Turkey vs. Eagle 

Can you imagine Thanksgiving without turkey?  

Well, if Benjamin Franklin had it his way we may not be eating turkey for Thanksgiving at all! According to a letter Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter in 1784 he wanted to make the wild turkey, not the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States!

What did Ben Franklin see in the plump wild turkey besides a delectable dinner? According to his letter he clearly did not think the bald eagle was an appropriate candidate to represent the Unites States. He claimed the eagle was a lazy thief, and a coward.

Do you agree with Ben Franklin? 

Use World Book online to research a few facts about eagles or wild turkeys. 

What facts support your opinion? 

Write a 3-5 sentence paragraph stating your opinion. Be sure to explain your facts in your own words. 

 

Many Magnificient Multiplication Strategies

Many Magnificent Multiplication Strategies

Over the last few weeks we have been working on multiplication. We have been learning many different strategies to help us solve multiplication problems. 

We started with repeated addition. If Sophia has 3 packs of popsicle. Each pack has 4 popsicles in it. Sophia could either use addition or multiplication to find how many she has in all.

Another strategy is creating equal groups and counting the total number. So, Sophia could draw 3 packs with  4 popsicles in each. 

We practiced making equal groups with items in our classroom. Can you identify the multiplication sentence for these groups?

We also learned how create helpful arrays. An array is a great visual way to organize numbers into neat rows and columns. 

In honor of Halloween we used slimy pumpkin seeds to make arrays. Check out the addition sentences and multiplication sentences!

  I bet you don't realize how frequently you use multiplication to solve day to day problems.

For example, Angelisse was preparing for her birthday and needed to buy goodies for her party. She invited 26 friends to join in her celebration. When she went to Target she found the most precious notepads she was certain her friends would treasure. They came in packs of 6. How many packs does Angelisse need to purchase to have enough for all of her friends? 

Multiplication is a skill you will be grateful to have perfected!

Can you create some word problems that require multiplication for a friend to solve? 

For an extra challenge, create a two step problem for your friends to solve. 

Your word problem must include at least 3 sentences. Practice your writing and vocabulary skills by writing strong sentences! 

Bar Graphs

There are many different ways to share data with other people. Our favorite way is by graphing it! There are different types of graphs like a picture graph or line plot, but our favorite is the bar graph.

Here are some extremely creative and informative bar graphs we created our selves. 

 Every bar graph must have the following three things: 

1. Title (three labels)

2. Categories

3. Scale

In the bar graph below the title is Favorite Video Games. This tells us that the graph will give us information about the classes favorite video games.  

by Kaden and Tyler

We can use bar graphs to compare data. In this bar graph we can see that 2 more students voted for puppies than for
bunnies.

by Kate and Miss P

We can also use bar graphs to find how many students voted in all by adding all of the data together. How many students voted for their favorite video game in this graph?

By Noah and Alexa

Here are two more bar graphs we created. What information can you learn?  

By Hunter and Ella

By Leo Carillo

Use the sentence frames we made in class to ask the class a question about one of the graphs. 

1. Name the graph and the creators of the graph.

2. Fill out the spaces in our sentence frame with categories and numbers from the graph. Be sure it makes sense! So check your numbers carefully!

3. Ask the class to solve your question. 
4. Answer someone's question. Be sure no one else has already answered it. 

Bones! Bones! Bones!

Bones

In honor of the horrifying holiday of Halloween we have started

 learning all about the incredible skeleton system. Have you ever thought about what our bodies would be like without bones? 
Click here to watch an informative video on BrainpopJr about bones!

This diagram shows some of the most common bones in our bodies and their names. When you comment, please be sure to use the correct name and spelling for the bone you are discussing.

This is a great song to help learn all of the names of the bones in our bodies! 

  Creating skeletons, reading various non fiction books, and making our own diagrams has taught us a lot of important facts about bones. 

What is your favorite fact about our bones so far? In your opinion, which bone do you think is most important and why? Have you ever broken any bones?   

 

When you are done posting a comment practice naming the bones by playing this game. 

Name that Bone!

FABLES 

Over the last few weeks we have been exploring the world of folktales. This week we began reading various fables. Fables are a type of folktale that have the following elements. 

1. The characters in these short stories are usually animals. 

 The Tortoise and The Hare 

2. The animals will often have human characteristics, which is called personification. 

For example, The Fox and The Stork tell a story of a fox and a stork having dinner together and eating out of a plate.

3. Most importantly, fables have morals or lessons to be learned. 

We have been reading many fables that are claimed to have been told many years ago by a man named Aesop. 

Click here to watch a few Aesop's fables videos.

For this week's post, please comment on:

What is your favorite Aesop fable?  

What is the moral you learned? 

What fable gives you the best lesson for your life? 

------------------------------------- OR --------------------------------------

Who is Aesop? 

Use World Book Online Kids to read some interesting facts about Aesop and Ancient Greece. (login information can be found on the home page of my website)

Share what you learned with us! Remember you must write what you learned in your own words!

Cause and Effect

 

This week's comprehension skill is "Cause and Effect".

While reading it's good practice to ask yourself "why did this happen?" or "what is going to happen?"

Identifying the cause and effect can help you better understand the text or story!

Often sentences will have signal words that can help you identify the cause and effect.

Some words include:

so 

as a result

because

therefore

consequently

since 

 

Watch this BrainpopJr. for more on cause and effect!  

 

 

search: Cause and Effect 

username and password are on my website

Can you write a sentence and ask a friend to identify the cause and the effect. Remember our strategy! Break the sentence apart. 

When Hunter sneakily stole her tasty popcorn Mrs. Broussard began to cry . 

Ask yourself "What makes most sense?"

Hunter stole her popcorn BECAUSE Mrs. Broussard began to cry. 

or

Mrs. Broussard began to cry BECAUSE Hunter stole her popcorn.

Whichever part of the sentence follows the "because" can be identified as the cause! 

Whichever part precedes, or comes before the "because" is the effect!

Can you write a cause and effect comment? 

Identify which part of the sentence is the cause and which is the effect. 

Write another sentence and ask a friend to find the cause and effect. 

Challenge yourself by writing a sentence that does not use because as a signal word! 

Sensational Sentences 

In class we have been learning about the four different sentences and the punctuation marks that are used for each type.

 We used strong vocabulary to name our sentences. Today in class we made an educreations together to demonstrate our learning. Check it out.

We also talked about how great comments usually end with an interrogative sentence. This gives other bloggers an opportunity to respond back to you! 

Can you write a comment about your favorite type of sentence?  

Tell me why it's your favorite type of sentence. Provide an example. Be sure to use strong vocabulary when naming your sentence. Also use the correct punctuation marks!!! Try ending your comment with an interrogative sentence so someone can respond to you!