This is actually a peek at the week before this one, but I finally had a chance to put together the photos and videos from our engineering challenges to give you a glimpse at what we were up to the week before. Thanks to those of you parents who are willing and able to come and help us! For those of you who weren't able to help but think this looks like too much fun to mix next time, we will be doing challenge number two in December. Stay tuned for a Sign-up Genius in November. Check out all the photos on the photos page of the website. Below you will find the three videos from the three math classes... Third graders were learning about how these challenges work and learning about the engineering design process this time - that idea that you design, build, test, and rebuild. And it did take many rebuilds for them to create their pom-pom launchers in order to get the furthest distance possible! They did a GREAT job working together and persevering to find a solution to their challenge. Fourth graders were the rocket scientists for their first challenge. They had to work as a team to turn a straw into a rocket using a balloon as the engine. Their goal was also to go the furthest distance possible. This was a challenge, and we had some interesting failures but sometimes you can learn as much from failure as you can from success. No one gave up though (or lost their sense of humor!) Fifth graders worked to create an airbag landing system for their rovers (really an egg!) for this challenge. A drop of 9 feet poses quite the challenge - especially when we decided to add to the excitement by trying to drop their creations on the cement outside too. They were amazingly creative in their building!
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This week in your child's Friday Folder, you should have received the Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) for the year. As I mentioned last week, this is a document required by the state of Colorado to help communicate to families what goals your child has related to their gifted identification and what services the school will provide. Last week, I shared with you what to expect for afffective/social-emotional goals. This week let me briefly describe what you should see for academic goals. Depending on what academic area(s) your child is identified in, you will note that there is a goal written related to that. If your child is identified in math, their goal is to do advanced work. Advanced work is defined by looking more closely at the math rubric (also included with the ALP.) Areas for focus include, of course, increasing mathematical knowledge, but also include communication, effort, problem solving, creativity, and doing well on assessments during the year. Each student was also required to pick one of these areas for their focus area for growth too, and you will see which one your child picked by looking at the rubric included with their ALP. If you want to know the types of things we will be doing in class this year, make sure to read the "Instructional Actions/Strategies" section of the ALP which spells out more details. You can look more closely at the rubric here or click on the image here. Each grade level also has a standards focus for the year: 5th grade - Math Practice Standard #3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others 4th grade - Math Practice Standard #2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively 3rd grade - Math Practice Standard #1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them If your child is identified in reading, again students are expected to do advanced work. The rubric explains the focus areas of independent reading, comprehension, discussions, assessments/projects, and effort. Click on the image to the left or click here to see the rubric larger. Similar to math, students were asked to reflect on which of these areas needed the most work for them and write their individual goal on the back of their rubric (included with your child's ALP.) The standards that each grade level will be focusing on for math are: 5th Grade - Colorado Academic Standards (Reading, Writing Communication) 4. Research and Reasoning 1. High-quality research requires information that is organized and presented with documentation 4th Grade - Colorado Academic Standards (Reading, Writing Communication) 2. Reading for All Purposes 3. Knowledge of complex orthography (spelling patterns), morphology (word meanings), and word relationships to decode (read) multisyllabic words contributes to better reading skills 3rd Grade - Colorado Academic Standards (Reading, Writing Communication) 2. Reading for All Purposes 1. Strategies are needed to make meaning of various types of literary genres The final academic area that we have students identified in is creativity. This goal area for ALP's requires that a student be graded using the Creative Product rubric when they complete projects both in my class and in their homeroom class. For details on what those expectations are, click on the rubric on the right or click here. Projects can be related to social studies concepts, novel studies, scientific studies, or writing samples. During the year, we try to make sure students have the opportunity to see how it is possible to be creative in all academic subjects - not just the arts. Recently, I met with all of our gifted identified students to go over their affective needs (sometimes called social-emotional needs.) We talked about how affective goals relate to being a better student and/or being a better you. It is a Colorado state requirement that all GT students have not only academic goals but also a social-emotional goal. It is a requirement I am happy to fulfill because at Werner we are always concerned with the whole child and their growth in ALL aspects of their lives. Here is a quick explanation for each grade-level's focus this year. Lessons and discussions in homeroom, with the counselor and with me will be going on all year to support these goals. Next week you will receive your child's ALP in their Friday Folder. In it please look for the colorful copies (yellow for 3rd grade, green for 4th, and blue for 5th.) One of those important papers will be your child's affective needs checklist and their goal they chose to focus on for the year. If you can focus discussions this year at your house on this goal and learning skills and strategies to be successful on that goal, that would be awesome! Each grade level has a different focus. Let me give you some details below... Fifth Grade - Healthy risk taking is the 5th grade goal for the year. We spend time talking about the four types of risks: