A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of April 8

Written by

This week our “Peek” was written by a few of our students! These students read our previous blogs, took pictures around the room, and filled in a blog template. The students did some editing together, and with a teacher, so what you will read below is their final product. There are still some misspelled words in their final product, but in a Montessori classroom we focus on the process, instead of the end result. Dr. Montessori believed when we put all of the emphasis on the final product, we devalue everything leading up to that point. This can discourage repetition which will make mastery of a skill difficult. The purpose of the students writing the blog is to provide you with a glimpse into the room through their eyes, to provide them with practice of real world skills, and to give them a deeper understanding of the materials in the room. We hope you enjoy their work!

“A Peek at Our Week” by the Ellie and Reese

This week the first graders learned about adding and subtracting on a number line. The second years learned about larg bead fram multiplicashun. The third years learned about Pythagorean Theorem. Upper Elementary learned about how to bisect the base.

The two first graders are learning adout Asia animals. Their learning about a Golden Cat and the Komodo Dragon.
They were working together to complete a Lattice Multiplication ekwation.
These two first graders are tracing and coloring the Europe mape.
The secont grader was using the story starter to write her own story.

“A Peek at Our Field Trip and Next Week” by Ms. Ashley

We loved our visit to the McKinley Museum! While there, we visited “Discovery World,” the planetarium, and the McKinley Monument. In “Discovery World,” we were introduced to Alice the Allosaurus, saw the fossils of a triceratops, mosasaur, and some animals from the Pleistocene Ice Age! We were also able to see animals from North America like another corn snake named Kernel, catfish, bees, and a tarantula! Once we visited with the live animals, we went to the science area. Students were able to try different experiments, which you will see below. We enjoyed the planetarium and learned a lot about the construction of the Memorial after climbing all the stairs!

Reading about how the McKinley Memorial was built.
Making an elongated penny was harder than she thought!
Beating a robot in Tic-Tac-Toe!
Two newscasters are trying to prepare and inform the public on how to be safe during a tornado while the third is getting out of there!
These students loved seeing the triceratops fossils!
Here is a mastodon tusk that was found under what is now Belden Village!

Next week, we will continue working on our models and songs for the International Festival. Please refer to the previous email for what your child needs to wear and what food you can bring. Our first year students will find the commutative pairs in our Decanomial, will review parts of speech and discuss the conjunction, will begin studying energy transformations, and will be introduced to the echinoderms! Our second year students will solve length word problems, will review conjunctions, will find the height and orthocenter of a triangle, and will experiment with oily feathers to learn about oil spills. Our third year students will multiply fractions by a whole number, will review how to use quotation marks, and will classify phyla of plants. Our fourth year students will add integers, will discuss the old world Homo sapiens, will learn about gerunds, and will classify fungi. Our fifth year students will multiply on the decimal checkerboard, find the area of a circle, and will study glaciers.

REMINDERS:

  • NO SCHOOL – Monday, April 22 – Easter Monday
  • Wednesday, May 1 – International Festival Practice
  • Friday, May 3 – International Festival
  • We still need parent volunteers to monitor our typing lessons. Sign up here. 
  • Mark your calendars – Optional Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held the week of May 13-17, before and after school. A link to sign up will be sent through Remind and the blog soon.
  • FINAL Parent Work Time in May – Sign up here.

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of April 1

Written by

“Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.” – Jane Goodall

What a great week back to school. We were so excited for our “Skype in the Classroom” event with Dr. Jane Goodall. Children from schools all around the word tuned in to hear about her first work in Africa and her current work now to protect humans and animals. We submitted a few questions which were answered by Jane and Jane Goodall Institute members. We are patiently waiting to receive a copy of the talk and our answers. In the meantime, students have been looking into her “Roots and Shoots” initiative to help students learn more about the needs of animals and the planet to prove that every child can make a difference. Once we gather all of our information, we are going to vote to see if we would like to join one of the projects to do service for people and animals in our area.

