Hard to believe that it is time to start planning activities for the last month of school! Our last STEM engineering challenge will be in May. I had to shuffle dates around to fit in field trips and book fairs and volunteer appreciation so the sign-up will look a little different if you are willing to help. Please check your email for a message from Sign-up Genius so that you can help. We have had help the last three times from Fossil Ridge seniors but they will be busy in May so please consider if your schedule will allow you to come have fun with us! Needs are 2 adults for each of these times: 4th grade - Wednesday, May 4, and Friday, May 6, at 8:50-9:50am 5th grade - Wednesday, May 4 ONLY at 10:30-11:30am 3rd grade - Wednesday, May 3, and Friday May 6, at 1:30-2:30pm I haven't had a chance to update language arts/creativity families about what we are up to lately so here goes. Fifth graders are reading Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Although a short book, I love using this book to teach the students how to participate in Socratic Seminars. We have talked about who Socrates was and how he would many times not provide answers to questions but simply question more. The Socratic method looks a little like a debate but the purpose is not to convince someone that you are right but question your neighbor to think differently. The goal of a Socratic Seminar discussion is to question your peers to increase their their critical thinking. The fifth graders are suppose to be finishing reading the book by Tuesday and filling out their claims/counterclaims/evidence note taking so that we can participate in our Socratic Seminars on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. We are focusing on social issues that the book delves into. Ask your child what the questions for consideration are and have a chat about your position on these controversial topics. Third grade time is a little more light-hearted. We are reading four different fantasy books and continuing to learn how to participate and lead a novel study group. I love being able to sit in and join their conversations about important characters, changing events, and plot twists. All of the books have an element of fantasy and magic - some imaginative creatures like a Whangdoodle while others are reading about personified rats and cockroaches! Next week will be a challenge for the third graders. Because our time is quickly approaching the end, we will need to have two literature circles in one week (one on Monday and one on Thursday) in order to finish these books in time. This may require extra reading so please check in with your child to make sure they have their materials when you leave school and make a plan for how to keep up with the work. And finally, I received a thank you note from the Peyback Foundation for the 5th grade donation to Peyton Mannings' foundation after our Superbowl challenge with the River Gate Elementary 5th graders. Below is the note that came this week...
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Unfortunately with all the testing going on in our building, we haven't had much time for new material in Knowledge Peak classes lately. Let me briefly catch you up on where we are in curriculum currently and where we are headed... Fifth grade math students have been taking extra tests lately. This week we completed a paper-pencil test of 6th grade math standards to inform middle schools to make decisions about class placement next year. We'll take the math MAPS test next week which will be combined with last year's PARCC results in order for middle schools to collect data for that final determination. Fifth grade parents should see an email from middle schools in about mid-May informing you of the suggested class for your child for 6th grade. When we haven't been testing lately, we have been working on a rates and ratios unit. We have explored some "Three Acts" which are fun videos that engage students in mathematical questioning. We have watched jump roping, paint mixing, and snack making. While none of those may sound riveting to you, we have had fun using videos to practice our ratio building and rate determining skills. We'll finish up this unit early next week with a look at the Golden ratio and a final test on this topic. Furthermore, this last week was our last week trading on the Stock Market in our game. Students took time to meet with their teams one last time to buy, sell and trade and also fill out a final reflection for their assessment of learning. Here are a few things they had to say about their experience: The stocks will go up and down like a roller coaster. Good luck! - Nina I think XCel was a great investment because it got us tons of money and made us top of the class. - Milo Pepsico was a good stock because they have so many brands which makes it a popular company. - Jensen This experience will help in the future because I can make better decision and I'll know more about finance. - Sophie Fourth grade math students have been learning about converting between fractions, decimals and percents. We had some fun collecting survey data last week and determining how to express that data in percentages. We learned not very many adults like Mondays or liver (silly questions!) but over 50% of adults have read a book and gone to the movies in the last month. We'll continue with this unit looking at decimal operations before taking a test and moving on to our final units of the year - 3D geometry and measurement units. Lastly, third graders are still finishing up trying out our new math curriculum. We are in the middle of a unit on measurement, including time, mass, and capacity. The kids and I have all voted and we have decided the U.S. should switch to the metric system. It is so much easier to convert grams to kilograms and milliliters to liters! We'll take our test on this unit early next week and continue with our geometric math learning for a couple of weeks. We'll also be exploring strategies for problem solving such drawing pictures, organized lists, working backwards, using logic, and more focused practice. The goal of this work will be to prepare the students for next year's Math Olympiad challenges in which they will be participating. |
Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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