November 24th, 2016

Dear Parents,

Today we began the day with Daily Five. During this time I worked with the students on a new writing possibility - Dear Diary. We wrote in present tense, thinking about things that were happening at the exact time we were writing.

For example

Dear Diary,

I am writing at my desk and watching Ben play in the pillows.

This is a fun way for children to write. It gave the children ideas on how they can write about real life events, not just stories. Diaries are a great place to write secrets, past events, present thoughts, future events, feelings, arguments, anything personal to the writer.

Next we had a FANTASTIC math lesson today! The students began the lesson with their daily math warmup, which had a question that some children found difficult. As we regrouped as a whole class I went over the question '10 tens is the same as......' some children said "all you have to do is add 0". Now, you may be thinking how great that the children have figured out an easy way to get the answer, however, I wanted the students to truly understand if it is correct to say 'add 0'. The conversation went a little like this.

Miss Hepburn: 10 tens is the same as what?
Students: 100. All you do is add a 0
Miss Hepburn: Okay so all I need to do is 10 + 0 = 100??
-the students begin to talk and question my math ability-
Miss Hepburn: I want you to prove to me that 10 tens is the same as 100. How do you know that? I do not believe that you add a 0.

The mathematical discussions, thinking, and reasonings were fantastic. It made me feel like I had done my job when I heard the students talking about place value, using pictures and equations to explain their thinking, and teaching their peers as well as myself how 10 tens is the same as 100. Although we did nothing on my lesson plan, it was such a valuable lesson as it really broke down most students mathematical thinking. The students are now working on a new statement I have given them. '12 tens is the same as 200'. Students are now trying to convince me that it is either a true or false statement.

To end the day we had unit. As we are coming to the end of out unit I gave students the opportunity to choose an activity of their choice related to maps, or they can do my writing activity about maps. The students who chose their own activity came up with a variety of unique ideas. Some wanted to research different countries and/or maps, whilst others created maps that they were familiar with e.g. map of the area they live in, the country they are from etc. My activity was to write a procedural piece on 'How to make a map'. Students could choose any map, then write the steps I must take to create the map.