This first year student is working with our bead bars to form a decanomial. He has built the multiplication table of ones and is working on building the two times table. Once he has mastered this work, we will go through the decanomial and replace the bars with their commutative property pairs. We will then go through and find the squares of numbers. All of the practice with these bead bars will give him and our other students a metal picture of the multiplication equations they will solve throughout their time with us and as adults.
This fourth year student is working to complete his Early Humans Timeline. After completing his study of early humans from Australopithecines to the Cro-Magnon Homo sapiens, he created a timeline to show the periods when these humans walked the Earth, then wrote summaries of each species to add to his timeline with drawings. Check out his work next week in the hall!
This second year student is reviewing types of triangles with Ms. Marlee. He is forming and naming triangles based on the length of their sides and the types of angles they contain. Here he has an equiangular equilateral triangle and a right-angled isosceles triangle. This month our second year students will continue to study triangles before moving on to writing simple proofs about quadrilaterals!
These students have created a plan for researching the United States of America. They have traced many of the states and are recording important information like the date each state entered statehood, the state nickname, the state bird, and many other interesting facts. Working in pairs or groups requires a lot of communication and problem solving that is even more important than the great academic work they have independently chosen to complete.
What a bittersweet moment! Our third year students have finished their study of equivalence with our Constructive Triangles and Metal Insets. Here they are working together to find a relationship between the apothem and perimeter of a decagon and the height and base of a rectangle. I have been so impressed by the ability of this group to work together with these challenging materials (remember last year when many of our parents could not figure them out?!) to communicate, give chances, and give encouragement to each other. They have been comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas, even if they end up being wrong, which is something we could all probably learn from them! Next stop – PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM!

“A Peek at Next Week”

Next week, we will continue to study and research Great Zimbabwe. Our first year students will add and subtract on a number line, will continue to study whole and straight angles, will discuss the parts of a leaf, and will begin studying Australia. Our second year students will begin compound multiplication by discussing standard and expanded notation on the Large Bead Frame, will continue studying triangles with the “Seven Triangles of Reality” lesson, and will find symmetry in flowers. Our third year students will record partial products on the Flat Golden Bead Frame, will move on to Pythagorean Theorem, and will study the main characteristics of mollusks. Our fourth year students will create a line graph on our Pegboard, will bisect the base of a triangle to find the area, will be introduced to fungi, and will complete a lab about properties of matter. Our fifth year students will build a cube to its successive cube, will be introduced to the Ancient Civilizations Timeline, and will study ocean currents.

REMINDERS:

  • McKinley Museum Field Trip – Tuesday, April 9 – This is a bus field trip. We will be learning about Ohio history, dinosaurs, and will visit their planetarium. Please pack a disposable lunch for this day and be sure your child wears comfortable shoes. We will be walking up many steps to the McKinley Memorial.
  • Monday, April 22 – NO SCHOOL – Easter Monday
  • Please help us continue to offer typing classes by signing up here to supervise our students: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-typing

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | March 11 – March 20

Written by

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

We are down to only eight more weeks of school! I cannot believe it! Our first years are beginning to build their own Simple Machines with a partner. Our second years are completing their study of polygons with five or more sides and are beginning to look at triangles. Our third years getting ready to move on to the Pythagorean Theorem. Our fourth year students are wrapping up their study of early humans. Our fifth years are continuing to study Ancient Civilizations. Take a peek at the wonderful work we have been doing these last two weeks.

The fourth year students are finishing up their study of early humans. After taking notes, drawing sketches, and creating their own timeline of groups of early humans, they were presented the early human family tree. We separated all of the early humans into the groups of Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Homo. They loved comparing the skull shapes!
Our first year students were recently introduced to Simple Machines. They learned about an inclined plane, a screw, a pulley, a wheel and axle, a wedge, and a lever. They chose partners to research and build their machine together!
Our second year students are studying the polygon family. They have discussed names of polygons and regular and irregular polygons. These students are discovering why the triangle is called “The Constructor!”
These students built half of a cube with our cubing material and took two days to write and solve the equation. They were introduced to a lesson about finding the square root of a number, but CHOSE to do this as follow-up work instead! Check under the next photo to see what they came up with!

