Late Night Angle Update

Another long evening of conferences, but I wanted to quickly chime in on what’s going on.  Today we had an emergency bus evacuation drill, but I’m happy to report that all students quickly and safely evacuated the imaginary bus accident.  Also today, we began our new poetry writing unit with Headline Poems.  Students spent some time cutting out headlines and words they found in yesterday’s paper to use to craft their own poems.

In math today, we spent some time discussing Opposite and Adjacent Angles.  Students learned how to figure out the size of the four angles formed by two intersecting line segments after only measuring one of them.  We discussed how two angles are adjacent if they are next to each other and that they are Opposite or Vertical if they are directly opposite of each other.

Tomorrow will be the final day of regularly scheduled conferences.  If you still need to schedule a conference please send a note or give me a call letting me know what alternative arrangements might work for you.

Homework:

1. Language Arts:  Comparatives, Superlatives and suffixes page.
2. Mathematics:  Page 59 Angles in Figures  (For problems 1,2 and 3 students may measure the angles if they have access to a protractor at home, or they may estimate measurement of the angles if they do not.)
3. Reading:  Read for 20 minutes and fill out pink reading log.  Please make sure that students completely fill out all the sections on the reading logs before you sign them tonight.

Mr. Weis

Election Day

I just finished my last conference and am running out the door to go vote, so I will keep it short and sweet. In vocabulary we spent some time discussing the differences between superlatives and comparatives. In reading, we worked in reciprocal teaching groups and read an article about the elusive Bigfoot. In mathematics, we got our feet wet with protractors and students made some great connections and reached some good levels of understanding about vertexes, angles and degrees.

In the afternoon we spent some time discussing the election process and exploring the rather odd workings of the electoral college. The only homework I gave tonight was for students to spend some time having a discussion with an adult about the election. Feel free to share as much or as little about your personal political opinions, but please take some time to at least have a discussion about your feelings about voting and elections. I believe it is our civic duty to pass on to young people our thoughts and experiences, both positive and negative, about how democracy is put into action in this country and how the process has personally affected us (again both in positive and negative ways.) I’d encourage students to check out multiple news sources, TV, Internet, Radio and Print to learn about the election results and get a comprehensive view of the process. Thanks!

Homework:

1. Have a discussion about voting and the election with an adult and get a signature.
2. Read for 20 minutes and write in your pink reading log.

Mr. Weis

Dear Blog,

1645 Milvia St.

Berkeley, Ca. 94709

November 3, 2008

Dear Blog,

Today in school we reviewed all the components of a “Friendly Letter.” To my great bewilderment, I discovered that there were many students in the class who did not know their home address.  I hope they take note today of their address number and street name and figure out their zipcodes.  We came up with a nice list of salutations and closing words to use in our letters, and students will begin their correspondence journal today for homework.  I eagerly anticipate hearing all that they have to say.

In other news, we spent some more time with angles.  I really enjoy playing with angles, but sometimes they can get rather finicky and disagreeable, especially when I am trying to figure out the measurements of specific angles inside a geometric shape.  Maybe the activity we do tomorrow will help to clarify a little bit more about how to identify specific measurements and use what we know about some standard angles and shapes to determine what that angle will be.  We are trying to get some basic measurements memorized such as: right angle: 90′, triangle: 180′, circle: 360′, straight line: 180′, quadrilateral: 360′.

Our vocabulary this week we will involve spending some time getting to know comparatives and superlatives. They sure do look alike, but once you get to know them, they become easy to tell apart.  Hope you are having a nice day.  Talk to you again tomorrow.

Homework:

1. Language Arts:  Vocabulary Word List Worksheet.
2. Other:  Write Mr. Weis a “Friendly Letter” in your correspondence journal.  Optional: You may decorate your correspondence journal, just make sure your name is clearly visible.

Sincerely,

Mr. Weis