Good afternoon!

What an amazing day! We started our day off with a little bit of Math review. As you all know, we have been practicing some multiplication and division mental math strategies over the last few weeks. Students were given time today to continue practicing in their Unit #3 Workbooks, and to spend some time using the Mathletics on the IPads. One of the strategies that we have really focused on is using multiples of 10 to help us. Our textbook gives the following definition:

Multiple: Start at a number, then count on by that number to get the multiples of that number. To get the multiples of 3, start at 3 and count on by 3: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, …

So the multiples of 10 are as follows: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, …, 100, 200, 300, …, 1000, etc.

Multiplying by a multiple of 10 can be easier to do sometimes, because there is a trick to it!

Students can use the number of zeros that correspond with the place value place to help them solve these problems. If they are trying to solve 45 x 10…

45 x 10 = __

Well… I know that 45 x 1 = 45

So… 45 x 1 ten = 45 tens

So… 45 x 10 = 450

This strategy works with multiples of 100 and 1000 as well.

In Language Arts today we worked on the December reading strategy of the month – creating images! Today we watched the cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. Then we discussed similes and metaphors. Students were reminded that similes are comparing sentences that use like or as to help compare two things. Metaphors are comparing sentences that do NOT use like or as to compare two things. Then we listened to the title song from the movie. In it we found a few similes (“You’re as cuddly as a cactus”) and quite a few metaphors (“You’ve got all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile”). Then students were challenged to create an image out of one of the similes and metaphors. I’ll post some pictures of our work tomorrow, as some of us still need to finish colouring them.

As this half of the school year draws to a close, I just want to send out a thank you to all the parents for their support and generosity over the last few months. You help make our class a great place to be and learn. This was exemplified in the generosity we saw today for our holiday celebration. The students enjoyed a wonderful buffet filled with healthy holiday snacks. The amount of food and options was enormous, and I was overwhelmed by your support. Thank you so much. The students really enjoyed eating all of those healthy, APPLE friendly snacks while watching Ice Age this afternoon. Check out some of our snacks in the pictures below.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Library Books – due tomorrow!

Mathletics Night – tonight @ 5:30 pm and 7:00 pm

Multiplication Quiz – tomorrow (2x, 10x)

Mathletics – 20 minutes

Language Arts – Word Practice

Ski Day – Feb. 6th

Emergency Blankets

Science: RAFT

Pyjama Day – tomorrow!