Jefferson 5/9-5/10

This week our schedule has been off a bit due to MAPs testing so unfortunately I was not able to see all students. We tried to make groups up where possible.

This week 4th Grade reading groups continued to study Greek and Latin roots and affixes. New roots, prefixes, and suffixes were introduced challenging students to add those to the ones they focused on last week.

Students looked at definitions, isolating key words and phrases to determine which vocabulary word fit that meaning.

The 3rd Grade reading group has one work session left on their set design PBL unit and then will present to their classes. They are putting finished touches on their set model and tri-fold display boards.

Jefferson's Chess finalists were notified today they will be attending the District Tournament next Friday May 17th. What I loved about chess this week is the willingness of experienced players to work with and teach beginners. There is a real sense of community and care evident in these actions. I look forward to supporting Jefferson's finalists in the 64-student, 5-round tournament next Friday. If your child is participating please send permission slips back as soon as possible!

The 3rd Grade Reading group wrapped their Travel Agent PBL unit today. They presented their Google slides vacation proposal to their clients. A lot of work and real world problem solving went into completing this project. Agents wrote questions and interviewed their clients. They then needed to do research on the location their client wished to travel to. From there we developed math skills in multi-digit multiplication strategies in order to calculate flight and hotel costs. Students mastered the lattice approach and strengthened the standard algorithm for multiplication. Next, they learned about finding averages for a number set (mean, median, and mode) in order to find average menu item cost for different meals at a variety of restaurants. To find mean they needed to develop division strategies. We worked on the partial quotient strategy and discussed how remainders can be represented as both fractions and decimals.

Once calculations were complete for flight, hotel, average cost per menu item/meal, activities, souvenirs, and totals, students put all of their information into an organized informative Google Slide presentation. They learned how to select themes, add text, images, change backgrounds, fonts, and sizes.

Finally they practiced presenting with members of their group and received feedback. Today they proposed their vacation packages to their clients and all were very well received.

Great work travel agents!