All Grades - Week of Sept. 26

This week just flew by, so I will give a summary of each grade level here.

NEWS FOR ALL

•  Book orders from September have arrived and been distributed.  October order forms will come home next week and will be due Friday, Oct. 14.
• The thinking cues this week were the letter Z and things that are pulled.  What can you think of?
• Due to the shortened day on Tuesday and a district GATE meeting I did not see First or Fourth Graders this week.  We'll be back to normal next week.

Second Grade
 The second graders finished their Logic Elimination Grids.  They did a fantastic job.  I'll be giving them these throughout the year.  As soon as we finish this PETS unit the papers will come home.  The first project for the second graders will be to design and build their own game.  They will have to pick a topic that will be seen on the game board (sort of like the subject specific Monopoly games).  The children will research their topic so that their game board is accurate.  This week they practiced with a friend making a game about St. Louis attractions.  They will be finishing those and playing them next week. I am also going to introduce algebra to the kids.


Third Grade
Third graders dove right back into "researching" mystery novels by trying to read as many as they can.  I gave them a glossary of words that are often used in mystery books.  When it was time to read, many of the children were finding those same words in their books.   I also did the second Think and Touch activity which involved using coins. In our world today there are fewer and fewer opportunities for the children to use "real" money. Please encourage them to help you when you do use cash.  Next week, we'll look at story maps for mysteries so they can begin thinking about the sequence of their story.   We'll also learn another Think and Touch activity using Roman Numerals.  Then we'll do more PETS thinking with decision making charts.


Fifth Grade
The time with the fifth graders flies by so fast.  We had seven students absent, but we had to keep moving.  After completing the thinking activities the students shared their stock prices from their homework.  We also learned how to figure the cost of stocks and I showed them quickly how to calculate the commission fee.  We had time in the computer lab to look at our Stock Market Game pages and see the interest we've already accrued.  Hopefully groups will make their first purchases in the next week.  HOMEWORK: Complete pages 12 and 13 ONLY of the algebraic thinking packet I handed out to each of you.  If your child was absent the packet was given to their homeroom teacher.  Here are a few website links I promised to post:  The Stock Market Game - http://www.smgww.org/     Investor Guide - www.investorguide.com  - This is a website given to us by Andrew Guest.  The last is Yahoo Finance at www.finance.yahoo.com .

BOOK CLUB ORDERS

Wow, you are a wonderful bunch of parents.  Not only do you see the value in reading and providing books for your children, your generosity has made it possible for me to get over 20 FREE books for the classroom library.  Thank you for your orders.

I will be transmitting the order this weekend, and then we wait for the huge box to arrive.  I will send books home with the children.

Fifth Grade Update - Sept. 21

I do the same brain teaser activity with all the grade levels.  This is where I can really see the growth in children through the years.  It's amazing to me the vocabulary and interests your children have in their minds.  We did the letter B and things that are hard this week.  Ask your child to see their list of items for these ideas.

We spent the rest of the class working on The Stock Market Game preparations.  They were put into teams and worked as a team to complete the quiz on the rules.  They did a wonderful job.  I know the homework last week seemed daunting.  There were many new concepts and vocabulary that was totally unfamiliar.  Discomfort is ok when learning.  It makes the students read a little more carefully.  Hopefully too, it opened up a dialog with you, the parent, about what we are doing in class.  I had one parent jokingly ask to audit my stock market talks so they too could learn.  Trust me, each year I do this I learn more and more about how our financial world works.  I was a mortgage loan underwriter prior to becoming a teacher, so I do have some background, but I don't think ANYONE can ever stop learning.

I also showed the students the Yahoo Finance web site, it's a wonderful one stop site for information on any stock traded on any US stock exchange.  The address is finance.yahoo.com.  We then spent the last 40 minutes of class in the computer lab, exploring the Yahoo Finance website.

HOMEWORK:  This week's assignment is to research a stock they would like to convince their teammates to purchase next week when we have our first chance to enter the game.  Also, they have an activity to look up the price of four or five real companies and see what it would cost to purchase those stocks.  The price used on the activity should be the price listed at the time your child is completing their homework.  EVERYONE could have different answers for these problems.

Please, as always, email me if you have questions, concerns or just want to chat.  I usually check my work email at least once an evening and if for some reason that doesn't happen, I am at school by 7:30 most days and check it when I arrive.

Third Grade Update

Many students did not have their binders today.  Please help your child to remember their binder, each and every Wednesday.  I just do not have room to store the binders for every student.

