We continued working in our realistic fiction reading book groups. The focus this week was on finding difficult or interesting vocabulary. The children are supposed to make a guess at the meaning of the word and then look in the dictionary to find the actual meaning. Leslie, one of the moms facilitating a group, picked the word "serenely". It was being used to describe how someone said something. Each learner had a different idea of what the word meant, which really changed the meaning of the whole quote in the story. Passing through difficult words, and using context clues is normal at all stages of reading. However, I am hoping the learners will learn that building vocabulary will help them understand and enjoy books at a deeper level, and that they have resources for finding out the meaning of words. (For now it is hard copy dictionaries, although we will also be practicing with online dictionaries.) Most learners have been keeping up with their reading assignments and work assignments for their book groups. They are engaged and taking part in interesting conversations based on the notes they take while actively reading the book.

In writing, we are taking a look at personal narratives. Learners read an example of an unforgettable moment of someones life. The learners then shared some of their own unforgettable moments. The learners are now in different stages of prewriting. They are either writing down a timeline, using transitional vocabulary like After That, Next, etc., or writing a sensory chart to help when adding detailed sentences to their drafts. I'll be using their writing samples as part of my Writing Training at Noyce (which will have me out of the classroom next Tuesday).

In math, we continued to refine our skills in addition. We also started to look at how quickly we could recall our multiplication facts. I am going to hold all learners accountable for knowing their x-facts (2,4,5,6,8,9,10's). They can practice at home for a few minutes each night to help them achieve this. Some learners learned efficient strategies for long division and double digit multiplication. I will expect them to use these strategies when solving problems with larger numbers. We will continue to build on our multiplication and division skills over the next couple of weeks, and then will start to look at fractions.

It was time for the annual pumpkin seed estimation activity. They made predictions before the pumpkin was open, made a new estimation from looking at the large pile of seeds scooped out of the pumpkin, and then counted the seeds for an actual total (521). The learners also guessed the height of the pumpkin in inches and had to convert their guess into centimeters. Some used addition and some used multiplication to covert from inches to centimeters.

The Halloween Carnival was a big success as I am sure you have heard from the learners themselves. The 5-8 learners really did a good job creating and running a spooky, fun, engaging experience.

The learners ended the explorer unit by creating different projects in groups. They shared what the learned about Cortez, Cabrillo, Viscainio, and Drake through different means. Projects included a power point presentation, a skit, a song, a point of view journal reading, and different drawings, maps, and posters. We are now ready to start learning about early California settlements including Fort Ross and the California Missions.

In science, the learners created objects to defy gravity using magnets, and also learned how to make a compass with a magnet. This week we will finish the magnet portion of our unit by making electromagnets. We will begin the electricity focus next week.