News for the Week of November 23, 2015

Life Skill:  Courage

Quote:  You  must do the thing you think you cannot do.
                                                   --Eleanor Roosevelt

Captain's Table of "STAR" Students

(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)

                                                   Student                     Life Skill                           

1st Grade Math                             Ria                             Effort
                             

2nd Grade LA                              Emma                  Resourcefulness
2nd Grade Math                            Kali                          Initiative

3rd Grade LA                                Tony                     Responsibility              
3rd Grade Math                          Dakota                       Curiosity

4th Grade LA                              Michael                  Responsibility
4th Grade Math                            Jacob                        Courage  

This Week In HA...

1st Grade LA

This week in first grade, the students finished completing the 'Word Ladder" puzzles.  Afterwards, we created as many words as we could using the following letters:  P, T, O & S.  Ask your child to make a list of the words we created using these letters.  Afterwards, we moved on to our next unit involving a cypher, which required the use of a mirror to decode.  The message was written backwards and was reversed when placed before the mirror.  Then, we read the book, Ann and Nan are Anagrams:  A Mixed-Up Word Dilemma by Mark Shulman & Adam McCauley.  In the story we learned that anagrams are different words or phrases that have exactly the same letters.  Some examples of anagrams are:  peas - apes and bus-sub.  Ask your child to show you more anagrams.

2nd Grade LA

Second grade students completed a vocabulary map for the word, "journey".  Afterwards, we began reading chapter 1 of our novel, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and learned that Edward Tulane is a rabbit made mostly of china with an elegant wardrobe.  He was given to a 10-year-old girl named Abilene by her grandmother, Pellagrina.  Abilene and her family live on Egypt Street.  Each day, Abilene dresses Edward and places him in a chair with his pocket watch in his lap facing out the window looking onto Egypt Street.  This is where Edward spends the day waiting for Abilene to return from school.  Edward is a very arrogant, self-centered rabbit, who enjoys looking out at the stars through Abilene's window at night.  Ask your child to retell you what we have read so far.  Then, ask your child to predict what he/she thinks will happen next.  Before continuing our reading, we used our dictionary skills to look up key vocabulary words from the upcoming chapters.  Ask your child to look up the following words to continue to work on using a dictionary:  indignity, jovially, and zeal.  Your child should also be independently reading Chapter 2 of our novel this weekend.


3rd Grade LA

In third grade this week, the students created a flap book to organize the definitions for the different types of genre we will be covering this year.  So far, we have covered the myth and legend and entered information regarding these 2 genres in our flap book.  Afterwards, we began learning about nouns and defined a noun as a person, place, thing or idea.  To work on identifying nouns in sentences, we read an excerpt from one of our myths.  As we read the passage, we used different colors to identify each type of noun present in the passage.  The types of nouns we identified were as follows:

• Nouns that name people
• Nouns that name places
• Nouns that name things
• Nouns that name ideas

Ask your child to identify nouns in a short newspaper article and specify the type of noun identified.

4th Grade LA

This week, fourth grade students created a vocabulary map for the word, "biography".  Ask your child to explain how we created this map.  Afterwards, the students reviewed the parts of speech and discussed the subject and predicate parts of sentences.  Then, the students diagrammed some funny sentences.  Ask your child to diagram the following sentence:

The word, biography, contains Greek and Latin word roots.      

and tell you the part of speech that describes each of the words.  

The biography project to be completed by the 4th grade students was also explained this week.  Here are the steps and requirements involved:

1. Choose a person to research using a full-length biography.
2. Identify sources, which must include one primary source and 2 or more secondary sources.
3. Read the full-length biography and other sources and collect information using the biography summary and supporting documents.  Create a works cited page to acknowledge your sources.
4. Create a list of 10 of the most significant events in this person's life.
5. Create a legible and neat timeline to include: 
• 2 or more pictures,
• 10 or more of the most significant events from this person's life with dates measured at the appropriate intervals, which must cover the person's entire life, and
• 4 sources cited.
6. Write a monologue to include:
1. Events in the person's life with detail and clarity,
2. Insight to changes in the person's life, and
3. Exploration of the differences made by this person,
7. Create a power point slide that includes a photo of the person with his/her name, years lived and major contributions.
8. Present the monologue to your class dressed as this person, which involves:
1. Good eye contact, posture and voice,
2. Engagement of the audience,
3. Utilization of appropriate words, facial expressions and gestures, and 
4. Utilization of an appropriate costume and props.