Wow, the first few weeks of class is always so busy.  We covered a lot of ground today.  We began with our Creative Problem Solving thinking activities.  Each students had to think of words that begin with the letter B.  Also, they listed things that are hard.  If you look in the binders these lists should be behind the first tab.

Next, we learned a new number activity.  This is called Think and Touch because many of the activities that I'll be teaching will require something the children touch while they are thinking about their answer. The children were given a grid in which they had to fit specified numbers in order to get a certain answer.  Again, you can see the examples in the first tab of the binder.  Each week I'll be teaching a new Think and Touch problem type until they've all been taught.  After that, I'll be giving one of each problem for them to complete each week when they come into the classroom.

The third activity of the day was PETS (Primary Education Thinking Skills).  We are learning about criterion based decision making.  Last week we heard a story about the Crystal Pond Woods School and how they wanted to make improvements. Today, the children came up with criterion by which they could decide on a restaurant to take Mom to for her birthday.  There is HOMEWORK this week that requires adult help.  The children seemed very excited to involve their parents in this process, I hope you find it useful as well.

Last, we began a soft entry into our first project, mystery writing.  The children will be reading mysteries in class for the next few weeks.  Then, we'll figure out all the components of a good mystery so we can finally write our own.

Soon we'll settle into a routine for GATE.  When the students come in they have what I call brainwork.  These are activities that require the students to use many different parts of their brain to solve.  We'll then do a PETS activity and finally our project work.

Don't forget, book orders are due this Friday, Sept. 23. On line orders need to be entered by midnight on Friday, paper orders should be here at school that morning.

Second Grade Update 9/21

The second graders went on a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo today.  I can't wait to use what we learned in GATE class.  I'll see them next week for our regular class.

Don't forget, book club orders are due this Friday, Sept. 23.  If you are ordering on line you'll have until midnight.  Otherwise, you can send the paper order in with your child.

Fourth Grade Update - Tuesday 9/20

This week the students had to list words that begin with the letter B and things that are hard.  I love these activities.  I am able to see the fabulous vocabulary that your students have hiding in their brains.  Some students are struggling and I think as we get further into these activities they will let themselves write more.  Many students edit their entries, when what I really want is what I call a "brain dump".  Anything in their brain should be put down on the paper.

The Thinking Skills activity was to break a secret message and the code it was written in.  Next week the children will write their own code and message.

I passed out guidelines and a grading rubric on the alphabet book project.  We then went to the computer lab to begin researching topics.  Most of the students were able to find enough information to fill an A to Z book, so they should be working on identifying which item will be used for each letter.

We will not have class next week, so they have two weeks to find all 26 letters.  We'll begin writing our books on Oct. 4.

First Grade Update - Tuesday 9/20

Tuesday was a very busy day for the first grade students. The day began with our Thinking Skills activity.  We are currently learning about being an analytical thinker.  We worked together to sort Sybil the Scientist's lab creatures.  Then each students sorted their own "limpets".  These pages will come home at the end of the Sybil unit.

Next, we began our Flat Stanley Project.  Hopefully you were given a letter requesting a person who might be willing to host your child's flat person.  The person who takes in Flat Students needs to be willing to take pictures and write a letter back to your child.   The children created their flat versions after we read about how Stanley was flattened and traveled to California in an envelope.

While the children were designing their flat selves, I read the first two stories in Frog and Toad are Friends, Spring and The Story. We will be using these stories to launch many activities that will cross all aspects of the curriculum.

Next Tuesday I have to attend a district GATE meeting so there will be no class.  Please return the Flat Stanley letter on October 4.

Fifth Grade Update

This is one very large class, but they did a terrific job today.  We had a "first day" of school experience. I did a very quick overview of how the classroom will run on GATE days.  The children were wonderful about remembering from last year and also helping the new students to get "the system".  I already heard, "This is hard."  My three favorite words.

I introduced our first unit, "The Stock Market Game".  The students have a lot of reading for this week as well as two pages to complete for next week.  There will be test on the rules of the game next week.  We will also get into teams to choose team names.  The actual game begins on Sept. 26 so we'll be all ready to go.

Third Grade Update

Wednesday was our first class.  It was just like the first day of school all over again.  Our time was spent reviewing procedures and reviewing what we've done in the past.  Mrs. Sorrell was able to visit at the end of our class.

Next week we'll really get moving with PETS activities, Think and Touch activities and voting on our first unit of study.

We're going to need a coach for our Equations teams at third grade.  If you love math and are available either after school or on the weekends to host practices, please contact me and I'll give you more details on the game and how it's run at Flynn Park.