2[12(9^2) + 13(8^2) + 12(7^2) + 13(6^2) + 8(5^2) + 9(4^2) + 8(3^2) + 24(2^2) + 82(1^2) + 12(1^2 x 10) + 20(1^2 x 9) + 20(1^2 x 8) + 12(1^2 x 7) + 20(1^2 x 6) +20(1^2 x 5) + 20(1^2 x 4) + 20(1^2 x 3) + 20(1^2 x 2)]
Wax Museum

Our students worked so hard over the course of two months to prepare for the Wax Museum. Please refer to the previous blog (below this post) to read all of the details! Here are some photos of their great work! Thank you to all parents and family members that came to show your support and that donated to our Bake Sale for the Upper Elementary Trip this August!

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of March 4

Written by

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” -Benjamin Franklin

This week we completed our Wax Museum research! We have been working hard on this project since our first day back in January! Whenever we begin a large project like this, we spend a lot of time sharing tips and tricks with newer students to get them started on the right path. We discuss how to plan our time and how much work to complete each day in order to stay on top of things and to remain successful. It is a great learning experience for all when older students share what they did that was successful last year and what they did in the past that led them to fall behind or to have to redo a portion of a large project. We give each student an outline of due dates and also display those dates on a classroom calendar for students to review whenever necessary. Our newer students have benefited from the examples of research cards that we displayed each week with each new topic. We invited students each day to a “Wax Museum Workshop” to work with teachers and peers to focus on a specific part of our project. I have included a little sneak peek into some backdrops, but you are going to be so impressed with the hard work your child has accomplished over these last two months! We can’t wait for you to join us on Monday, March 18, at 6 pm!

These third year students are using the dictionary to find the difference between two homographs. During our lesson they realized homographs are spelled the same, but have different pronunciations and different definitions! Learning homographs helps these students with their narrative writing and spelling!
Our third year students have been working for a few months to study equivalence, congruence, and similarity between shapes. After introducing these concepts, we studied the relationships between our Constructive Triangle Boxes. Now, we are continuing to study the relationships between our shapes in our Metal Insets Cabinet. This student is proving how a trapezoid can be equivalent to a rectangle. We found that the rectangle was half the height of the trapezoid and its base was the same length as the major base of the trapezoid added to its minor base!
These first year students were traced by friends and have drawn the skeleton of the human body. They have worked hard to correctly label each part of the skeleton and to draw the bones to fit inside their traced body! In third grade, we spend the entire year studying the human anatomy and the students always recall their first year skeleton lessons!

 

Here is your sneak peek into our Wax Museum backdrops! Cleopatra and her friends are excited to meet you!

“A Peek into Next Week”

Next week, we will be practicing our speeches daily to memorize them by March 18. Many students have already been practicing. Each student that completed their speech should have brought home a copy already within the last few weeks. If they did not, please remind your child to bring their home copy Monday at dismissal. Next week, our first years will be introduced to the history of metric measurement, will learn about synonyms, will continue studying straight lines on the same plane, and will begin their research of simple machines! Our second year students will add decimals, will practice comma rules, will begin studying polygons, and will review flower completeness. Our third year students will learn to cross multiply, will link history to language with a study of pronouns and verbs in different tenses, will continue studying the equivalence of our Metal Insets, and will study arthropods. Our fourth year students will study puns (my favorite), will continue subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, and will bisect the height of triangles to find the area. Our fifth year students will study cause and effect in writing, will discuss the imperative mood of verbs, and will continue studying square roots!

REMINDERS:

  • If you are able, please sign up to donate something for our Wax Museum Bake Sale here!
  • WAX MUSEUM – Monday, March 18 – 6 pm! Please invite your family and friends!
  • SPRING BREAK – Thursday, March 21 – Friday, March 29
  • We are in need of some parent volunteers to teach typing. We need parents each Friday that we have school from 8:45 – 11:00. We set up two laptops in the Enrichment Room and send two students at a time to practice typing. If you are interested in volunteering, you would need to help students log in to their account on Typing.com and make sure they are using proper hand placement on the keyboard. Our students have been doing this for a few months and are very used to the procedure so they can offer any tips if you need them! Please sign up here if you are interested!

