Appreciation and Superheros!

Thank you so much for showing appreciation this week.  It truly is a pleasure each and every day to learn with your children.  This profession brings me such joy and truly is my “dream job”.  

Gr3 Math - Schoolcraft: This week third graders began investigating polygons using a variety of tools and activities.  The students examined examples and nonexamples of rectangles and shared observations about the attributes of a rectangle to determine what distinguishes them from other quadrilaterals.  

Gr4 Math - Weegar:    Fourth grade mathematicians reviewed the terms area and perimeter.  Then they worked together to generate a formula for determining the area of rectangles and squares.  In the process, they have an opportunity to see and handle a square inch and a square foot.  Then they applied the information as they worked in pairs to find the area and perimeter of various items around the classroom.

Gr3 Writing - Stewart:    This week Grade Three writers have been studying Fairy Tales in order to learn characteristics of this genre and of narratives more generally. Each writer has chosen one tale to adapt by changing the character, an event or the message.  We notice often when you change one thing, other details of the story must also change.  Students are rehearsing their stories using familiar strategies such as  writing in the air (storytelling), sketching scenes or acting them out.   Please ask your child to tell the first two scenes of their adaptation to you beginning with, “Once upon a time…”

Gr4 Writing - Ward:   Grade Four writers are carefully editing past and present pieces of writing to prepare a delicious selection of restaurant reading for you.   The core writing idea has been revision with the lens of removing redundant words by using a thesaurus to modify sentences with new words and phrases.   The goal is for strong sentences that use the active voice to relay information or story.   Ask your writer the meaning of the word ‘redundant’ . . . then ask her/him again!   ;)   

Core Reading - Weegar:   We continued our adventurous read aloud “Seraphina and the Black Cloak”.  There was nonstop action and we loved making predictions and inferencing using both TodaysMeet and Google Classroom.  By using technology to record our thinking, we were able to share all of our ideas and come to a consensus about what we thought would happen next.  This has been a book that has hooked ALL of our readers!  We are so excited to decorate the classroom as the Biltmore Mansion (the setting of the novel) for our upcoming (May 26th) Learning Restaurant.  

Ask About - Equinox:    Four Winds Nature Science about Plant Defenses, New Exploratory Groups, May the Fourth Be With You, Treasure Island Sterling Play, Learning Restaurant Ideas, SUPER HERO DAY!!!