High Ability Update

Due to the holiday, there will be no High Ability Update next week. I hope you all have a beautiful holiday with your families! I am thankful for many things in life. Your 43 students are on that list:)

What do Mary (who had a little lamb), a hamburger, and Pig Latin have in common? They were all part of HA this week;) We sang a song about persuasive writing set to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb. We used a hamburger graphic organizer to organize our thoughts on why all first graders should learn Pig Latin. Our persuasive writing will continue next week.

We do not have tests in HA, but we do have Check-Ups. This week, students completed their first Check-Up. I am so proud of this group for being calm and patient throughout the Check-Up process! I read the directions and explained each section. We did have a word bank posted with all the geometric terms we have been using, so students could spell correctly. After that, we worked on a couple challenge word problems. For example: Johnny's bike can hold 200 pounds. Johnny weighs 150 pounds. His dog weighs 55 pounds. Can they ride on the bike together? Another example: A branch can hold 25 pounds. A giant ant weighs 4 pounds. A giant egg weighs one pound. If each giant ant holds one giant egg, how many egg holding ants can cross the branch at the same time? The students were able to mentally solve those problems with no problem. It's awesome they're ready for even more challenging problems:)

Please help your student remember to read chapters 41-45 in Despereaux before Monday. I appreciate your continued support! As you may have noticed, this book contains a few stories within the story. We are at the point where all the stories are coming together. Although we have been discussing their relevance to one another, the book is at the point where it all comes together. Now that things are coming together, it may be hard for students to stop themselves from finishing the book. Like I told the students, if they promise not to give away any details, they may finish the book:)

We continued practicing using relational thinking to find missing numbers to make expressions equal. For example: 68 + 17 = 70 + ______. Another example: 88 + 32 = _____ + 90. Ask your students if they can fill in the blanks without adding or subtracting. We also answered a Think Deeply question as a group. Writing in math is something we work on repeatedly in HA.

Students worked in pairs/small groups to read and analyze tall tales. They identified the evidence that supports the fact that the books are tall tales. This lesson reinforces their understanding of the definition of tall tale. The lesson is also good practice in identifying the moral of the story.

Students worked independently to answer a Think Deeply question. I offered no guidance, because I wanted to see where each student truly is in their ability to write in math. The only thing I touched on before they began writing is that a quality explanation is the goal. Quantity doesn't mean it's better. Some are able to explain themselves in few words. Others have a different approach to explaining themselves and write a lot. As long as their explanations adequately communicate their thoughts/approach, there is no preferred length of answer. I'm happy to say the students effectively wrote in math! We also finished a Sudoku puzzle we had recently started. I'm pretty sure a couple students that weren't previously fans are liking Sudoku now:)

To wind up our Latin/Greek root word, prefix/suffix lesson, students worked in pairs to find the meaning of a couple words. Sound easy? Definitely not. They had to dissect each word based on its prefix/root/suffix. Students were able to use our word wall and iPads to investigate the meaning of each word part. I also gave the students a noun, verb, subject, predicate assignment to see what they do/don't know at this point.

We continued practicing using the cover up method to begin solving equations. The cover up method is valuable, because it helps students identify the first step that needs to be taken to work toward isolating the variable. Students began taking a Check-Up. Our HA curriculum does not have traditional tests, but we do have Check-Ups to help us assess students' progress in class.

Email: kapeterson@duneland.k12.in.us
Location: Jackson Elementary School, North 400 East, Valparaiso, IN, USA
Phone: 219-983-3680