Hello Crew Families!

We have kicked off our spring expedition, The Secret of the Spheres! Our first case study will be about our atmosphere. We will identify the elements that make-up our air, the different levels/layers that create our atmosphere, and analyze the chemistry of the atmosphere. We will also study the weather and what layer it develops in, and how weather systems travel. Another piece to our case study will be exploring how the earth is a closed system except for the energy from the sun.

The students are reflecting on their fall academic, character and HOW’s goals. We are creating new goals or revisiting former goals. Expect to have a goals setting sheet to come home and please take time to go over this with your child. Please remember to sign up on our google doc goal setting page.

“This camp is a forge for the army; it’s testing our mettle. Instead of heat and hammer, our trials are cold and hunger. Question is, what are we made of?”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

We finished our all class read of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. The students loved it and begged to get the next book in the series, Forge. We have started reading the second book of the trilogy and have created book club groups. I just admire the respect, intensity for reading a challenging book and love the kids have for this series. It has really taken to our hearts and we cannot wait to hear what happens next to the characters!

4th grade math is deep into our fraction unit. We have explored fractions with hands-on manipulative such as egg cartons, money and grids.   The students have learned how to make improper fractions as well as figuring out equivalent fractions. We have made the transition into creating fractions into decimals. The students can identify denominators and numerators and convert fractions to decimals and vice versa. We are correspondingly learning about how to represent decimal numbers with digits to the hundredths place using place value models and fraction equivalents.   With this, we have also learned how money relates to fractions and decimals. We will continue with fractions and decimals with comparisons of each and expressing them with denominator 10 as an equivalent fraction with denominator 100.   The students are similarly working on making sense of problems and persevering (grappling) to solve them. We now have a grapple problem each week and I am trying to convey that it is okay not to know the answer right away and encourage perseverance. It has been a hard transition, most students want to find the answer right away or ask me for help but I think they are beginning to understand this process of grappling and the importance of it.

5th graders are currently working on launching their Vacation of a Lifetime project.  This is a fantastic exploration of developing expense reports for planning a vacation of their choice.  The project involves number sense of decimals and real numbers, as well as real life application.  The kids are very excited!  Our daily Bridges curriculum currently is focusing on Unit 3 Module 4: Division and Area Model.  Students will continue to investigate the area model for division, taking up where they left off at the end of Unit 1 (spiraling).  The Unit 3 assessment is set for next Wednesday, March 4th.

This spring will be so exciting filled with hands-on learning, off site field work and ending with a great experience in Monterey. We will need field work drivers March 10th and April 24th as well as our big 4 day field work to Monterey. There is another date in the works for a trip to Discovery Museum in Reno. Please look forms and information to come home soon for all field work!

Looking forward to a great Spring!

Mrs. Akers