At this point, all of the students have completed steps 1 and 2.  Your child should be gathering and printing photos and reading the resources that have been gathered in order to complete the biography summary and supporting documentation worksheets next week during class.            

Building Vocabulary

The "Words of the Day" for this week were clement and languid.  Ask your child to define these words for you and use them in a sentence.  

1st Grade Math

This week, first grade students continued to work on identifying the coins and their values along with figuring out the total amount of a group of coins.  Provide your child with a handful of change and ask him/her to identify each coin and its value.  Afterwards, have your child calculate the total amount of all of the coins.

2nd Grade Math

In second grade, the students continued to work on subtraction with regrouping.  This has been a difficult skill for the students to comprehend but we have all worked very hard this week to practice this skill.  Therefore, ask your child to complete the following problems as continued practice:

                    823             912             742
               -259            -694            -525



3rd Grade Math

In third grade this week, the students continued working on mastering the multiplication facts to 12.  Therefore, we took another timed multiplication test this week.  Ask your child if he/she has mastered the X 3 multiplication facts.  Afterwards, we colored and cut out the pieces for our Multiplication Sweets timed tests, which are needed to keep track of the levels as we accomplish each one.  

4th Grade Math

Fourth grade students began working on the next unit titled, "How Much Change Will I Get?"  In this unit the students learned how to make change and figure out the easiest way to make change for specified costs.  Ask your child to complete the following math problem involving these concepts: 

Virgil bought a guitar that cost $900 with his coin collection.  In his collection he had 1000 1/2 dollars, 1000 quarters, 1000 dimes, 1000 nickels, and 1000 pennies.  How much change will Virgil get?

I hope that everyone has time to relax and enjoy time with family and friends during this holiday weekend!  I know that I am looking forward to the feasting and festivities with my family.  Best wishes to all for a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School

News for the Week of November 16, 2015

Life Skill:  Integrity

Quote:  If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.
                                                  --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Captain's Table of "STAR" Students 

(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)

                                                   Student                     Life Skill                                           

1st Grade Math                           Sloane                    Enthusiasm     
                             

2nd Grade LA                              Aiden                       Initiative
2nd Grade Math                          Jacob                        Integrity

3rd Grade LA                               Logan                      Curiosity
3rd Grade Math                          Rebecca                     Integrity

4th Grade LA                              Olivia C.                  Flexibility
4th Grade Math                            Gage                    Responsibility

HA Parent News

Illinois Association for the Gifted:
**The Indiana Association for the Gifted (IAG) Conference is coming up in December in Indianapolis.  Three of the District's HA instructors will be attending this conference to gather wonderful information and new ideas about high ability learners and curriculum.  As a parent, you may also have questions about high ability learners and wish to gain more information.  If so, you may also attend this conference.  Therefore, I have attached the IAG Parent Night flyer along with the IAG parent link to assist you:

Parent Flyer:  http://www.iag-online.org/resources/ParentNight_2015_Flyer.pdf

IAG Parent Link:  http://www.iag-online.org/parents/information/

Great Math Ap:

Another thing I'd like to share with you is the free (Apple/Android) app called Bedtime Math.  This application offers a quick way to review real world math problems with your child before he/she goes to bed.  It's a great way to send a positive message about math without even saying anything!  The app has stories to read first, which are pretty interesting.  Then, the app breaks the questions down by levels:  wee ones, little kids, big kids.  You pick!   I thought it was worth passing on.  Enjoy!

This Week In HA...