A Peek in Our Week | Elementary | Week of February 25

Written by

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” – WB Yeats

This week the Elementary students started their displays for the Wax Museum. Our first graders were introduced to a number line and measured their friends. Our second year students researched land forms made of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock. Our third year students learned to make a bar graph using Google Sheets and continued researching weather damage. Our fourth year students were introduced to their final early humans, the Cro-Magnon group of Homo sapiens. Our fifth year students researched different homes throughout ancient civilizations. If you are interested in being part of Providence Classical School visit https://www.pcsclassical.org/ your child is receiving the best possible education with us.

The third year students researched “Plants from the Continents.” They looked at each plant and tried to determine where it would grow best. After checking their work, they chose one plant from each continent to research for next week.
This week the third year students learned how to turn a bar graph on paper into a digital, 3D bar graph on Google Sheets. They chose a topic, polled their peers, and graphed the data on bar graph paper. When they were finished, they input the data into Google Sheets to create their digital bar graph. They then saved the bar graph to our class Drive. The students were so excited to see what different graphs they could form!
These students wanted to create something. They found Plaster of Paris in the Art Cabinet and decided to make a model of a bird. They worked together to mix the plaster, but then realized they added too much water and decided to strain out what they could. They did end up with an interesting final project that we are excited to see painted and presented next week!
Here, a couple first years and our visiting kindergarten students are working on assembling our number line. The students all made sure the line was in correct order and was assembled correctly so their measurements would be accurate. Our kindergarten visitors ended up being the exact same height, which was fun to see, while our first year students were all within a few inches of each other. Soon, they will learn to add and subtract on this line. Then, they will use it to solve word problems!
One of our second year friends is showing a kindergarten visitor our Solar System models. They worked together to put the planets in order and then talked about what they have previously learned about space! We had a great time with our visitors this week.

“A Peek at Next Week”

Next week, we will wrap up our Wax Museum project to begin practicing for the big day (Monday, March 18)! Our Lower Elementary students will study March Holidays and will begin researching Asian animals. Our first year students will be introduced to the pronoun, will begin to study two straight lines on the same plane, and will discuss the external parts of an annelid (like the earthworm)! Our second year students will continue studying angles and will discuss the main characteristics of a reptile. Our third year students will be introduced to homographs, will continue studying equivalence with the Metal Insets, and will discuss the internal systems of amphibians. Our fourth year students will make a timeline of all early humans, will discuss the indicative mood of verbs, and will subtract fractions with unlike denominators. Our fifth year students will look at transmogrified words, will be introduced to Pi, and will begin studying square roots (Wow!)!

REMINDERS:

  • Monday, March 4 – NO SCHOOL FOR ELEMENTARY – Student/Parent Conferences – Please refer to your email for your scheduled time. Your child must attend this conference.
  • WAX MUSEUM – Monday, March 18 – We will also hold a Bake Sale at this event. Details to follow soon.
  • SPRING BREAK – Thursday, March 21 – Friday, March 29

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of February 18

Written by

“A child, more than anyone else, is a spontaneous observer of nature.” – Maria Montessori

This week was an exciting week for nature in our classroom. We have been able to see Kernel out exploring his new habitat almost every day, we started germinating our lettuce seeds for the aquaponic system, and we have seen some growth in the food scraps we are trying to regrow! So far, most of our lettuce has sprouted enough to plant into our aquaponic system and it has continued to grow! Through research and conversation with others that have aquaponic or hydroponic systems, we learned from our mistakes last year and have seen success! Our onions, garlic, and carrot scraps are coming along and we are waiting to see if our pineapple will regrow.

