Kindergarten
- Enrichment & GATE - Thursdays
Well thanks to the nasty weather we
missed our February 21 class. I was able
to see the children this week though. We
finished our Primary Education Thinking Skills (PETS) lesson on deductive
thinking. The key ideas in these lessons
were: the problems have one right answer, ponder the clues before making a
decision, put all the clues together and to be patient, don’t jump to
conclusions.
Our next character is
Isabel the Inventor. Isabel will teach
the children ways to brainstorm and to allow them to think of many ideas that
are all possible solutions to a problem.
This will help the children see that there are different kinds of
problems to be solved and we have to have the skills to know which method we
use to solve the problem. The afternoon
group has been working on vocabulary building activities. Hopefully you have seen the printouts of the
words they've been exposed to each week. Keep these lists and revisit
them. Also, ask your child to put them
into context. The four or five big words
were all pulled from the story we read that week. Next week, we’ll read Corduroy as our launch into the lessons.
First
Grade – Wednesday Mornings
We began our study of the
circulatory system on March 20. Since we
will have had a two week break, next week I will review the information we
covered and then we’ll work on a couple of more activities that will help the
children with their understanding of just how the blood moves through our
bodies. The symphony concert was
wonderful and well worth missing a class.
Second Grade – Tuesday Mornings
On March 19, after having had a
chance to improve their games, we had another day of game playing. The children did a fantastic job on these
games. Each time they’ve played them the
creators have found things they want to change about the game. I assured them
that this was a normal process and that many games still aren’t “perfect” even
when they are published. I also quickly
gave them the assignment to find groups of things. Thank you for helping your child fill out the
chart. We had fun this week hearing all
the different items that were used. On a
few of them we looked up information to learn even more about a topic. I love it when one assignment leads to learning
I never could have planned for.
This week, after filling out a
large version of the 2 – 12 chart, the children were asked to write a word
problem using one of the items on our list. I’ll be typing these up so everyone
can try to solve them. I also gave the
kids more information about our Multiplication Unit that we are starting. This will
not be about memorizing the facts or doing equations, although that may happen,
but about the concept of multiplication.
Each week we’ll do different activities that will reinforce the concept
of how multiplication works and when it should be used.
The students also worked on
cracking a secret code. They may have
brought this home to finish. Most of the
children figured out the message, but they will still need to find the pattern
in the code. Our next step will be
creating our own codes and then messages for translation.
Third
Grade – Tuesday Afternoons
On March 19 we worked on a new
lesson in Hands-On Algebra. Remember,
this is in your child’s binder and you can see each week how they are
doing. IF an answer is circled, that
means they were incorrect, but they went back and fixed it. Many of the children are having a difficult
time. I will likely go back and do some
review. When we talk through problems
they all have it, but then they sit and try to do them on their own and they
rules seem to fly right out of their heads.
We then went on to our Shongo
Networks. I showed the children how to use a mathematical way to figure out if a
network could be traced without picking up their pencil. This was sent home as
homework and due to the snow day and the fact we didn’t get to it this week,
they will now need that assignment on March 5.
The March 26th class
was cut short by the first and fourth grade concert. We did not get to the Shongo networks.
Fourth Grade – Monday Afternoons
Well the snow didn’t interrupt fourth
grade classes, but the President’s Day holiday still took a day from us. This week the students finished their
timelines then chose an independent project. Each person has a different project, so check
with your child to see what they chose. The projects are due March 4. Please
let me know if there is anything you need for this. I have checked in with most of the children
each morning as they are coming in and I’ve not been asked for anything. As always, written work can be submitted
written, typed, via email or on a flash drive.
Fifth Grade – Wednesday Afternoons
On March 20 we began our Inventions Unit. I gave the children a very quick research
assignment with a short response required.
This week, I had six students NOT turn in the assignment. Please help your child remember their binder
and assignments on Wednesdays. We also
did an in class activity showcasing some interesting inventions and when they
were invented. It was fun to hear what the
children thought before we got the real answer.
This week we talked about the assignment (most
important invention) and then moved onto two other assignments. This week’s
assignment was to pick an inventor to research. Guidelines were sent home. This
may be typed or handwritten but the illustration part of the assignment should be
the student’s own work, not a clip art piece.
The second thing we did was begin thinking of what they might invent.
They created invention logs, which hopefully you’ve seen already. There are some fabulous ideas already
floating around. This assignment will be
an ongoing project with direction coming from me each week. Each week, they’ll also have a short research
assignment that shouldn’t take more than a half hour to complete.
Below is this week’s short research assignment.
FIFTH GRADE - Research Assignment: Inventors
and their Inventions
Your
homework is to research an inventor.
Include the
following things in your ONE page report.
1. Name the inventor.
2. Diagram of an invention developed by
this inventor - This must be your own work, no clipart
3. Background information on the inventor
4. How and why the invention illustrated
in #2 came about.
5. Did any earlier inventions influence
the inventor in this invention?
6. What difference did this invention
make in the world?
7. What is the source you used to find
your information?
You are
limited to one page. You may type or
handwrite your report. Be sure your
final report is error free.
