Message from Mr. Wallace

Randall GSA: Words Matter

Text Structures

Math: Bridges Unit 6

Math: Division with Fractions

In math we have been working on dividing a fraction by a whole number and dividing a whole number by a fraction. A lot of time was spent thinking about context for these problems! Can we write a story problem in which a fraction of something is divided into smaller parts? Can we write problems in which multiple wholes are broken up into smaller pieces? What does that mean? What does that look like? We worked on many different models and representations for these ideas.

Some sample problems:
Jessie has 1/2 of a pan of brownies. She shares them evenly between her and her two friends. How much of the pan of brownies does each person get? 1/2 divided by 3 = 1/6.

OR

Glen made 5 apple pies for the carnival. If he cuts each pie into sixths, how many pieces of pie will Glen have? 5 divided by 1/6 = 30

Family Metaphor Poems

After learning about specific types of figurative language and practicing identifying them in a variety of texts, we read a poem called "An Ocean of Memories" where the author describes their family as a different parts of the ocean. Then we created a list of possible things we could describe our own families as. We wrote our own family metaphor poems. With this task we also studied the structure of the poem and how the stanzas come together to create the whole text. Check out some examples of our poems!

Black History is Our History

As a part of Black Lives Matter Week of Action our classrooms spent time reading and writing about inspiring Americans that have worked hard to change the course of American values. These Americans were trailblazers, activists and hard working people who wanted equity for people of all races. Our 5th graders wrote both informational pieces as well as opinion pieces to increase their understanding of the fight for equal rights in American History.

5th Annual 'Jazz & Friends' Community Readings

Figurative Language

During the first part of 3rd quarter we are focusing on the standard: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

To begin, we reviewed different types of figurative language. 

Then we created class posters to refer to, and for students to show what they learned. 

This week we are reading an excerpt from "Savvy" by Ingrid Law, identifying the figurative language in the excerpt and using our background knowledge and context clues to help us understand what the figurative language means.

Mr. Harrod's Music Website: CHECK IT OUT!

https://sites.google.com/madison.k12.wi.us/randall-elementary-music-room/home

Bridges: Unit 5

Valentine's Class Lists

Causes of the Revolution

In Social Studies we have been studying events that lead up to the American Revolution. Students read about:

• The Proclamation of 1763
• The Stamp Act
• The Quartering Act
• The Boston Tea Party
• The Boston Massacre
• Other Intolerable Acts

We compared these events to metaphors of a parent/child to show how Great Britain was making laws and enforcing them without input from the colonists. In Mrs. Shorette's class we chose one of these events and wrote newspaper stories to show our learning!