This week we had two more kindergarten visitors. Here, a first grade friend is showing a kindergarten friend how to build quadrilaterals with the Box of Sticks. The Box of Sticks is one of our favorite Geometry materials because we can use it to study angles, lines, polygons, and circles!
One of our first grade friends practiced her cursive handwriting with a kindergarten visitor. They wrote letters for a while, then decided to switch to words. Our first grader helped sound out the words when necessary and gave advice on where to start each letter. It is so great to hear our students share their knowledge with new children!
Last year two of our current fourth year students and one of our current second year students were in charge of the aquaponic system. This year, they each chose a younger child to teach about the system so we can use it year after year. The younger children were able to begin the germination process and our older, experience friends, showed them how to plant the seeds once they were germinated. We are so excited to continue to see the progress of our lettuce.
Ms. Marlee introduced our first year and kindergarten students to the adverb! This is always a favorite lesson of teachers and students. Each child gets to chew a cracker in a specific way based on which adverb they receive. Some children had to eat messily, some quietly, some quickly! Being able to physically bring an adverb to life leaves a lasting impression.
These third year students used our physics discovery materials to make this creation. They were able to make five gears turn simultaneously! The students use this work to create cars, pulleys, and other machines!
Kernel is trying to write us a message!

Photos from our Valentine’s Party 

“A Peek at Next Week”

Next week we will begin our backdrops and buttons for the Wax Museum! Our first year students will be introduced to number lines, will discuss antonyms, and will find the parts of a bulb. Our second year students will have their next Checkerboard lesson, will find adverb pairs, and will learn the origins of the names of the days of the week. Our third year students will write explanations about graphs they study, will classify adverbs, will join the second years in learning the origins of the names of the days of the week, and will find plants from each continent. Our fourth year students will begin studying early groups of Homo sapiens, will continue studying simple tense verbs, and will continue taking the area of triangles. Fifth year students will continue ancient civilization research, will divide fractions, and will begin measuring circles.

REMINDERS:

  • “Bring Your Parent to Work Time” – 2/26 and 2/27 – We still have a few slots open. Sign up here.
  • Monday, March 4 – NO SCHOOL – Student Led Conferences – Please check your email for the time your child was scheduled and for more information.
  • Monday, March 18 – Wax Museum
  • Thursday, March 21-Friday, March 29 – NO SCHOOL – Spring Break

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of February 11

Written by

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” -Albert Einstein

One of my favorite parts of the Elementary curriculum is the real experiences the children get through field trips, “Going Out Experiences,” and the projects we do in the classroom, like growing food in our aquaponic system. This week we had the privilege of seeing the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall AND started germinating our seeds for the aquaponic system. At the Orchestra, we were surprised with box seats and were introduced to instruments we had never heard in person, like the harp! This was especially exciting for students that are researching composers for the Wax Museum. The children were so excited and even danced along to the music. This morning a student said aloud, “I know we have good teachers. I mean, they took us TO THE ORCHESTRA even though there’s only twenty of us!” We all had a great time and learned a lot about how an orchestra performs.

These second year students are studying the different angles formed when you cut two oblique lines with a transversal. They found that the transversal results in eight angles. They built external angles, internal angles, alternating internal and external angles, and internal and external angles on the same side of the transversal. One student also found out how to write his name with the Box of Sticks material!
This first grade friend is enjoying the light snow we had this week. We found a part of the playground that was untouched by footprints or tire tracks so everyone made a snow angel at the same time!
These second graders are working on the second half of their “Mapping the Classroom” follow-up work. They had to draw a map of one part of our classroom, with a map key, then had to get it approved by a teacher before moving on to the next phase. They are recreating what they previously mapped using poster board and construction paper. We are excited to see the end results!
These partners are working on changing a cube to its successive cube. They started with the cube of four and added our building materials to physically turn it into the cube of five. After they built their new cube, they took it apart to write the equation to check their work. Finally, they subtracted what materials they added from the cube of five to find the difference in numerical value of the cube of four and the cube of five. Their equation was 4^3 + 3(4^2 x 1) + 3(1^2 x 4) + 1^3 = 5^3
Our view from our box seats at the Orchestra! We had the best time!

“A Peek at Next Week”

Next week, we will write the final drafts of our Wax Museum research! Our first year students will discuss the adverb, types of stems, and nematodes. Our second year students will practice abbreviating, will solve word problems about currency, and will study famous rock formations. Our third years will discuss plural possessives, will learn about plants through riddles, and will study time zones. Our fourth year students will continue studying early humans and the Monera Kingdom! Our fifth year students will work on animal research, will learn about Tom Swifties, and will begin learning how to measure circles!

