Sharing the Planet

This week in maths we have worked on the understanding that ten tens are called a ‘hundred’. The digits in a three digit number represent the number of hundreds, tens and ones. The farther to the left a digit is, the greater its value.

The students played a game in which they wrote and represented successively larger numbers using base- 10 blocks. They practised reading and writing numbers to 100 and to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names and expanded form. In pairs they made the largest number they could with 3 digits and then recorded this number. From there, they have moved on to writing the names of the number and then writing the number in expanded form. For instance: 874 = 8 hundreds, 7 tens, 4 ones: 800+70+4, eight hundred seventy four. Please note that to say this number correctly we don’t use the word ‘and’. Some students in class practised making number bonds to 100 built on their understanding of number bonds to 10 (0+100, 10+90, 20+80, 30+70, etc). Please practise this with your child at home. We have also practised skip counting in 2s and 5s, something that can be easily done while driving to and from school or at anytime!

For literacy this week, as a class we read a story about a fairy penguin who gets into trouble while out having fun. Using this story as a base we expanded our vocabulary, generated our own questions and then answered some comprehension questions. For making words, we practised the sound of sh by making words with the vowels :i and u, and the consonants ; b, g, h, n, r, s.

Our reading strategy this week was to remember to use common sight words and high-frequency words when reading our books. High-frequency words are those we encounter on a regular basis in our reading and should recognise instantly. Having this knowledge builds our fluency while reading and we are not decoding new words. For writing, we have continued on identifying parts of a sentence: the naming part and the telling part. The students have practised with identifying these parts in variety of ways and have brought their papers home with them to share. Our guided reading sessions continue where small groups of students work with an adult on building their reading skills and comprehension.

We have just begun tuning in to our new unit of inquiry: Sharing the planet where we will be studying: Habitats rely on certain factors to survive. Information about this new unit is below. This week we have watched a short video about ecosystems and then created a title page in our UOI books. 

Please read about our new unit here and here.

We have also rehearsed for our assembly and finished up our last unit of inquiry.

Please see photos here.

Next week:

Maths: Continuing with numbers over 100

• Students skip count by 5s, 10s, and 100s within 1000.
• Students read and write numbers within 1000 as in standard form, as words, and in expanded form.
• Students compare three-digit numbers using the symbols, >, =, or <. 

Literacy:

An example: What does guided reading look like?