Gate Recap – Week of October 22 - 26

 

Group News

-         Parent Conferences are next week.  I will be in my room and available during the entire conference time.  If you would like a private meeting, please send me a note or drop me an email message and I’ll schedule a time.  I will have the curriculum out and hopefully some samples of student work for you to see.

-         Book Orders will be available during conferences and the week after during classes.  If you would like this month’s book order to be a gift, just send me an email and I’ll let you know when they arrive.  You can get to the November Book Club forms at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.  Our class code is GL7HN.  Orders need to be placed by Monday, Nov. 12.  Hopefully then they will arrive before we go out for the Thanksgiving Break.  I will also have a December order right when we return from the break.  NOTE:  Scholastic is having trouble showing the November Book orders on my Scholastic home page.  So, until that glitch is fixed you need to go the place order tab, and choose November for the catalog you are ording from.
 

First Grade – Wednesday Mornings

This week we continued our geography study.  We reviewed the seven continents, hemispheres and the oceans.  We then looked at Africa and Antarctica.  We looked at Antarctica on the globe to get a better idea of how it sits on Earth.  We also talked about how maps are changed when we try to flatten our planet to make it fit on a piece of paper.  Then we worked on using colorful words to improve very boring sentences.  Hopefully you were able to hear about this on Monday.  The homework is to finish the backside of the sentence activity sheet.  Last we started to read another chapter of Flat Stanley and the Magic Lamp.  We were mid-chapter when our time ended.  Ask your child if they remember what was about to happen when we stopped.  Class next week will be on MONDAY, OCT. 29 instead of Wed, Oct. 31 so that we can have a full class time and the students can participate in the Pumpkin Run.

Second Grade – Tuesday Mornings

Second graders worked some very difficult visual thinking problems this week.  After guiding them through the first example, I supported them on four more.  Then, for the last one, I had them do it completely on their own.  These types of activities really help me to understand who thinks visually, orally, or needs real support to solve these abstract puzzles.  Over the many years they’ll be with me, they will have ample opportunities to develop these skills.

After we finished with our critical thinking activities I gave the students time to work on their fairy tales.   I met with each student and reviewed the work they had done for their fairy tales.  If I had concerns or questions, you probably got an email from me on Tuesday.  Finished fairy tales are due Tuesday, Oct. 30.  Remember, it’s ok and I even encourage you to type for your child, as long as you are typing what they want.

Third Grade – Tuesday Afternoons

Our class was shortened again this week due to our author / illustrator visit.  We did still have time for our problem solving and time to work on the mysteries.  As I said in the email on Tuesday, only 50% of the students had work with them or were progressing.  Mysteries are due Tuesday, Oct. 30.  The stories can be typed or handwritten.  If you’d like you can email the finished story to me and I’ll print it out, or send in the flash drive and I’ll print it from there.

In problem solving we did some sample puzzles that required us to fit items into a group.  When given examples of animals or pictures that fit together in some way, students had to decide why they went together and then choose from another group something to add to the first group.  After doing four together I gave them a page with six more problems.  Some of the six were quite obvious or had more than one answer. Others were much more difficult.  Again, please remember these are developing skills and not all students are able to think as abstractly as these activities require.  I kept the final papers as a guide for me when planning future activities.

Fourth Grade – Monday Afternoons

Wow, I am so excited to read the A to Z books.  We had almost 100% turn in, which is amazing. The ones that weren’t turned in were due to absences and illness, not lack of work.  I am ecstatic.  We’ll be having a reading marathon on Monday, Oct. 29.

I gave the students the last one-hour mystery we’ll be doing for a while.  Some children were able to finish it in less than an hour, others took longer.  This really helps me to see how different children process information and which parts of the mystery they need help with tells me even more.  At the end of this mystery they were required to explain how they came to the solution. This proved very difficult for most.  They want to say: The clues told me.  They do not want to explain their thinking.  This is huge.  We stress how important it is to be able to tell someone why or how you come to a conclusion.  We’ll continue to work on this skill.

Fifth Grade – Wednesday Afternoons

This week was a half class in that I did not have Mr. C’s students.  Next week they will join us when they return from the Art Museum.  Please remind your children to keep an eye on their stocks and let me know if they want to purchase or sell any of their holdings.   We’re doing fairly well in the regional standings with a few teams in the top 10.

Next week we’ll continue the Money Math program. Hopefully, you now know the six steps to becoming a millionaire.  If not ask your child to show you the guidelines we went over.  They should be able to explain why each step is important. (NOTE: Mr. C’s students will get the last step next week.)

