Model of a Canyon

Team Gibbas scientists were given the task of modeling the processes that formed the Grand Canyon over time.  Students began by layering red, white, yellow, and tan sand into a cut half gallon milk container.  Next students propped the milk container onto books and slowly poured water through a funnel.  Students were able to assimilate their prior knowledge about weathering, erosion, deposition and what they witnessed with the model to write some insightful explanations about how the Grand Canyon was formed.

Question:  How do you think the Grand Canyon was formed?

Show The Reader What You're Feeling

Show Don't Tell Writing

For the month of November Team Gibbas students have been practicing writing personal narratives.  Last week students were instructed that instead of telling the reader the emotion they were feeling, they needed to show the reader the emotion by writing vivid descriptions of what their face and body was doing when they felt the emotion.  Students worked in groups of two and three and were given an emotion to create a scene depicting the feeling.  Next groups performed their scenes for each other and as a class we noticed and recorded what the actors' bodies and faces were doing.  Finally, we created an amazing anchor chart for our classroom to help us remember to show our emotions in our writing.

Common Core Writing Standard

4.3  Students will write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences using techniques such as dialogue, descriptive details, clear event sequences, and an ending conclusion.

Long Division The Math in Focus Way

Math in Focus teaches Long Division in a slightly different way than many of us were taught.  Math in Focus places an emphasis on understanding the place value of the number being divided.  Please watch the video of Mrs. Steinberg, our math specialist, teaching long division to hear the language that Math in Focus would like you to use when dividing numbers.