This morning, Atticus and I reviewed last night's homework on using inverse relationships to solve multiplication and division equations. We also reviewed how to solve division equations with variables in the numerator and the denominator. Then, Atticus evaluated expressions using the order of operations for review. Today's lesson introduced inequalities and how they are mathematical sentences describing situations with infinite numbers of numerical possibilities. After we completed practice problems together, Atticus wrote inequalities to represent given situations and was assigned the lesson's practice and problem-solving for homework.
As a central focus of our novel study is recognizing character development and its causes, we today examined last night's reading to locate textual examples of Omri's adopting a parental and mature attitude toward his "brought to life" plastic figure, Little Bear. I had Atticus focus on specific dialogue and we discussed how Omri, a twelve year old, sounds just like a parent . We noted in one example the author's mention that Omri even uses his father's tone of voice. I explained how to use these textual examples to support an essay thesis. I previewed how Omri's friend ,Patrick, lacks Omri's maturity.We will examine in the next chapters how that impacts their friendship. During the latter half of the session, Atticus took a quiz on chapters 7-9 of the novel.
After a recap of chapter 21, Atticus continued reading chapters 22-24 of “Out of My Mind.” These chapters detail the Whiz Kids competition and conclude with Melody’s team moving on to the finals. Atticus predicts much of what has happened during the match and uses his understanding of the plot to predict that the team will win the regional test.
Today, Atticus completed the graphic organizer with research he performed about the following types of animal respiration: gills, tracheal tubes, lungs and diffusion. He read about open circulatory systems and closed circulatory systems. He added these vocab words with illustrations to his science notebook.
This morning, Atticus continued to work on writing and solving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division equations. He continues to gain confidence in his skills, understanding the concept of inverse operations and isolating variables. He used the remainder of the time reviewing how to evaluate expressions using the order of operations. For homework, Atticus was assigned solving equations with rational numbers.
Following up on yesterday's instruction, today Atticus first took a spelling quiz. We then worked on a preparing a written chapter summary from last night's reading. Atticus had begun a draft and we discussed other important plot and character developments and then accordingly supplemented the summary. Additionally, we reviewed the written work to address punctuation and spelling where necessary. Focusing on the reading, we then discussed the British author's portrayal of the American cowboy and Indian. Atticus very perceptively noted how the author stereotypes both characters and we located textual support for his observation. We further discussed the emotional impact of Little Bear's time travel to the time of the novel and why Little Bear likely wishes to return to his own time period.
Atticus began class with a jump rope activity. His goal was to achieve 70 consecutive jumps. Atticus was able to surpass his goal of 70 by completing 72 jumps. Next, he partook in a fun, competitive game of badminton. His skills are improving tremendously and his confidence is growing with each class.
Atticus completed a reading comprehension activity on the Pharaohs, and answered written comprehension questions pertaining to the article. He reviewed his new vocabulary words. He listened to a Studies Weekly article about the Rosetta Stone.
