5 + 3 + 2 - 2 = 8
The students were quite challenged by this game, and I encouraged them to take their notes home and to push themselves to come up with more possibilities. I look forward to seeing their results next week!
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
QUEST Math Week of August 28th
This week in QUEST Math we watched the video Everyone Can Do Well in Math and talked about the research that shows our brains actually grow and change when we struggle with new ideas and tasks. We also read the book What Do You Do With a Problem by Kobi Yamada and discussed how every problem presents itself with an opportunity to learn something new.
We then played a game called 4x4, which involves using 4 numbers (determined by rolling 4 dice) and all 4 basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) to come up with solutions from 1-10. For example, one of my groups rolled 2, 2, 3, 5. The first solution we found was:
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Welcome to the 2017/18 School Year!
Welcome back to school! 2017/18 promises to be another successful year here at Blythe Park & Hollywood Schools!
I will begin meeting with groups next week, the week of August 28th. This year I will be working in new locations in both buildings. At Blythe Park, I will be meeting with my groups in the art room. At Hollywood, I will be in room 101, which is between kindergarten and 4th grade.
My group schedule is as follows:
Blythe Park
Reading Gr. 3 ~ Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 12:20 - 1:20
Reading Gr. 4/5 ~ Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 1:20 - 2:20
Math Gr. 3 ~ Wednesdays from 10:00 - 11:00
Math Gr. 4 ~ Wednesdays from 9:00 - 10:00
Hollywood
Reading Gr. 3 ~ Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 10:20 - 11:20
Reading Gr. 4/5 ~ Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 9:20 - 10:20
Math Gr. 3 ~ Tuesdays from 12:50 - 1:50
Math Gr. 4 ~ Tuesdays from 1:50 - 2:50
Next week we will focus on getting to know each other, and for some of us, getting to know each other better and catching up after the summer. We will establish expectations for our time together and participate in some team building activities. We will also revisit the concept of a Growth Mindset. I invite all of you to follow this blog so you will be notified when new posts are added. I will admit, updating this site regularly is an area of improvement for me, so if you haven't heard from me in a while, please help me stay on track by sending me a quick, friendly email inquiring about what we've been up to. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to working with my students and their families this year!
I will begin meeting with groups next week, the week of August 28th. This year I will be working in new locations in both buildings. At Blythe Park, I will be meeting with my groups in the art room. At Hollywood, I will be in room 101, which is between kindergarten and 4th grade.
My group schedule is as follows:
Blythe Park
Reading Gr. 3 ~ Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 12:20 - 1:20
Reading Gr. 4/5 ~ Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 1:20 - 2:20
Math Gr. 3 ~ Wednesdays from 10:00 - 11:00
Math Gr. 4 ~ Wednesdays from 9:00 - 10:00
Hollywood
Reading Gr. 3 ~ Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 10:20 - 11:20
Reading Gr. 4/5 ~ Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 9:20 - 10:20
Math Gr. 3 ~ Tuesdays from 12:50 - 1:50
Math Gr. 4 ~ Tuesdays from 1:50 - 2:50
Next week we will focus on getting to know each other, and for some of us, getting to know each other better and catching up after the summer. We will establish expectations for our time together and participate in some team building activities. We will also revisit the concept of a Growth Mindset. I invite all of you to follow this blog so you will be notified when new posts are added. I will admit, updating this site regularly is an area of improvement for me, so if you haven't heard from me in a while, please help me stay on track by sending me a quick, friendly email inquiring about what we've been up to. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to working with my students and their families this year!
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
March 1, 2017
QUEST Reading
3rd graders have been busy as we wrap up an informational unit about the Titanic, which involved reading All Stations! Distress! by Don Brown, as well as other texts. Last week we explored the concept of density and how it relates to ships' ability to float. We replicated these two experiments:
This was followed by an examination of primary sources, using this guide. 
4th and 5th graders are nearing the end of the text Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson. We began by exploring the Civil War and watching a brief video clip of an interview with the author. Next week we will explore the history of and take a tour of Ford's Theatre and explore the route that detailed Lincoln's long journey home after the assassination.
QUEST Math
3rd graders have just begun a problem-based learning project through DefinedStem.com that asks them to apply their mathematical understandings to real-life situations. Our students will be acting as restaurant owners, trying to secure their bid for a 100-person dinner to be held in their new restaurant, as they try to build the reputation of their new restaurant. Learn all about it here!
4th graders have completed their unit on fractions, and have begun working with decimals. They will begin their own problem-based learning experience soon enough!
Monday, October 3, 2016
Monday, October 3, 2016
QUEST Reading 4/5
Unfortunately I will only be able to see my reading students one time this week due to a conference, a meeting at the district office, and our Institute Day on Friday. During my time with the students I will be assigning a project that will be completed both in class and at home. Students will be given a job on our "Assignment Day" and they will then create a diary written from the perspective of an employee of the city of Ember. Diaries will be due on Tuesday, Oct. 18th for Hollywood students and on Wednesday, October 19th for Blythe Park students.
QUEST Reading 3
Due to the fact that almost all of my 3rd graders have already read the novel Frindle, we will be reading No Talking by Andrew Clements instead. I have spent the past few weeks using picture books to pre-teach some of the skills the students will utilize through the reading of this text; summarizing, making inferences and identifying character traits. The titles we used are Going Places by Reynolds & Reynolds, Boy by James Mayhew and Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. I love using picture books to teach literary concepts, and the students have definitely enjoyed hearing these stories as well.
QUEST Math 3
The students have enjoyed spending the past few weeks determining which school supplies would be most beneficial in a classroom and then creating bar graphs to illustrate their choices. They all did a great job including all of the necessary components and the graphs look great!
