I love that I have been seeing a lot of help on homework at home, especially this past week as our class has moved on from multiplication and entered the area of division. Specifically, we have learned the partial-quotients method of division. Similarly to multiplication, this algorithm may seem new to parents. So, this week’s homework is to learn the new algorithm.

Like with multiplication, I will be sending home some literature on division, and here is a link to a Youtube videos explaining how to do it. http://schrad.me/div

Once you’ve mastered the algorithm, comment on the Parent Homework article with your thoughts on this algorithm.

Book: Math Attack by Joan Horton

Mystery Reader:  Valerie Morstorf's Clues

1. I like to fold laundry.
2. I was the tallest kid in my class all through grade school.
3. I think I am a good cook.
4. My favorite summer past time is camping.
5. I grew in a small town - population 300.
6. I am the youngest of six siblings.
7. I am a teacher one night a week, and a nurse during the day.

Thanks to Valerie Morstorf for coming to our class last week and reading to us. This was a funny story with great illustrations! She did a great job of answering questions for her excellent clues.

Mystery Reader:  Elaine Worden's Clues

1. My favorite authors are John Grisham and Danielle Steel.
2. My first job was working in a funeral home (I was 14 years old)
3. When someone ask me to spell a word for them I spell it dictionary.
4. My favorite pass time is playing games on the computer (Spider Solitaire)
5. We just survived seven days without running water.

We celebrated DJ’s birthday with a Mystery Reader, Elaine Warden. She read a few books, answered some questions, and then we had birthday treats. Thanks, Elaine!

We've been studying narrative text this week. We know that it includes characters, is usually fiction, the author's purpose is to entertain, and that it has a plot. We've read several stories this week and completed plot diagrams with them.

So today, we used the iPads to use a fantastic app called Toontastic. I brought it up on the board, and there was an instant, "Ohhhh" from the class. The way in which you navigate the app and make your own cartoon is by completing a story arc. It is a direct correlation to what we're doing in our room.

The app is awesome. It is very interactive and very complete. As you select scenery, characters, and music, there are quite a few to choose from. Also, you can draw your own scenery and characters. Characters are animated when you move them, and you can control what movements they make. You can make things bigger or smaller by pinching and zooming, you can rotate them, and you can make them face different directions.

When you record your scene, it records the audio so you can recite your story.

Some things we noted during this activity:

It took us a bit to figure out how to delete characters that were added to a scene. You have to go to the next screen where you actually get to manipulate the characters. Then, you tap on the one you want to delete, and finally you get the red little trash can.

We had a great discussion before I let them begin making their cartoons about not making the whole cartoon in one slide. The first part is just setting up the story. Then the next scene is introducing the problem, and so on. Later, this led to great discussions about the narrative elements of their stories.

My class was trying to be very conscious of others around them making stories, too. So, the results were sometimes hard to hear their voices. Next time I may just have them work in groups to make a story so that we can be louder or more spread out.

It was fun to watch them working on their cartoons. It was quiet in the room except when someone was recording, which was funny to me. We also really enjoyed watching the movies as a class.

Toontastic is available in the iTunes app store and is available for iPads only. Toontastic - Launchpad Toys

I feel like I say it a lot, but our class is really working hard, we’re getting a lot done, and we’re learning so much.

In science we’ve been studying rocks and minerals. Its awesome to see that everyone in the class is really understanding the different types of rocks, the rock cycle, and how geologists identify them. This week we’ll finish up by making our own fossils. Then, on Wednesday, we’ll have our Celebration of Learning over this unit.

We’ve finished up our math unit talking about big numbers and multiplication last week. On Friday we played a review game called Runner Relay to practice the two algorithms. This week, we’ll have our unit progress check.

We’ve talked about narrative text in reading, and we even made our own cartoons on the iPads by following a story arc. This week we’ll begin discussing technical text.