Weekly Update!

We had a fantastic week! I wish I could have been there on Friday for our Snow Day but the other teachers said the girls had a blast! My daughter did well on her TED talk. I was so happy to be able to see her speak. It was definitely one of those proud mama moments. Click here for a few pictures from Friday.

In math, we wrapped up Unit 5 and spent all of Thursday's math time reviewing for the upcoming test on Tuesday. The unit covers multiplication and division of 2s and 3s. The girls seem to really understand these concepts, so I'm confident they will do well on the test. In case you would like to review with your daughter at home, these are some of the things we discussed:

1. If you don't know the fact- use what you DO know to solve it. For example, if you don't know 3 x 9 =___, you can use what you know about 2s facts to solve it. I know that 2 x 9 = 18 (9 doubled is 18) and then I add one more 9 to get 27 (not one more 3- we have discussed this over and over😁).

2. For any multiplication problem, you can skip count by that number and keep track of where you are in your counting on your fingers. You can also use repeated addition to solve it (i.e. 6 x 3: 6 + 6 + 6 = 18).

3. For division, drawing a picture is helpful. Share out among the groups and keep track by using tallies. For example, 21 ÷ 3 = ____. I start by giving one to each group and keep going until I get to 21. The amount in each circle is the answer. Remember: each group needs to have the same amount.

**If you happen to have one or two leftover (depending on if you are dividing by 2 or 3), then those are your remainders (i.e. 23 ÷ 3 = ____). We also talked about how dividing by 2 is easy...you just split the number in half.

4. Use fact families to solve. For example, to solve 18 ÷ 3 = ____, you can use what you know about multiplication to solve. 3 x ___ = 18 . The girls should also be ready to write 2 multiplication equations and 2 related division equations for each fact (i.e. 3 x 5 = 15; 5 x 3 = 15; 15 ÷ 3 = 5; 15 ÷ 5 = 3).

5. Finally, we discussed different types of multiplication and division word problems. I have been STRONGLY encouraging the girls to draw a picture for each problem. Once again, drawing a picture is very helpful! Here are some examples:

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In social studies, we started a fun unit on the Solar System. We added lots of questions to our Wonder Wall and watched a great video on the sun. The girls then started their flipbooks. They will be recording one fact they feel is most important and one fun fact about each planet (along with the sun). 

In writing, I am continuing to conference with individual girls about their Trapped in a Snow Globe stories. The main things we are focusing on are: hooking the reader at the beginning of our story, making sure our ideas are organized and flow smoothly (i.e. there is a beginning, middle, and end) and using correct capitalization and punctuation.

Reminders and Upcoming Dates

* January 25th- Snowball Dance- 6:00-7:30pm

* February 3rd-14th- Swim lessons (M, T, W, Th): More information to come on this.
* February 21st- Gold/White Cheer Rally: 10:00am