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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Polygons

This week we're starting my favorite unit in math- geometry! We'll be learning about polygons and polyhedrons, congruent figures, and lines and angles.

I usually start this unit with a read aloud of The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns to build schema and review what they already know about polygons. My friends will identify the polygons that the triangle becomes in the story and we'll discuss real world examples of each kind of polygon. In the past I've had then create the polygons on geoboards. (After moving around so much, these seem to have disappeared along the way.)


Monday, February 20, 2012

Independent Reading

Sorry for the lull in posts! It seems that the past month has been packed with To-Dos,  and I'm just now getting a breather!

This may seem more like a beginning of the year kind of post, but I'm finding my friends need a little reminder about what independent reading looks and sounds like. We spend at least 30 minutes a day in Just Right books, busy tracking our thinking and sharing our ideas with partners.

Usually most students are engaged in their text, but some rarely track quality thinking or share their ideas with their partners. So this week we'll spend some time refreshing ourselves to Reader's Workshop. I made a bookmark and a few rubrics for my friends to use during independent reading. Please feel free to use them in your class too!