Connecticut Tragedy

Our hearts are heavy as we grieve over the tragedy that occurred on Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. I invite you to click on the link below and watch an interview with Dr. Brad Schwall, a child psychologist, on WFAA. The site also has age appropriate talking points to use as a guide to talking with your children about this tragedy.  

www.coolkidschannel.com/home/tragedy_interview

12-12-12

12-12-12...It was a special day today -- the last time (in my lifetime, anyway!) that the month, day and year will be the same! We enjoyed decorating the number 12, taking pictures of the number 12 and playing a game searching for numbers that go together to make 12.  Enjoy some photos from today.

2 Dimensional Shapes

This week we have been working on learning names and attributes of 2 dimensional (flat) shapes. We have built shapes, drawn shapes, and used an iPad app called "Geoboard" to make and label the shapes. We learned that a shape name comes from the number of sides on the shape, not necessarily the way it looks. A pentagon does not always look like a house!  Check out some of our creations using the Geoboard app.

Are you surprised here to find the square labeled as a rectangle?  We learned that a square is a special type of rectangle because it has 2 pairs of equal edges and 4 right angles - just like a rectangle.  However, a rectangle is not a square because all of the rectangle's edges are not equal ! 

Reading in Math??

I know this is blog about our math class, but I came across this illustration about how the number of minutes your scholar reads each night can really add up over time!

Math is as much about reading and comprehension as it is about computation. You can see how nightly reading can have a positive effect in every subject area.  Make nightly reading a priority -- you will see the benefits!!

Play a Game Every Night for Homework?

Did I really tell your children that their math homework every night was to play a game? YES!!  There are some great apps and websites out there to practice addition and subtraction math facts. Students need to practice these facts daily.  One website I showed the scholars today was www.mathplayground.com.  Click on the link to go to the website, then click on the section called "Stay Sharp Arcade"

Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and play any of the addition, subtraction, money or time games shown.

Do you have an iPad? We are using "Math Quizzer" and "Math Bingo" in the classroom. Both of these are free apps you can download.

There are many other apps and websites available. Whatever you choose, make daily practice a priority - it is essential to student success.

The Book Fair is Coming !!

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming next week !!

Building Bridges

It was an exciting day today in 3rd grade when we finally got to start building bridges for our first STEM unit this year.  Below are a two picture collages of our build. Tomorrow we will test our bridges for strength, stability and our ability to stay within a budget.  In the afternoon, our engineering expert, Mr. McCulley will be back at Cannon to consult with each team to help improve scores.  Stay tuned for more pictures and don't forget to come to Cannon next Thursday evening from 6-7:30 to see our creations!  The scholars can't wait to share their learning with their parents.

Have you ever noticed all of the patterns you see on a hundreds chart? Today we explored the hundreds chart and found lots of patterns.  Here are some things we learned about the patterns on the hundreds chart:

We also learned that we could use the hundreds chart to add. Here is an example of how to use the hundreds chart to add:

Something new to try and home!!

Welcome to the new location for my blog!  If you want to view the blog in Spanish, click on the "Translate" button to the right and select "Spanish" from the list of languages.

In class, students have been learning about adding groups of 10. We learned today that you can count by 10s without starting at 10.  We found that when you count by tens, the digit in the ones place never changes. So, for example, you can count by ten starting with 13. It would look like this: 13, 23, 33, 43, 53, 63, 73, 83, etc. Try this at home!