REMINDERS:

  • NO SCHOOL – Monday, February 18 – Presidents’ Day
  • “Bring Your Parent to ‘Work Time'” – Sign up here
  • Wax Museum date changed to Monday, March 18 due to a scheduling conflict with St. Mark’s

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of February 4

Written by

“Our children can be our greatest teachers if we are humble enough to receive their lessons.”

As we have discussed at “Meet the Teacher” and Parent Education events, the elementary-aged children are in a sensitive period for rudeness. This means they often say things without thinking about how they sound or say things without realizing it may hurt someone’s feelings. It can be challenging sometimes when it feels like the situations and disagreements caused by the things they don’t mean to say take more time to handle than the lessons we are teaching, but we know both are just as important as each other. We see the time it takes to talk through disagreements or to explain why you should phrase something differently pay off when we have visitors in our classroom. We have students carefully choosing their words and working to be role models to new friends around them. We see them taking their time to explain something to a new person and helping them through their frustrations. The students make sure to include someone new and ask them questions to learn more about them and make them feel welcome. Watching them in these moments reminds us to focus on the important things in life and the end goal of preparing them to be kind and helpful adults.

Our kindergarten visitors receiving a lesson about building different types of triangles using our Box of Sticks. This third grade friend explained how to build triangles with different sides and had the kindergarten students follow along with her. These students were able to complete the work on their own when she was finished!
This first year student is showing a kindergarten friend how to practice multiplication facts with our Snake Game. First they build a snake using bead bars, then count to ten, exchanging when necessary. At the end, they count by tens to find out their sum. Next, they find the multiples of the bead bars they have used and add those products together. If the sum of the products and the sum of the snake match, they are correct!
Our third year students are continuing to learn about the human body. This week, they learned about the lobes of the brain, the parts of a neuron, and built a model of the spinal cord (seen here). Their research from this week will be added to their human body model!
During the fourth year in our classroom, students study plant and animal cells. At the end of their study, they complete a 3D model of a plant or animal cell, making sure to include all of the parts of whichever cell they choose. These fourth year students have both completed animal cells. One student built theirs out of Rice Krispies while the other built theirs out of cake. Each student explained the parts of their cell model and what those parts do inside of our cells. At the end of their presentation, they filled out a rubric to show if they met the expectations for creativity, accuracy, and presentation. We ate the models afterwards!
Our second year students have spent the last few weeks building models of atoms with our Bohr Diagram. These students have built the model of dysprosium. They used the Atomic Number to find that the atom has 66 protons and 66 electrons. They then subtracted the Atomic Number from the Atomic Mass to find it has 97 neutrons! The second year students have set their own goal of building every element on the Periodic Table!

“A Peek at Next Week”

Next week, we will write the bibliography and rough draft for our Wax Museum research. Our Lower Elementary students will study the year and its parts, rainbow factoring, indirect objects, and the skeleton. Our Upper Elementary students will use Napier’s Bones to solve math equations, will change a number from its square to its cube, and will solve word problems.

REMINDERS:

  • Tuesday, February 12 -Orchestra Field Trip – this is a bus field trip and we will be eating lunch at school
  • Friday, February 15 – Student Only Valentine’s Party. Sign up to bring something here.
  • Tuesday 2/26 and Wednesday 2/27 – “Bring Your Parents to ‘Work Time'” sign up here.

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of January 21

Written by

This week our “Peek” was written by a few of our students! These students read our previous blogs, took pictures around the room, and filled in a blog template. The students did some editing together, and with a teacher, so what you will read below is their final product. There are still some misspelled words in their final product, but in a Montessori classroom we focus on the process, instead of the end result. Dr. Montessori believed when we put all of the emphasis on the final product, we devalue everything leading up to that point. This can discourage repetition which will make mastery of a skill difficult. The purpose of the students writing the blog is to provide you with a glimpse into the room through their eyes, to provide them with practice of real world skills, and to give them a deeper understanding of the materials in the room. We hope you enjoy their work!

