Monday PE | Tuesday Out and About-Garden | Wednesday Art | Thursday Geek Out Open House 2:45-3:20 | Friday ART |
Important Dates March 22nd - Yearbook orders due & Geek Out Geography open house! Thursday, 2:45-3:20 March 26-30 - Spring break April 2nd -- Complete this Returning Student Form by April 2 to hold your student's space for 2018-19. April 3--Fernhill trip |
Goals: As a family, log on to your child's Google Classroom and ask them to share their new goal reflection. Talk about why reflecting on goals is worthwhile.
Writing: Spelling activity 1/ day.
Reading: The usual - read the newsletter as a family on Monday. Read a book of your choice the other nights, or catch up on lit circle if you fall behind.
Math: Daily math homework - check your child's agenda or contact teacher
Geek Out: Some kids are working on their Geek Out to be able to present on Thursday.
Project Work
We've been thinking deeply this week as to why certain proposals were discussed at the 1st and 2nd Continental Congress before the colonies gained independence. Trying to understand the proposals is one thing--being able to argue for or against the proposals is whole other challenging task! We learned from John Schrag, former editor of the News-Times ways to make persuasive speeches impactful, during a special O&A Wednesday afternoon. And, a highlight of the week was going to the Oregon Historical Society to check out Oregon's history with a special focus on immigrants to Oregon (History Hub) and checking out the exhibits in Oregon My Oregon.
Ask what are you arguing in the Continental Congress?
Talk about the different exhibits you liked at the Historical Society.
Extend the learning to see how persuasive techniques are used in political speeches.
Literacy
To go along with our historical debate, Merlins will start working on an argumentative writing piece--should kids be able to eat during class time. Kids are pretty passionate about their position on the topic. We won't finish the project before spring break, but we'll make some good progress. One aspect of this project will be that our last body paragraph will be trying to anticipate the other side's argument and refuting it. As readers, we continue to work on reading literature tied to the Revolutionary time period. I am hoping we can finish up our genre study this week--and kids may need to work on their response packet as writing homework.
Ask what's your position on eating during class?
Talk about how you think the book Chains will end.
Extend the learning by having a safe and positive debate at home about a topic of tension.
5th Grade Math
Between getting tests back and launching our geometry unit, our week of math flew by. On Monday, students were out in the courtyard hunting down geometric figures used in our school building. We used our observation skills to classify different quadrilaterals based on their properties, and will be applying our skills to a creative project this week.
Ask how is a rectangle a special kind of parallelogram? What shape has the right angles of a rectangle, but the equal sides of a rhombus?
Talk about how your 5th grader did on the test retake. Make sure to get your tests signed if you haven't yet!
Extend the learning by investigating which quadrilateral shapes are used in your home.
6th Grade Math
The highlight of the week was Kailey's lesson on Pi Day. Kids measured the circumference and diameter of round items. Unbeknownst to most of the kids, they had a mystery ratio on their hands. Circumference to diameter is 3.14! It was fun to see a lot of kids get several measurements close to Pi and eat some fun treats along the way. Those who got numbers far away from Pi could talk about measurement errors, calculation errors and the need to avoid silly mistakes. Plus, homemade pie always makes for a good day!
Ask what are some fun facts you learned about Pi?
Talk about the different items you measured and how close your ratio got you to Pi?
Extend the learning to see how Pi was discovered and how it's used.