5^th Grade Schedule Changes:

10/31 – Mr. Christensen’s class will be attending a wonderful program at the St. Louis Art Museum.  Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s classes will attend GATE as usual.  Mr. Christensen’s students will come to GATE when they return from the art museum.

11/7 & 11/4 – Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s students go to the St. Louis Art Museum while Mr. Christensen’s students come to GATE.  Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s students will come to GATE when they return from the art museum

 

 

Gate Recap - Week of Oct. 15 - 18

Group New

   Parent Conferences are in just two weeks.  I will be in my room and available during the entire conference time.  If you would like a private meeting, please send me a note or drop me an email message and I’ll schedule a time.  I will have the curriculum out and hopefully some samples of student work for you to see.

   First Grade – Wednesday Mornings

This week we continued our geography study.  We reviewed the seven continents and I introduced the equator and Prime Meridian as dividing lines for the four hemispheres.  I kept the work at school as we’ll be using it in the coming weeks.  We also began our newest Thinking Skills unit, Yolanda the Yarnspinner.  The students should have brought home a bookmark that they made.  On the book mark are the main concepts we’ll be covering during this unit.  Last we read another chapter of Flat Stanley and the Magic Lamp.  We had run out of time last week.  I was excited with how much of the story line the children remembered.  Ask your child about how being famous felt for Mrs. Lampchop.  Next week we’ll continue all of the same activities.    Looking ahead, we’ll have class on MONDAY, OCT. 29 instead of Wed, Oct. 31 so that we can have a full class time and the students can participate in the Pumpkin Run. 

Second Grade – Tuesday Mornings

Second graders did some hard thinking this week.  We did logic puzzles that were a bit more difficult than previous ones they’ve done.  It was really interesting to see how they attack the puzzles on their own. 

After we finished with our critical thinking activities I gave the students time to work on their fairy tales. They should be working on their rough drafts this week for homework.  I’ll look over what they have next week.  Then, I’d love to have finished stories by Oct. 30.  Parents may type their story for their child, if they want you to.  My only request is that you type exactly what your child has written and allow them to find errors or changes they may want to make.  It’s ok for you to proofread for them, but the hard part is not to impart our adult ideas into their story.

Next week we’ll be doing some visual problem solving puzzles and finish our rough drafts of the fairy tales so the students can begin working on their final copy of the story.

Third Grade – Tuesday Afternoons

This week we had a shortened class so that we could attend the 2^nd and 5^th grade concert.  I am so proud of what an excellent audience my students were for the other students.  Your child should have shown you our Chow Time activity.  This was our evaluative thinking activity for the day.  We’ve been learning about what goes into making an important decision.  Ask your child to explain the parts of the Decision Making Chart.   The Hands-on Equations students continued to work on their extra problems while the other students did the Think and Touch problems.  They are all getting better, but focus is needed to really accomplish these problems.  As I often see, the students want instant and correct answers.  They are just not used to being wrong and accepting that we can make mistakes and that’s ok.  On Oct. 23 we’ll be going to a talk with a children’s book illustrator before coming back to class to work on our mysteries.  Rough drafts should be complete and students can begin writing up the final draft.  Remember, Tuesday, Nov. 6 is Election Day so there is no school.  

Fourth Grade – Monday Afternoons

The A to Z books are in their final stages.  All books are due this Monday.  If you have any questions over the weekend, please email me. I do check email regularly and will get back to you as soon as I can. 

This week we were able to complete a One-Hour Mystery in just about an hour. The children were so excited to be able to work through an entire mystery in one sitting. This group continues to amaze me with their focus and commitment to our activities.   Next week begins a new quarter and we’ll take the day to transition from our A to Z books and into our new unit on the judicial system.

Fifth Grade – Wednesday Afternoons

Fifth graders had a big day on Wednesday.  I was not aware they were at the Green Center all morning, so when they came to my class, they were fairly relaxed.  We moved right into our word plexers, which are tons of fun.  But after that we got into how to become a millionaire.  I introduced the concepts of simple and compound interest.  I will review that again next week.  I also gave them the first five of the six steps to becoming a millionaire.  They should be sharing all of this work with you when they come home. The students should be able to explain the concept of opportunity cost in relation to money and time.   

At the end of the day they had time to read or work on Stock Market research.  The next four weeks are going to be a bit chaotic as the fifth grade classes begin their rotations to the St. Louis Art Museum for the ABC Art Program.  I will teach the next two lessons of Money Math while with the smaller group, then when the art group returns we’ll focus on plexers and the stock market game as there won’t be enough time for the Money Math at the end of the class.

