representation of partial products. In addition, we wrote equations to represent our process. We will continue looking at this tomorrow and extending our thinking over the next few days.

At the end of the day, we were introduced to sketchnoting… a new strategy for all of us. While we only began to get a glimpse of the building blocks, we already see the potential for academic doodling.

Rewatch the videos from class and continue learning how to sketchnote at BrainDoodles.

Half a Spoon of Rice… and a WHOLE bunch of Determination

lrupp Classroom Community, Literacy, Math, Social Studies, TASOK, Visible Thinking, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

Our spelling list this morning sparked some critical conversation. We discussed the synonyms and antonyms listed and really zoomed in on the math vocabulary. Two words that seemed new to us were “urban” and “rural.”

Made with Padlet

To learn more about urban, suburban, and rural, watch the following video.

We then reread Half Spoon of Rice by Icy Smith, our third book about Cambodia. Today’s read generated quite a bit of discussion, which could lead to further inquiries.

In library, Ms. Kraft provided another perspective on our central idea of struggle and survival by sharing a video about the Panyee Football Club on the island of Koh Panyee, Thailand. We were all engaged in these boys’ struggle. (Note: Thailand is another country in our current region of study.)

After music, P.E. and French, we returned to the room to extend our thinking from Friday’s math challenge. For those of you who want to keep thinking, here are the details:

Use what you learned on Friday and the following facts to solve the problems below:

  • A stack of bills 1 inch high has about 250 bills.
  • A ream of paper is 2 inches high.
  • The box holds 10 reams of paper.

Is it possible to fit the reward of one million dollars in $1 bills in your box? Show or explain how you know your answer makes sense.

Ahhh… struggle. SO satisfying!!

Main Message, Multiplication, Metric Measurement, and… Mistakes

lrupp Literacy, Math, Social Studies, Visible Thinking, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

This morning, we used ideas saved from yesterday’s reading of A Song for Cambodia to complete our summary graphic organizer. Since the story was more complex than The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh, we had to think more critically about the main character’s motivation, conflict, plot, and theme.

We then watched a video featuring the REAL Arn Chorn Pond. In his own words, he shared about his struggle to survive in Cambodia and the different, but equally challenging, struggles he had in his new home in New Hampshire. It was amazing to hear his story and to think about our own stories and the stories of those around us.

In math today, we merged our work with multiplication with the measurement of liquids with the metric system. We created a double number line to help us visualize and compare liters (L) to milliliters (mL). We also used an input-output table to convert the units. Students worked diligently to demonstrate understanding of these concepts, making sure they showed their thinking for each question.

Tomorrow, we will revisit some of our “Favorite No’s,” which were mostly found in multi-step word problems. Since those are most connected to how we use math in real life situations, it will be important for us to identify important information, prepare a plan, and solve with efficient and effective strategies. What we found out today was that we can apply a lot of what we have been learning the last two weeks. Thankfully, we have created multiples sources to which we can refer.

Check out this video from YouCubed (one of my favorite math and mindset resources).

Mistakes

How does this video connect to our central idea related to struggle and survival?

Here’s another one that celebrates the brain-growing power of mistakes.

  • What mistakes can you celebrate today?
  • How did your mistakes provide an opportunity for you to struggle?
  • How did your mistakes help your brain grow?

Challenge: Think of a metaphor or simile to illustrate the power of mistakes?

 

Pondering, Preschool, and PARTitioning

lrupp Buddies, Classroom Community, Literacy, Math, Social Studies, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

Our second reading of A Song for Cambodia caused us to ponder Arn’s experience more deeply. Before rereading, though, questions were posed about the book’s genre. Is it fiction or nonfiction? If fiction, is it realistic or historical? If nonfiction, is it narrative nonfiction? How can we tell?

