I read Richard's Who Will Win books, and we discussed them.

Richard took his spelling test and wrote sentences. With letter tiles, he practiced reading words I showed him with ou and a long o sound. He read books with words he can read.

Kaitlin did her reading MAP test today.

Andrew was 10 minutes late to class today. He is usually late, but 10 minutes out of a 45 minute class period is unacceptable in my opinion. I told him this when he walked in. He apologized and said that he wasn't just late for no good reason. He was talking to Phillip about selling his art.
Andrew was supposed to complete his MAP Testing today. He worked on it the rest of class but did not finish. He will hopefully complete it tomorrow.

Today Aiden and I spent the lesson diving into the whys behind the properties we've recently learned: distributive, commutative, and associative. We started with yesterday's example of 2(3x)=6x. We replaced x with 5 this time and considered 2(3*5). We discussed how the 3*5 is already 15, so when we multiply the 2 to the 3, it's really not just 3, it's 15. The goal was to clarify why we don't multiply the 2 to the 3 and 5. Aiden then connected it to the commutative property. He realized that if we multiply 2 to the 3 to get 6 and then apply the x, that would be the same as if we multiplied the 2 to the x to get 2x, and then apply the 3 to get 6x. Putting numbers into the variables so Aiden can SEE it has been helpful for him. We also explored the idea of combining like terms like 5x+2x and WHY it equals 7x. In the past I explained to Aiden to think about it like he is combining items: "5 x-rays plus 2 x-rays equals 7 x-rays." Today we considered the cost of the x-rays, what if it was $100/per x-ray. We thought, "5 x-rays at $100 each plus 2 x-rays at $100 each would give us 7 x-rays at $100 each, for a total cost of $700." Then I asked, "What is 5 fourths plus 2 fourths?" Aiden answered, "7 fourths". Then I said, "What is 5 thousand plus 2 thousand?" He answered, "7 thousand." He could start to see that whether it was x-rays, cost of x-rays, fourths, or thousands, since we are combining "like" objects/amounts, we are able to look at them in this way. We considered it a step further. What if we used the idea of factoring: We've previously learned that that we could factor x out of each term so that 5x+2x=x(5+2). Then using the order of operations x(5+2)=x(7)=7x. These explanations helped Aiden to conclude on his own WHY 2(3x)=6x and 5x+2x=7x.
**I told Aiden today that his questions are making me a better teacher. I am enjoying his approach to learning. :)

Jack read about some of the ways one can see the past in communities today, and how communities can keep histories alive by their streets and buildings. I offered the example of cobblestone streets in NY and noted that buildings are built in a Spanish style in many Florida and California cities because the Spanish were early settlers in these communities. We added information to a graphic organizer to help integrate the information.

Matthew took an ACT practice test during our period.

First, I reviewed Reid's school folder. He wrote his spelling words for practice. Next, I taught a brief lesson on the four sentence types: statement, question, exclamation, and command. Reid brainstormed examples with the prompt "Sentences about the Super Bowl." I explained that good writers vary their sentence types to make their writing more interesting. Reid read his new book from the Scholastic Book Fair for ten minutes, and we recorded the time in his reading log. To conclude, we went outside to practice his spelling words while playing basketball.

Ben had a GREAT day today. We did a review on what we've learned about absolute value equations. I've learned when I do the writing and allow Ben to watch and listen, he's much more apt to pay attention. I keep him engaged with constant questioning, "How does adding to the x affect the graph?"...He answers, then I respond with, "How do you know?" He stayed with me the entire class. We reviewed graphing and how to write the equation's function given the graph. We reviewed domain and range. At the end of class, I thanked Ben for his participation. I said, "Ben you did great today. Days like today make me really happy! Because I am seeing your full potential and you are extremely smart." (He has trouble taking compliments and usually just reponds with a non-emotional, "OK"). I also said, "Some days you don't give yourself the opportunity to thrive, but on the days you do, you really have impressive skills." Way to go Ben!

JPaul was absent today. The class time was used to prepare materials.