5^th Grade Schedule Changes:

10/24 & 10/31 – Mr. Christensen’s class will be attending a wonderful program at the St. Louis Art Museum.  Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s classes will attend GATE as usual.  Mr. Christensen’s students will come to GATE when they return from the art museum.

11/7 & 11/4 – Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s students go to the St. Louis Art Museum while Mr. Christensen’s students come to GATE.  Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s students will come to GATE when they return from the art museum

Weekly Update Oct. 8 - 12

Group News

-         October Book orders must be placed by midnight Friday.  If you miss that, just email me and I can open the order back up.  Go to: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.  You will need to register as a parent the first time you order.  Our class code is GL7HN. 

 

           First Grade – Wednesday Mornings

This week the first grade students met on Monday due to the Fifth Grade Field Trip to Springfield.   Our next class is Wed., Oct. 17.    We had a great time with the collections of cool things the students brought in to share.  We finished our scientific thinking unit and will move onto creative thinking with Yolanda the Yarnspinner.  This is a very fun writing unit that encourages creativity when we express ourselves.   I also began the geography unit.  This week was all about the big world we live in.  I covered the seven continents on earth and the briefly the equator.  Next week we’ll look at hemispheres and the oceans.

Second Grade – Tuesday Mornings

I was out sick on Tuesday so I was not able to meet with Second grade.  The students may begin writing their fairy tale rough drafts.  We’ll talk more about that next week.

Third Grade – Tuesday Afternoons

I also missed my third grade students.  They should be ready to begin the rough drafts of their mystery stories.  I will look at outlines and the rough drafts if started next week.  Looking ahead we have some interruptions to our days, but none that will take the entire time.  I will work around these events.  Tuesday, Oct. 16 is the 2^nd and 5^th graders concert at 2:30, on Tuesday, Oct. 23 we’ll be going to a talk with a children’s book illustrator and then on Tuesday, Nov. 6, Election Day, there is no school.  This all just means we’ll be working very hard when we are in class.   Oh, Tuesday, Oct. 30 seems to be a regular day. J

 Fourth Grade – Monday Afternoons

We had a very quick lesson on using the fun parts of Microsoft Word to make our alphabet books interesting.  Every time I think I just might be teaching the children something about how to use these programs I am humbled when they are able to do things I cannot.  Some of the children wanted to use the footnotes to put their references at the bottom of the page.  I know how to put in a footnote, what I don’t know is how to make it different on each page. If you do please email me the steps and I will pass it on.  I do not have Word at home so am limited in my time to play around with it to figure it out.

Through the language arts puzzles your children were introduced to some new writing vocabulary: predicate and subject.  This is why I love this program.

On the A to Z front, all the research should be finished up this week.  I know many students have begun to write their books and that is fine.  I will only want to see the research for the remaining six letters next week, unless you were behind this week, in which case I need to see all the letters.

Remember, you can always email me with questions.  I will get back to you as soon as I can with an answer.

Fifth Grade – Wednesday Afternoons

Fifth graders enjoyed the annual trip to Springfield, IL on Wednesday so I did not meet with them this week. I am very disappointed to have to sit this out as I’ve been on all the trips since we started this wonderful adventure. 

Fifth graders should continue to track their stock purchases. They may continue to buy stocks even when we don't meet as a group.

5^th Grade Schedule Changes:

10/17 – Regular Class

10/24 & 10/31 – Mr. Christensen’s class will be attending a wonderful program at the St. Louis Art Museum.  Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s classes will attend GATE as usual.

11/7 & 11/4 – Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s students go to the St. Louis Art Museum while Mr. Christensen’s students come to GATE.

During the Art Museum classes I will essentially teach the same lessons during the Nov. dates as I did during the Oct. dates.  No one will need to worry they won’t learn how to be a millionaire.

 

Weekly Update Oct. 1 - 5

Group News

-         October Book Orders came home with some students.  I am sorry, I get so busy I forget to hand them out.  But, the good news is you can see all the current orders and I believe last month’s order form too just by going to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.  You will need to register as a parent the first time you order.  Our class code is GL7HN.  Orders are due Oct. 12.  September book orders came on Wednesday and were passed out to those that ordered by September 21.

-         If you haven’t heard, on Tuesday I had my right foot put into a cast. Lucky me, this will last six weeks. During that time I cannot drive so I will be at the mercy of my husband’s work schedule to get to and from work. If you need to meet with me, please email me so I can be sure to be around for your visit.

 

      First Grade – Wednesday Mornings

This week the first graders did some really difficult scientific thinking.  I hope they are showing you all their hard work.  We also read the next chapter of Flat Stanley and The Magic Lamp.  Please ask your child how this book is alike and different from the first Flat Stanley book.  For next week:  We are having class on Monday, Oct. 8.  I sent an email to each family requesting a bag full of interesting objects that the children can use to categorize and study more closely.  The objects do not have to be related, but your child should do the picking if possible.  Think forks to toys or even rocks. I’ve seen many interesting objects come to school for this project.