intellectual, social, emotional, and physical. Students worked with me to brainstorm healthy risks that they could take at school during this school year. They also completed a quick survey about their attitudes towards risk taking. Students have to pick two (one for each semester) that they are willing to take. Risks range from trying the spelling bee, speaking in front of the class, running for Wildcat leader, trying to make a district track meet event, challenges at Eco Week, and many more. Students will reflect at the end of each semester on their activity. The focus is not on being 100% successful but instead focus on being willing to try something new. Click on the document on the left to see what paperwork to expect from your child and see the goal-setting document too. Fourth Grade - The fourth grade goal is related to organization and study skills. Since this is the first year the kids get a planner and begin receiving letter grades of A,B,C,D,F, this seemed like a logical year to spend discussing how that can help students be better learners. Categories on the checklist for organization/study skills are time management, study skills, managing materials, homework, and using their planner. Students could choose any one of these 5 categories to write their specific goal after they reflected on their own greatest area of need. Cleaning out backpacks and desks seemed to be a popular need - and maybe you parents agree! Fourth graders will be hearing about these topics all year as our Werner staff works to reinforce good study habits. Students will reflect again at the end of the year on the checklist and answer questions that ask them to think about how their work in this area might continue to help them in the future. Click the document at the right to see more details. Third Grade - The third graders' goals relate to peer relationships. The overall categories within peer relationships are large group interactions, small group interactions, conflict resolution, and communication. Students completed a checklist to self-evaluate as a pre-assessment. They then took a look at an area they marked as a 1 or 2 and set their personal goal on that specific area. In addition, students had to brainstorm what they might need to help them be successful. Ideas ranged from help from Mrs. Flemister (our counselor) to more patience to suggestions from a teacher about new strategies. We will complete the checklist at the end of the year again and students will reflect on their progress with a form I will provide them. Forms are linked on the left if you want to take a peek. Just a quick note about my schedule next week. I will be attending the Colorado Gifted Educators' Conference on Monday and Tuesday so I will be out of the building. I'll be back on Wednesday and also working on Thursday and Friday to hopefully complete ALP's while you enjoy time with your children at home. Please watch in the coming weeks for this important paperwork to be in your child's Friday Folder.
This week I would like to give a brief update on each of my classes so you know what your child is currently studying in their time with me. 5th Grade Math - Fifth graders have been seriously hard at work growing their brain power in the form of tricky algebra learning. They have been learning to use the Distributive Property to create equivalent expressions and then also learning to simplify algebra equations before solving. We have had a lot of conversations about, "When am I ever going to use this?!" and so have also been doing lessons showing the kids how formulas in life use algebra to solve for the unknown quantity (using formulas for perimeter, area, volume, acceleration, interest rate, US to metric measurements, and more.) We'll take our test over this unit next week and then explore how algebra relates to solving inequalities (greater than, less than and the like.) 5th Grade Language Arts- After the completion of our first round of literature circles reading realistic, kids-save-the-environment fiction, the kids got their new mystery books last week to begin reading. I always think spooky mysteries are a great way to experience the Halloween spirit at school. While we read mysteries, we'll also continue our study of Greek/Latin roots of English. 4th Grade Math - Now that we completed a review unit of addition and subtraction, we are moving onto longer multiplication problems. We'll explore the traditional algorithm but also look at why it works (not just memorize steps that have no meaning.) It is very important that students be practicing their basic multiplication facts because that will make these multiplication units MUCH easier. We have discussed how students might use flash cards or online games (check out the Web Resources for Third Grade under Basic Multiplication Practice.) 4th Grade Language Arts - This group is on hiatus until November when we will pick back up again with books about fictional courageous characters. I think the kids really enjoyed our last session of short-stories and talk of irony and satire through O'Henry stories. This group will also begin exploring Greek & Latin roots in our next month-long session. 3rd Grade Math - The first few months with our new curriculum has a major focus on basic multiplication and divisions facts. This group is also exploring how the Distributive Property works and how it can be a useful tool to learning "hard" multiplication facts (think about 6X7 as (3X7)+(3X7) as an easier way to solve.) We are just beginning a unit exploring strategies for 4's, 6's, 7's, and 8's - some of the sets that kids find the trickiest. Our new curriculum focuses not just rote memorization, but instead on building understanding of multiplication, its uses, and yet still learning your facts for quick recall. We are also trying out fun ways to learn them through videos and games too. 3rd Grade Language Arts - We are looking at the them of change through literature. Part of my goal in their time with me over the years is to introduce them to genres they may not pick up themselves. This first book that we just began reading last week is a science fiction book called The Green Book. Life for the characters in the book change in a drastic way when they are forced to board a spaceship and abandon Earth for a new planet called Shine. We are focusing on learning to ask good questions too while we read - a great way students learn to monitor their own comprehension. Below are a few pictures of our first day together exploring how change is a theme in our own lives (a few more are on the Photos page.) |
Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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