QUEST Math 4
The students have been exploring the relationship among powers of 10 and how it affects the place value of a digit of a given number. There will be no QUEST Math this week because I will be attending a conference on Wednesday.
Unfortunately I will only be able to see my reading students one time this week due to a conference, a meeting at the district office, and our Institute Day on Friday. During my time with the students I will be assigning a project that will be completed both in class and at home. Students will be given a job on our "Assignment Day" and they will then create a diary written from the perspective of an employee of the city of Ember. Diaries will be due on Tuesday, Oct. 18th for Hollywood students and on Wednesday, October 19th for Blythe Park students.
QUEST Reading 3
Due to the fact that almost all of my 3rd graders have already read the novel Frindle, we will be reading No Talking by Andrew Clements instead. I have spent the past few weeks using picture books to pre-teach some of the skills the students will utilize through the reading of this text; summarizing, making inferences and identifying character traits. The titles we used are Going Places by Reynolds & Reynolds, Boy by James Mayhew and Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. I love using picture books to teach literary concepts, and the students have definitely enjoyed hearing these stories as well.
QUEST Math 3
The students have enjoyed spending the past few weeks determining which school supplies would be most beneficial in a classroom and then creating bar graphs to illustrate their choices. They all did a great job including all of the necessary components and the graphs look great!
QUEST Math 4
The students have been exploring the relationship among powers of 10 and how it affects the place value of a digit of a given number. There will be no QUEST Math this week because I will be attending a conference on Wednesday.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Local Weekend Programs for Gifted Learners
The Center for Gifted/Midwest Torrance Center for Creativity (a Northern Illinois University partner) is now accepting registration for its fall offerings. These are one day programs held at 5 different Chicagoland locations. Click here for more info and to register! Workshop titles are:
Engineering Egg-Stravaganza!
Harry Potter Festival
Harry Potter Free Movie Night
Makers Mania!
Science Wonders!
STEM with STEAM: What Would Rube Do?
The Center for Talent Development through Northwestern Illinois University is also accepting registration for 8-week Saturday OR Sunday programs that will run from October 1st through November 20th at 5 different Chicagoland locations. Click here for more info and to register!
September 20, 2016
QUEST Reading 4/5
Last week we added some information about identifying the setting and character traits to our interactive Reading Notebooks. These notebooks will be developed by the students and used throughout the year as a reference to the skills on which we will focus. Getting these notebooks up and running at the beginning of the year take a bit of time and patience, but they will be a valuable tool moving forward. We practiced applying these skills to our City of Ember text, and will continue to work on that through chapter 5.
QUEST Reading 3
3rd graders have also begun creating interactive Reading Notebooks. These notebooks will be developed by the students and used throughout the year as a reference to the skills on which we will focus. Getting these notebooks up and running at the beginning of the year take a bit of time and patience, but they will be a valuable tool moving forward. Last week we practiced answering questions completely by restating the main idea from the question in our response. The students also completed a readiness activity to help guide my instruction for the upcoming weeks. This week we will be practicing summarizing using the texts Going Places by Reynolds & Reynolds and Boy by Mayhew.
Math 4
In 4th grade math we have established and practiced group norms for holding math talks. We have also spent a bit of time reviewing estimation techniques to ensure our solutions are reasonable.
Math 3
Third graders are in the middle of a project that asks students to consider which school supplies would be the most useful to purchase if their teacher was awarded a grant to purchase additional materials. The project will culminate with the students creating their own bar graphs to display their thinking.
Last week we added some information about identifying the setting and character traits to our interactive Reading Notebooks. These notebooks will be developed by the students and used throughout the year as a reference to the skills on which we will focus. Getting these notebooks up and running at the beginning of the year take a bit of time and patience, but they will be a valuable tool moving forward. We practiced applying these skills to our City of Ember text, and will continue to work on that through chapter 5.
QUEST Reading 3
3rd graders have also begun creating interactive Reading Notebooks. These notebooks will be developed by the students and used throughout the year as a reference to the skills on which we will focus. Getting these notebooks up and running at the beginning of the year take a bit of time and patience, but they will be a valuable tool moving forward. Last week we practiced answering questions completely by restating the main idea from the question in our response. The students also completed a readiness activity to help guide my instruction for the upcoming weeks. This week we will be practicing summarizing using the texts Going Places by Reynolds & Reynolds and Boy by Mayhew.
Math 4
In 4th grade math we have established and practiced group norms for holding math talks. We have also spent a bit of time reviewing estimation techniques to ensure our solutions are reasonable.
Math 3
Third graders are in the middle of a project that asks students to consider which school supplies would be the most useful to purchase if their teacher was awarded a grant to purchase additional materials. The project will culminate with the students creating their own bar graphs to display their thinking.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
September 8, 2016
In QUEST Reading 4/5 this week we finished up sharing our Summer Stories in the format of a book cover, and did some pre-reading activities for our novel The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. We also finalized our behavior expectations for our time together. Next week will dive into the story and focus on using text evidence to make inferences and answer questions.
3rd grade reading groups also finished up their Summer Stories and started the book Frindle by Andrew Clements. We also finalized our behavior expectations for our time together. Next week we will use picture books to begin exploring the concept of theme. We will also practice using text evidence to answer questions and to identify character traits for the main characters of Frindle.
3rd grade reading groups also finished up their Summer Stories and started the book Frindle by Andrew Clements. We also finalized our behavior expectations for our time together. Next week we will use picture books to begin exploring the concept of theme. We will also practice using text evidence to answer questions and to identify character traits for the main characters of Frindle.
This week math groups established guidelines for holding Math Talks and reviewed some place value concepts. After reviewing these guidelines we held our first successful Math Talk followed by a game to review place value.
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