 

Second Grade – Tuesday Mornings

We continued the lessons from the Thinking Skills program on categorizing. This week we worked together to do a three-way Venn Diagram.  I did not have the kids glue these pieces down in the hopes they could show you how to do a three way Venn and then maybe together you can think of another way to use the same shapes and fill in the Venn with different headings than we used in class. 

We then completed some of the pages on fairy tales that I had given the students.  We had a very interesting discussion on the Grouping activity.  I know the author of this activity intended there to be just one right answer, but as my students proved, there can be more than one right answer, if you can explain yourself.  We also spent some time looking at the characteristics of a fairy tale.  We’ll start writing next week.

Third Grade – Tuesday Afternoons

Well, we finished the Doggone Mystery.  At the end of the mystery, I asked the children to write a note to a Judge convincing the judge that there was enough evidence to bring this dog-napper to trial.  This writing activity proved to be very difficult for many of the students.  Each student spoke with me about their writing.  It is very difficult to summarize our ideas.  I had some students who simply listed the facts of the story, others who missed important evidence and a few who really did an excellent job in their writing.  Ask your child to show you their writing.  I now have a baseline to work with each student on future writings.  I know I need to give directions and then make sure they can see the directions in writing while they work.

Mrs. Schwartz was not able to come this week, so her group worked on getting their practice problems completed.  Most have more to do, so they will likely continue with that next week.  We don’t want to move on to the next concept in the program until they are secure in the basics.  The other students continued with the Think and Touch problems.  I do hope they are sharing these brain puzzles with you each week.

We also did a picture mystery.  After reading over the story and looking at the adjoin illustration the students had to figure out why the original suspect WAS NOT guilty.  Again, a few really got this concept; others had a hard time going beyond the words and not looking at the picture. Also, they seemed to misunderstand the question at the end of the story.  We went over this together.  As soon as I pointed out a few details, the light bulbs came on and many were able to explain the connections between the picture and the writing.

I gave them a great deal of time to finish reading the mystery they started last week. Then they were given over half an hour to begin brainstorming their own mystery.  I really want them to make sure they have all the components before they begin writing.  We’ll being the actual rough drafts next week.

 Fourth Grade – Monday Afternoons

In reviewing the children’s first 10 letters for their books, I am really impressed.  I love that they get to research something they are interested in.  At this point I will be guiding them as to what to do each week, but the bulk of the work will need to be done at home.  I am only able to get the computer lab for about a half hour at the end of the day.  If you can send their work in on a flash drive they could work back and forth.  We have WORD 2010 at school, so let me know if you need the documents to be saved as Word 2003 documents.

We finally finished the shopping mall mystery.  It was a lot of fun.  I am hoping to do some more of these with the kids.  Next week, we’re going to do a one page “picture mystery”. 

 

Fifth Grade – Wednesday Afternoons

After just a brief discussion on the Stock Market Game (SMG) I moved onto Money Math, our new unit.  From this point on SMG will be done outside of GATE time unless I am able to get to the computer lab at the end of class.  Please see the schedule changes below. During this time students will have to be researching and tracking their stocks on their own time. This is especially important for those students at the Art Museum on GATE day.

In introducing Money Math I posed the question, “Who would like to be a millionaire?”

Of course they all do.  In the course of this unit we’ll learn the six steps to make this happen.  We began discussing savings and spending.  We had a very interesting and lively discussion.  While I like to plow right through the lessons, I do let the kids lead the discussions if they are on topic, which is what happened this week.  Hence the reason we didn’t even get to the first step to becoming a millionaire.  We will also do some real life simulations to help the children see how important large purchase research is to the ability to save money.  Last they will research the education needed to reach their career goals, so they can earn the money to become a millionaire.

5^th Grade Schedule Changes:

10/10 – No Gate due to Springfield, IL field trip.  I so wish I could join you, but I think my new cast will keep me home.

10/17 – Regular Class

10/24 & 10/31 – Mr. Christensen’s class will be attending a wonderful program at the St. Louis Art Museum.  Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s classes will attend GATE as usual.

11/7 & 11/4 – Mrs. Thompson and Schuler’s students go to the St. Louis Art Museum while Mr. Christensen’s students come to GATE.

During the Art Museum classes I will essentially teach the same lessons during the Nov. dates as I did during the Oct. dates.  No one will need to worry they won’t learn how to be a millionaire.