Mindful Map Makers

This week in theme the students became cartographers and travel agents. They helped some tourists (Ms. M and Ms. Cota!) find their way through the state when their GPS system failed on a trip from Canada. Our interns are quite skilled actors and donned "tourist" costumes and matching accents! The geographers then picked a Vermont attraction to research and created a travel guide for tourists by pinning their attraction to a class Google Map. Click on the links below to read about the many attractions in our lovely state. Next week we will head into our history unit by learning about the Abenaki tribe. The students will work together to research about the lives of these native Vermont inhabitants and will create a book during our theme, literacy, and art blocks.

In math we have learned about several efficient strategies to use when multiplying larger numbers. Some of these include quick sketching, area model and ratio tables. Next week we will use some of these models to make sense of division with larger numbers and remainders. We will also continue to look at elapsed time, story problems, and cups/quarts/gallons in Number Corner.

This coming week we will conclude our group reading of Because of Winn Dixie. The students will look more closely at characters and make claims about their traits using evidence from the book. We will discuss our findings in book club and will write more about this character and our claim about his/her personality and how that character has changed throughout the story. Many students have really made connections with this book and we have seen some amazing writing come out of this unit because of these connections.

We will be headed to the book fair this Wednesday at 10:15. Your student can make a wish list at this time or purchase books. Please send them with money on Wednesday if you would like for them to purchase. If your student want to buy items other than books we ask that you please send them with a note stating that they have your permission.