“A Peek at Our Dissection Field Trip” by the Upper Elementary Students

Maddex

My favrit part is the dissecting lab. The hart was interesting with the different valves.

I pumpt pig lungs up with air.

Tyler

Two weeks ago we went to the Natural History Museam. I really liked the dissection of the heart.

Maddex and I cut a sheep heart. We learned the aorta connects to the atriums.

Camilla

We went to the Natural History Museam a couple weeks ago. We dissected a sheep heart, we went to different exhibits, and overall we had a lot of fun. We saw a model of the Australopithecene, Lucy. We also learned about our birth stones. That field trip was a fun and educational time for us four classmates to become better friends.

We had a lot of fun dissecting the sheep heart. We didn’t only learn about the heart, but plenty of other things about other things.

Ainsley

Two weeks ago, Maddex, Camilla, Tyler, and I went to the Cleveland Museam of History. It was so fun.

Camilla and I are observing the parts of the hart before we cut it open.

“A Peek at Next Week” by Ms. Ashley

Next week, the Lower Elementary students will practice multiplying with the snake game, will learn about direct objects in a sentence, will talking about inventions that prevent weather damage, and will read food labels. Upper Elementary students will reduce fractions to their lowest terms, use the negative snake game, talk about adverbials, distinguish between fact and opinion, and create-a-city. For our Wax Museum research, the Lower Elementary students will learn about the hardships of the person they are researching. Our Upper Elementary students will examine the character traits of their chosen person.

REMINDERS:

  • I will be out of the classroom Tuesday, January 29, to observe at the Cuyahoga Falls Campus. Please contact Ms. Marlee or Ms. Brandy if you need anything that day.
  • Saturday, February 9 – School Dance FUNdraiser
  • Tuesday, February 12 – Cleveland Orchestra Field Trip. This is a bus field trip. Students will be back to eat lunch at school so you do not need to worry about packing disposable items.
  • Monday, February 18 – NO SCHOOL – Presidents’ Day

A Peek at Our Week | Week of January 14 | Elementary

Written by

This week, our Wax Museum research is in full swing. Our first and second year students read books and articles to find when their person was born, when they died, what their childhood was like, who their family members were, and what they did as teenagers. Our third through fifth year students researched home and family, school and education, community, and work and play information for their chosen person. Some students are learning to cite sources for the first time to prepare for a bibliography! Next week, be on the lookout for a blog all about our Upper Elementary dissection field trip written by the Upper Elementary students!

This student is working on his “Word of the Week.” Each week, Upper Elementary students choose a word they think no one will know and draw an illustration showing its meaning. During Community Meeting the following Monday, they perform a skit to show what their word means. This student chose the word “immune response” because we started discussing viruses this week.
This first year student is working on his Personal Family Timeline. He collected the ages of all of his family members (and pets) then turned that information into a timeline from oldest member of his family to the youngest! Our timelines will be displayed in our classroom so students can learn about each other’s families!
This third grade child was so excited to learn to cross multiply a binomial on the Checkerboard. This lesson shows students how to multiply units times units, then both sets of tens times units, then tens times tens. Once they add up any beads they have carried, they will have their product. When he has had a lot of practice on the checkerboard, he will learn how to cross multiply abstractly, which leads to quicker mental math!
These second year students are working with our logical preposition game. They take turns reading a preposition card and finding the noun card that best completes the phrase. For example, if they have “from,” it could be completed with “East to West.” Some prepositions have many noun cards that would be a logical match, while others don’t. Making these pairs helps build vocabulary in writing and speaking.

“A Peek at Next Week”

Next week, we will all continue researching for the Wax Museum. Lower Elementary students will continue studying the preposition, will learn about cnidarians, will build atoms on the Bohr Diagram, and will study Jupiter and Saturn. Our Upper Elementary students will continue studying ancient civilizations and early humans, will learn about viral reproduction, and some will present experiments about energy and the Earth.

REMINDERS:

  • NO SCHOOL – Monday, January 21, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Tuesday, January 29 – I will be out of the classroom to observe our incoming kindergarten students. Please let Ms. Brandy or Ms. Marlee know if you need anything throughout that day.