I am so sorry for the delay. Somehow it's Friday already, and I'm not quite sure what happened to the rest of the week.
Book Orders: Everyone should have received the first quarterly GATE program newsletter along with the book orders. Order forms need to be to me by Noon on Friday, Nov. 11 (end of conferences) or please place your on line order by midnight Friday. I will submit the order over the weekend.
Second Grade
Second Graders worked very hard on visual puzzles that required some very tough abstract thinking. I hope they told you about the puzzles. After I do them puzzles with another class I will allow students to borrow the puzzle bags overnight so they can bring one home to challenge the family.
They also spent a great deal of time in the library working on their game topic research. I also met with everyone in the library again today during their regular classroom library time to help them check out appropriate books for their projects. I have suggested to many students that they pay a visit to the University City library to do further research. The larger library is certain to have more books on a student's chosen topic than we are able to house here at Flynn. Everyone is doing a wonderful job so far. We'll work on organizing our thoughts next week.
Third Grade
After a mini-lesson on punctuating conversations, the students were given time to work on their mystery stories. We were able to get into the computer lab at the end of the day. However, we ran into a little snag. It seems, for the time being, the student computers in our building are loaded with Microsoft 2003. So, if your child's story was saved as a 2007 document, we were unable to open it in the computer lab. For this reason I am going to have to ask that the stories be typed at home. I can open them in my classroom, on my teacher computer, and then print them, no matter the version of Word that the document is saved in. I will again give the children time next week to edit and revise their stories. I am hoping to have enough done or near done that the children will have a chance to peer review their stories.
Fifth Grade
The fifth graders had a fantastic experience at the Da Vinci Machines Exhibit. We were treated like royalty from the minute we arrived. The students first watched short videos about Da Vinci's life, his inventions, his art and his rivalry with Michelangelo. They were silent for the entire time. It helped a little that they were eating lunch at the same time. After a detailed guided tour of all the machines in the museum, the students were given time to explore with their hands. This was fantastic. I highly recommend this exhibit to anyone with an interest in Da Vinci, inventions or just plan hands-on fun and learning. The information on the exhibit can be found at http://www.davinciexhibitstl.com/. I purchased the exhibit companion book and will have that available to view during conferences.
When we returned to school the children worked on their Super Humans. The works in progress can be seen out side the classroom.
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