1st Grade LA

First grade students finished analyzing The Disappearing Alphabet by Richard Wilbur using our reading analyzer.  We found that Richard Wilbur used some very interesting and complex words in his poem.  He also used words to convey a variety of feelings and ideas.  Ask your child to explain some of the words, ideas and feelings Richard Wilbur expressed in his poem.  Then, we learned that Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, loved words and created a game called "Word Links", which was later called "Doublets".  These word puzzles became very popular in England and are known today as "Word Ladders".  We began working on some of the "Word Ladders" this week.  Ask your child to explain how these puzzles work.

2nd Grade LA

In preparation for our novel study on The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, we looked up key vocabulary words in the dictionary.  Therefore, we learned how to use the guide words at the top of a dictionary page to find the word we were looking up.  To practice dictionary skills, ask your child to look up the following words from our story:  native, commission, and condescending.  Afterwards, we made predictions about our story based on the picture on the cover of the book and also discussed questions, such as, "Who is Edward Tulane?", "What does miraculous mean?", "What does a journey involve?",  and "How could a journey be miraculous?"  Ask your child to answer these questions for you and tell you what he/she predicts The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane will be about.  

3rd Grade LA

This week, third grade students finished retelling the myth they read to their classmates.  Each group was assessed on the following rubric:

• Included an introduction of characters and the problem
• Presented the retell in a logical order and understandable manner
• Included a conclusion
• Identified and explained the problem and solution
• Showed an understanding of what happened in the story

After the presentations were completed, we revisited our definition of and characteristics related to a myth.  We determined that a myth is a traditional story about the early history of a group of people, which explains natural or social events and involves supernatural characters and occurances.  After creating a better definition of a myth, we compared myths to legends.  Legends differ from myths as they are traditional stories that most people in a group believe to be true but can't be proven.  Ask your child to define the terms:  myth and legend.

4th Grade LA

In fourth grade this week, we finished reading Marc Brown's biography and discussed how he grew and changed during his life, the conflicts he experienced, and how he made a difference in the world.  Then, we chose a person for our upcoming biography project and wrote predictions in our journal about how this person changed and/or changed the world.  Ask your child the name of the person he/she chose to complete his/her project on.  Your child should be gathering photos of this person to bring to class for his/her project.  Afterwards, we explored different words with the prefix, "bio-" in them and made educated guesses about their definitions.  Ask your child to guess the definition of the following words and then look them up in the dictionary:

• biometric
• biology

Building Vocabulary

The "Words of the Day" for this week were venerable and maxim.  Ask your child to look these words up in the dictionary, read you the definitions and use them in a sentence.             

1st Grade Math

First grade students completed a place value activity to reinforce this concept.  We reviewed this concept as it was noted that the students had difficulty identifying the ones, tens and hundreds places in numbers as we completed our Coloring It on the 100's chart activity earlier this month.  Then, we moved on to review the value of the different coins before continuing to complete math problems involving identification of the amount of money represented and calculating the cost of items.  Ask your child to calculate the value of a handful of coins you give him/her.

2nd Grade Math

In second grade this week, we watched a video to help us learn how to complete subtraction problems involving regrouping as regrouping has been a difficult concept for them to master.  Then, the students created subtraction problems and solved them using regrouping.  Afterwards, the students moved on to problems containing monetary values to continue to practice subtraction with regrouping.  Ask your child to complete the following problems and explain how to regroup as they work the problems:

                                     $20.05                          $15.65
                                       -$16.25                        -$13.84

3rd Grade Math

This week in third grade, the students finished working on our unit titled, "How Much Change Will I Get?"  Afterwards, we began a new unit on multiplication.  We will be working on mastering the multiplication facts to 12.  Therefore, we took our first timed multiplication test this week to embark on this journey.  Ask your child if he/she has mastered the X 2 multiplication facts and encourage him/her to work on the X 3 multiplication facts.  

