Next week will be our first STEM project (January 28 & 29 for those of you that volunteered to help!) so I have a feeling next week's blog will focus on my math groups experiences. This week I'll catch you up on what language arts/creativity groups are up to in Knowledge Peak. This week or next week depending on your child's homeroom teacher's schedule, you will find your child's mid-year report for their ALP (Advanced Learning Plan) in Friday Folders. Students completed a self-reflection on one side and a teacher (me for math and their homeroom teacher for reading) filled out the back with their thoughts at this point in the year. Please remember that this is just a check-in to see where your child might need to focus their energy in the second semester so that they can be considered completing their goal by the end of the year. Please let me know if you have any questions! 5th grade language arts/creativity kids have just begun a long-term project focused on learning to read nonfiction and do research. Your child has now brainstormed a topic and narrowed it to their top choice to complete an essay and a presentation project. Topics are ranging from the Borneo rainforests to Steven Hawking to requirements/qualifications to become president to necessary elements to colonize Mars. These projects are not due until Spring Break so we will spend many weeks first doing research and then working on how to synthesize that research into a coherent essay complete with citations and a bibliography. Take a minute to ask your child what their topic is and what their next due date it. One of the huge pieces of this project is learning to budget time and energy for a long-term project and meet deadlines along the way. Another element of this project is learning to use Google classroom and Google docs to complete work. Many of the middle school and high school teachers use Google Classroom for all student work so this will help them learn how to get assignments and submit work. Below is the outline of the project so you know what your child is expected to do (they have the due dates in Google Classroom where we are housing all of our work.) Fourth grade language arts/creativity is completing our last week together until March next week. They have been independently reading a biography on a Colorado history person. We have been learning and sharing about Mary Long Elitch and John Wesley Powell and Margaret Brown and more. Students had three tasks: read the book, write the ABC's of your person, complete a choice project. Most of them are in good shape. Please check with your child and see what they still need to complete. We will be working all week in class, but they may need to spend some time in the evenings this week finishing up since these are due on Thursday, January 28. Below is the requirements sheet that the students got:
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May 2018
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