A Chilly Post on a Three Dog Night

Did you ever wonder about the origin of the idiom three dog night?  Check out the entry on idiomsite.

Today we began to work specifically with our words of the week and made vocabulary cards for breathe, breath, athlete and athletic.  In addition to discussing the different pronunciations and vowel patterns, we also took special care to make sure that our definitions, sentences, synonyms and antonyms all connected to the correct part of speech. Some students had a little difficulty with this.

In reading groups today, the students discussed their books and began to work with the Literary Luminary job.  Most students have homework tonight to fill out a Literary Luminary Job Page to prepare them for their groups tomorrow.  The Literary Luminary job involves shedding some light (get it? 🙂 ) on specific passages from the book.  The passages may be taken from dialogue or narration, and should be picked while the student is doing their daily reading.  Passages can highlight important, confusing, intriguing, comical, frightening, descriptive, awe-inspiring, archaic-sounding, or any other type of passage which elicits some form of a response on the part of the reader.

In Mathematics we worked with a game called First to 100.  Students brought home their game cards and are supposed to teach the game to an adult and play a few rounds.  Although some of the cards in the game are a bit tricky, the most important concept of the game is that of big idea of how substitution of values of variables builds into algebraic reasoning.  I hope you enjoy playing.

In Social Studies students began some research on various topics connected to the Age of Exploration.  I created a rhythm track with the program Garageband and an acoompanying lyrical verse in the form of a rap.  Students will incorporate their research into their own verses and we will put them together to create a hip-hop podcast about the Age of Exploration.  As some of you may have heard, I got a BPEF grant for technology resources for pod-casts.  As we move through the year, the students will get a chance to collaborate and create their own pod-casts.  It should make for some fun learning.

One other note, if you have not heard yet, we are going to have a potluck brunch on Friday morning from 10 to 11.  Parents and siblings are invited to come bring some food and enjoy spending some time together before the vacation.  Vicky Simon (Tate’s mom) is helping to organize it.  If you have not sent back a slip about the potluck to RSVP, please make sure to do so as soon as possible.  Thanks.

Homework:

1. Language Arts: Reading groups –  read your section in the book, and complete the Literary Luminary Page.
2. Mathematics: Play First to 100 game.  (Some students – Division practice worksheet)
3. Reading: Read for 20 minutes and fill out pink reading log.

Mr. Weis

PS Here are a couple links for kids to check out for fun in their spare time:

• Funbrain – a large resource of games, some educational, some not.
• Brainpop – A site with some great educational flash videos.  They have a paid subscription service, but they also have a nice selection of free videos.