Update November 3

Hello everyone,

Today we finished up our unit projects and submitted them with their rubric. We also did a final unit reflection, which some people still needed to finish for tomorrow.

Per students’ request, I did a little bit of Spanish today by writing the schedule in Spanish and teaching them the parts of the body in Spanish. We also had some quick discussion about all the different languages in our room — Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), French, Romanian, Arabic, Korean, Spanish, and English. We did some comparisons of how languages sound by counting from 1-10 in everyone’s different languages. We also talked about how the mouth, teeth, and tongue work differently to produce sound depending on the language. In English, the mouth is more loose, French/Spanish require more tension in the cheeks and less of a loose chin, and when speaking Chinese the mouth does not open very far to produce sounds.

We also did some language arts work by looking at word origins. We brainstormed a list of difficult words to spell from our last unit. (It also gave Ms. D a chance to review some words that she found in student work. For example, the difference between their, there, and they’re.) Everyone chose five words and then looked them up using the iPads for origin, roots, the language the word comes from, and prefix or suffix meanings.

In Math we reviewed probability through a final game of Deal or No Deal. Tomorrow there will be an assessment, as mentioned before.

Library was today, and students had quite a few overdue books. As a reminder, please ensure books are brought back on Tuesdays for either renewal or return. All four books checked out must be brought back before any new books can be taken from the library. Please put a digital reminder or agenda note for yourself to help remember your books on Tuesdays!