Second Grade Update

We had a terrific first class.  There are many crossovers between our program last year and DH's so that made it quite smooth.  We jumped right into Creative Problem Solving using the PETS (Primary Education Thinking Skills) Program.  We learned how to do Logic Puzzles.  We were able to complete three puzzles today and will finish them in TWO weeks.

NEXT, week the second grade classes are going on a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo.  This is a wonderful opportunity and I'll be joining the students so that I can incorporate what they are learning in class into our GATE curriculum.  Students need to bring their binders with dividers on Tuesday, Sept. 27, our next class together.

Each student should have brought home a note explaining our program and book orders.  The book orders need to be returned to me or placed on line by Sept. 23.  The links are on an earlier post here on the blog. 

Fourth Grade Update Sept. 13

Welcome back to GATE.

The fourth graders had a wonderful first class.  We covered a lot of ground today so I'm going to make this bullet points.

• Brainwork - ask about the letter D, things that Spin and Scrabble
• PETS - just barely touched on this, more next week
• Classroom Library - Yes, I do have over 1,000 books to loan out.
• A to Z books - Our first project.  Each student needs to think of THREE possible topics for an alphabet book they will research and write.  We reviewed the basics of the assignment.  Details will be posted on this blog next week after I review the guidelines in class.
• Book orders.  The brochures were sent home yesterday, orders are due Sept. 23 either on line or the paper order back to me.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.  Email is the surest way to get me: llecours@ucityschools.org.

Book Orders

Scholastic Book Club Orders – Due Date: September 23, 2011

Each month I make the Scholastic Book Club order forms available to my students.  Generally they will come home the first week of the month and be due the following Friday. 

This month I've sent home Lucky and Arrow Book Clubs, next month I'll also have TAB which is for older readers.

You can order online by following the directions below.   If you would rather, you can send a paper order form to me along with a check, made payable to Scholastic Book Clubs.  OR you can send cash with your paper order.

If your child’s classroom teacher also does the book clubs, please order from them first.  I provide above grade level clubs to enable you to find those books your child might be able to read and enjoy.   However, the grade level selections are often of the most interest to the students so don’t overlook those either.

On Line Ordering

Website: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs

Click on I am a parent.  The first time you will need to set up a login id and password.   If you ordered from me last year, you are still registered.

Classroom Activation Code: GL7HN

CLASSES ARE BEGINNING!

All GATE and Enrichment classes will begin next week.
Students in GATE and combination classes will need their binders no later than the week of Sept. 19.

Monday:
Enrichment 2, 3 and 4th Grade

Tuesday:
GATE / Enrichment for 1st grade in the morning
GATE only for 4th Grade in the afternoon

Wednesday:
GATE only for 2nd Grade in the morning
GATE only for 3rd Grade in the afternoon

Thursday:
GATE / Enrichment combined for 5th Grade in the afternoon

Flynn Park GATE 2011 - 2012

Laurie Lecours

llecours@ucityschools.org

GATE programs in the School District of University City’s elementary schools have five functions:  Enrichment and GATE pull out, a push in class, teacher collaboration and testing.

Enrichment Program: This is a one hour class in the GATE classroom for students identified through the testing process in prior years.  Lessons are primarily focused on creative problem solving and developing fluency, flexibility, creativity and originality in students’ work.

GATE Program: This is a two and a half hour per week pull out class.  Classes will include the creative problem solving lessons as well as individualized projects within the constraints of a common theme.

Push - In Class: The GATE teacher will visit each classroom to present lessons that help the classroom teacher to see another side of all of their students.  Children will complete activities that ask them to “think of something no one else would think of”.

Teacher Collaboration: GATE teachers collaborate with all grade levels on a monthly basis. Also, if requested, the GATE teacher will assist the classroom teacher in modifying assignments to meet the needs of students who demonstrate a mastery of current curriculum.  The GATE teacher is available for any teacher regarding any student in this capacity.

Testing: The GATE teacher is responsible for testing eligible students for admittance into the Enrichment or GATE programs the following school year. Kindergarten students are screened and tested in the fall.  Students in first through fifth grade will be screened and tested in the Spring for inclusion in the program the following school year.  Once a child in first through fifth grade has been tested they must wait two years to be retested.  Kindergarten students will be re-screened during first grade and can retest at the end of the first grade school year.


GATE and Enrichment classes will begin the week of Sept. 12, 2011.

Book orders will available again through Scholastic.com.  Look for a separate post giving ordering details.