Finally, our first full week of 2018! The first year students have enjoyed reviewing measuring, practicing their facts with the Multiplication Snake Game, learning the use of a direct object, and mapping a farm! Second year students have worked to read decimal numbers into the millionths, have read the origins of the names of the months, and have been introduced to pictographs. Third year students were so excited to learn how to do long division with the Racks and Tubes AND on paper! Fourth year students discovered how cells react to solutions, found the differences in cerebral cortex size among primates, and wrote paragraphs using hyphens. Together, we are all researching Europe, including a 14-Point Study of countries chosen by each group. Look for this research to be displayed mid-February!
This student is writing her final draft of the letter you received about our upcoming “Going Out Experience.” In order to plan this trip, our two students in charge had to submit a proposal that answered questions about location, price, directions, and reason for attending. After their proposal was accepted, they had to call the Greater Cleveland Aquarium and speak with the field trip coordinator to make all the plans. After the phone call, they met with Ms. Kelly to make sure they had the information needed for the permission slips. Finally, they edited their original letter to parents and made a final copy!This fourth year student is labeling the parts of a plant cell. He has already worked with materials to learn that cells are the building blocks of life, the parts of a cell and their function, and how cells react to certain solutions. All of these lessons will lead up to a home assignment to build a model of his own plant or animal cell to share his knowledge with the class!Our second and third year students studied the origins of the names of the months. This student chose to learn about July. He found out it was named after Julius Caesar and is creating a drawing of him to display near our classroom calendar.For Writer’s Workshop this week, we talked about “Persuasive Paragraphs.” We first defined persuasive, then talked about times we might try to be persuasive. Negotiating bedtime seemed to be a common occurrence! After our discussion, we settled on the topic of “Follow-Up Work.” We listed reasons to have it and reasons to get rid of it. Then we took a blind vote to decide which students would argue which side in their paragraph. After splitting into our pro and con teams, the groups worked together to write their persuasive paragraphs. They will be shared after gym Friday!
A Peek into Next Week
Next week, Lower Elementary students will practice using currency to build quantities, will continue measurement lessons, will add and subtract time in word problems, and will create family timelines! Fourth year students will create a geometric decanomial, classify early humans, discuss forces of nature in the universe, and continue working on research skills.
REMINDERS:
In your email, you have received a “Going Out Experience” permission slip. This is an optional field trip for Elementary students. If your child would like to attend, please turn this in by Monday, February 5th.
Mother-Son/Father-Daughter Dance invitations and tickets were sent home this Monday in your child’s Spelling folder. If you are planning to attend, please remember to turn the ticket into the office dropbox!
