Week of October 7 - 10, 2013

Wednesday HW
1.  Complete the six long division questions we used for practice on the whiteboard today.   This is the start of our long division arc.  There will again be an emphasis on estimation as a tool to self-check the calculation. I am encouraging use of the standard algorithm (Divide/Multiply/Subtract/ Bring Down with place value) to divide, but I also showed the students another technique using multiples of 10 which is outlined in the textbook.
This is only the first lesson in a planned series of at least four days so some difficulty with the concept is to be expected.  Times table command is an area on which to work.  We practice in class, but some home practice is a must, even if it is not assigned homework.
2.  Parent Council fundraising request letters were sent home today.  I have made good use of all our parent council funding over the years, most recently for the four iPads we use.  Thank you for your past support of this initiative.
3.  Photo Orders are due October 17.  Proofs were sent home today.  No retake date has been posted yet by our school.
4.  Problem of the Week (Angry Nerds App) is due on Tuesday October 15.

Tuesday HW
Today was an unusual day in that 13 students were absent for XC running for the bulk of the day.  We used the time to catch up and do extra practice but also introduced two new activities.  Cross Country runners need to catch up but will have an extra day to do so.
1.  Journal:  The Backpack.  Students should write a page entry in their journals on the prompt shared in class.  Special focus should be on indentation of paragraphs, proper capitalization and application of previous editing I've done in the journal especially with respect to sight words.
The prompt:  "There is an emergency.  You have 20 minutes to gather at least three important items that can fit in a backpack before you leave your home.  You may not be able to ever come back.  Name the three or more items you chose to take and give reasons for your choices."  The focus is on choosing special items that are irreplaceable and on the reasoning for each one.  No laundry lists should be composed ('my Superman action figure, my Batman action figure, my Iron Man action figure...') if students want to create a good journal that others would like to read.
2.  Multiplication by two digit factor practice.  We had 16 extra practice questions today on the whiteboard.  The XC boys in class, who left later, had time to see them all.  The girl XC runners might have run out of time and should catch up with the extra day.



Monday HW
1.  Spelling text book activities on page 17-19.  The students should have copied it down correctly from the whiteboard today.  Some students received a shorter assignment.
2.  A new problem of the Week was handed out today.  I wrote each student's name on it and handed it to them personally.  It is called "Angry Nerds App" and is due on Tuesday October 15 due to the holiday Monday.  When I collected the previous Problem only three students did not have it ready. They stayed in at AM recess to work on a new one.
3.  Our class total for Terry Fox was $418.80.  Bravo!  Our school total was over $13 450.00, which is a new record by a considerable margin.  Thank you Runnymede!