Today, we also spent a bit more time talking about the foreword and the afterword, each containing important historical information that made us yearn for more information. What keywords could we use to find out more about this story and whether or not it is true? What other factual information related to the setting (time and place) would help use better understand this story? What kinds of multiple sources would be most helpful? Lots to think and wonder about…

Prior to recess, we headed over to preschool for our first meeting with our buddies in the new year. Everyone was excited to reconnect through play and painting, creating and counting, reading and relaxing. We were extremely grateful to Mr. Matthew and Mrs. van der Merwe for hosting us this week.

                                   

As we continued to build our understanding of more complex multiplication, we applied our work with extended facts to a new model for solving problems. By decomposing factors and PARTitioning area models (a.k.a. the partial product box), we were able to efficiently and effectively solve multi-digit problems. In the days ahead, it will be important to save our ideas, so we can apply them in increasingly complex situations.

 

 

 

Struggling to Survive

lrupp Birthday, Classroom Community, Literacy, Math, Social Studies, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

On Tuesday, we tackled a tougher text titled A Song for Cambodia by Michelle Lord. This story takes us on a treacherous journey with Arn, a boy from a village in northern Cambodia. With well-chosen words, the author allows us to step into Arn’s shoes (an idiomatic phrase meaning to see life from someone else’s perspective). This story prompted a number of important inquiry questions related to survival and struggle and Cambodia’s history, which we will investigate further in the days ahead.

(Note: I am working on recording a read aloud of this text, which will be posted in your Google Classroom (Stay tuned)).

After French, we continued our work with multiplication extending our extended fact exploration. We also reasoned through the reason for reasonable estimates… an important process for our everyday lives. Students spent significant time working in their Everyday Math workbooks.

After art, we revisited our inquiry topic of survival and struggle by writing about one time we struggled. For some… thinking of or narrowing down a topic was a struggle. A similar assignment is posted in your Google Classroom with the Compass Points: Struggle to Survive activity. There is a description of the task and space to write on the second page of the document.

We ended our day with our first birthday celebration of the new year. Mohammad’s mom brought in a beautifully decorated cake to help us celebrated her son. Special!! Happy Birthday, Mohammad!

          

 

 

 

 

Metaphors and Multiplication

lrupp Classroom Community, Literacy, Math, TASOK, Where We Are in Place and Time 0 Comment

Monday is always our busy day beyond our classroom walls, so we try to make the most of our minutes.

Another list of spelling words sparked some interesting discussion. Several spelling words, in conjunction with a noticing of a holiday listed in our planners, caused curious scholars to connect our central idea to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

If you are interested in learning more about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., check out the following links:

“I Have a Dream” Speech (Full)

A few new words also prompted some scholars to dive into the dictionary. There they found a definition and synonyms that helped us better understand some new vocabulary.

What do you notice about the words? How will you make connections and inquire further?

Made with Padlet

After a very thoughtful discussion, we moved into a second reading of The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh by Frederick Lipp. As we read, we discussed more purposefully the author’s craft and how he created inspiring images painted through a variety of figurative language. We then completed a summary using the SWBST model. The added “Finally” part prompted some serious debate and discussion as we tried to articulate the theme. We also noticed that then main character exhibited a LOT of learner profile traits. (Note: I am working on recording a read aloud of this text, which will be posted in your Google Classroom (Stay tuned)).

Our work with words continued in the library as Ms. Kraft read us the book Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis. There was lots of discussion during the read aloud as we tried to make sense of the nonsensical words the author used. As detectives, we used clues from the pictures, punctuation, and pronunciation to help us understand. We then had an opportunity to try to translate the book into English. Tricky.

While the following isn’t as amazing as a live reading by Ms. Kraft, it will hopefully get your brain thinking. What do these words mean?

After music, P.E., and French, we finished out our day with some fact triangles. This was our first lesson in our new unit about multiplication. We used the visual of the triangle to review the elements of a multiplication equation and how they are related to division. We also learned about extended facts and how our work with place value and multiplying by 10 can help us solve problems efficiently.

Skip to toolbar