The root of joy is gratefulness. It is not joy that makes us GRATEFUL, it is gratitude that makes us JOYFUL!                         -David Steindl-Rast

In a month of filled with Gratitude, I am thankful for all the students and families in our crew! Your support, encouragement and willingness to participate in our learning experiences create an optimal environment! Thank you for everything!

We continue to work on our Redcoats and Rebels expedition. Our learning targets in the second case study include:

  • I can examine how the quest for Independence has built and shaped America’s past.
  • I can explain how political, religious and economic ideas and interest caused chasms in the 13 colonies.
  • I can analyze the views, lives and impact of key individuals during the colonial time period.

The students have researched the many Acts and Laws that were imposed on the colonist and their reactions/consequences. We have created a class chant about the Sugar, Navigation, Quartering, Townshend and Stamp Act.

We have scoured our reading resources about the Revolutionary War and each student chose an article that appealed to them. Then we create our own Found Poems from these readings. This process was a great way to perform a Getting the Gist protocol to understand the complex text that they read.

A key individual that we focused on was Paul Revere and that he is most famous for alerting the Colonial militia to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s  poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”.

The students have danced weekly and have a few colonial minuets memorized. We are hard at work getting our final product together for Celebration of Learning. Start looking for Colonial era costumes for your child to wear!

Math:

First, thank you to all the parents who attended Math Night! We had quite a turnout. There were a lot of “Aha” moments and greater understanding of how in-depth the concepts we want our children to comprehend are formulated.

The 4th grade student are currently working on multi-Digit multiplication and early division. In this unit your child will multiply by 10, 100, and 1, 000, multiply 2-digit numbers, represent multiplication with arrays and ratio tables, divide with and without remainders and solve multiplication and division story problems.Using arrays and ratio tables helps students see why different strategies, including the standard algorithm, work. The array also shows why multiplying two 2-digit numbers yields an answer that is so much bigger than the two original numbers. This understanding, along with mastery of basic facts and a good sense of place value, ensures that students carry out the calculations accurately, efficiently, and with understanding.

5th graders are working on fractional relationships through equivalence, common denominators, and improper/ mixed numbers. Through learning different strategies to gain fluency in these concepts, students recognize common characteristics between fractions, money (factors to 100), and clocks (12).  Students continue to use problem strings as a vehicle to develop stronger understanding of the daily learning targets.  Friday quizzes continue each week, as daily note taking via the Cornell note method.