NEWS
This week we celebrated Halloween and Deepavali.
As readers our focus was on fluency, specifically adjusting our voices to match the mood of the characters, "talking" like the characters, and making sure we are reading at a "just right" pace. The big idea behind this is that when read fluently we help our comprehension and this is really the reason that we read books in the first place. Next week our focus will be on identifying and understanding special language author's use to make their writing more interesting, basically similes, idioms, metaphors, and the like.
As writers we have continued writing like scientists to describe our science experiments in a guided fashion. The focus this week was on identifying a question and coming up with a hypothesis. The focus next week will be on analyzing the results and coming up with conclusions. The end goal is that we will be able to put all the pieces together independently in a few weeks (namely coming up with a question, hypothesis, procedure, results and conclusion) with an independent investigation.
In math we are continuing our work on word problems, with the focus this week on "change unknown" problems. This means you start with something (say 10 apples) then Mr. Alex gave you some more (change) and in the end you had 15 apples. How many apples did Mr. Alex give you? We solved problems and created our own focusing on understanding the problem, making a model or picture, writing the equation, and identifying an answer with a unit representing the amount. Next continue this work with "start unknown" problems, as well as starting "take-away" problems which are basically the beginning of subtraction before switching gears to addition and subtraction with regrouping and borrowing double digit numbers in the coming weeks.
In science we are linking closely to our writing unit making links to the different states of matter and how matter can change states through the addition or removal of heat through a series of experiments melting an ice cube (and coming up with hypothesis as to how we can make it melt faster). More experiments coming up next week and we encourage you to support your child's curiosity at home by asking "why" and allowing them to explore and create their own experiments at home. If you are curious this time lapse is "the control" group time-lapse in our classroom. Total time to melt as 1 hour 32 minutes!
UPCOMING
Friday, November 10th is the International Flag Parade day. Your child can come to school wearing their traditional outfit from your country. Parents are welcome to watch the parade from 8:15 - 9:15 a.m.
Saturday, November 11th is International Fest at the Ampang campus.
DINNER QUESTIONS
Can you tell a story/word problem with start/result unknown?
Practice saying “I’m hungry” in 3 different moods, happy, grumpy, sad.
What are some transition words that you can use when you teach someone something?
What wonderings do you have as a scientist?
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