4th Grade Math

Fourth grade students finished our unit titled, "Don't Let It Break", and began the next unit titled, "How Much Does It Cost?"  In this unit, the students are presented with math problems requiring the calculation of the cost of items and determining which scenario presented is the best deal.  To practice the concepts contained in these units, have your child complete the following math problems:

1. The deck on the back of Jacob's house can hold 1300 lbs.  If he wants to invite some friends over for a deck party, how many 135 lb. people can his deck safely hold?
2. Gage's family is going to Disney World for spring break.  The family car can go 25 miles with one gallon of gas.  If gas costs $1.98 per gallon, how much will gas cost for the 2200 mile trip to Disney World?

Since the weather is becoming colder, we will all be spending more time indoors.  I hope that you have time to snuggle up on the sofa to read your favorite book, as well as, time to enjoy interacting with those you love.

Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School

News for the Week of November 9, 2015

Life Skill:  Pride

Quote:  Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although                     difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.  
                                                                           --Margaret Thatcher

Captain's Table of "STAR" Students 

(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)

                                                   Student                     Life Skill                           

1st Grade LA                           Emmersynn           Problem Solving
1st Grade Math                           Jessica                       Effort
                             

2nd Grade LA                              Logan                         Effort
2nd Grade Math                          Jacob                    Caring/Effort

3rd Grade LA                             Karalena                 Cooperation 
                                                      Luke                      Cooperation 
3rd Grade Math                          Dakota                        Effort

4th Grade LA                                 Ira                         Curiosity
4th Grade Math                           Owen                       Curiosity   

This Week In HA...

1st Grade LA

This week in first grade, the students completed their persuasive paragraph, which answered the question, "Do you think all first graders should learn Pig Latin?"  After completing our writing, we reviewed the grading rubric and assessed our paragraphs based on this rubric.  Ask your child to explain the hamburger graphic organizer and show you his/her persuasive paragraph and grading rubric.

Next, first graders moved into a new unit focusing on over/under cyphers.  We learned that the letters in the top row of this type of cypher are replaced by the letters underneath and the letters in the bottom row are replaced by the letters above them.  An example of this type of cypher is as follows:

After decoding our message using the over/under cypher, we read the poem, The Disappearing Alphabet by Richard Wilber.  This poem has the reader imagine what would happen if letters began disappearing from the alphabet.  For each letter, the author discusses the disasters that could occur should that letter disappear from our alphabet.  It is a comical look at graphemes in our language and the part they play in creating words.  Ask your child to create a coded message about The Disappearing Alphabet for you to decipher using the over/under cypher method.

2nd Grade LA

Second graders finished our discussion questions and completed the analysis of the Edgar Allen Poe poem, Eldorado, using our reading analyzer.  We also compared and contrasted the knight from the poem and the knight in the picture to the left using a Venn diagram.  Ask your child to explain some of the differences that we discussed between the knight pictured here and the knight from Eldorado.





3rd Grade LA

This week, third grade students worked in pairs to read a myth and determine critical details to include in a retelling of the myth for their classmates.  Once each pair had a cohesive summary of their myth, they determined how they would present their retell to their classmates and practiced presenting.  Each group also reviewed the grading rubric to be used in assessing their presentation.  Next week, the students will retell their myths to the class.  Ask your child to tell you about the myth he/she read and provide you details about the problem and solution contained in the myth.

4th Grade LA

In fourth grade this week, the students wrote a Cinquain poem using words formed from Latin and Greek word roots.  Once these poems are laminated, I will display them along with the interview paragraphs outside the HA classroom.  Come by and check out our budding writers.  Afterwards, we moved on to a discussion of the term "biography" and began reading a biography on Marc Brown, who is the author of the Arthur series of children's books.  Ask your child to tell you about his/her Cinquain poem and define the term biography.

Building Vocabulary

The "Words of the Day" for this week were supercilious and formidable.  Ask your child to look these words up in the dictionary, read you the definitions and use them in a sentence.  

                                                                     

1st-3rd Grade Math

Students in 1st through 3rd grade continued working Unit 4 of Ed Zaccaro's math curriculum titled, "How Much Change Should I Get?  We learned how to make change and figure out the easiest way to make change for specified costs.  Ask your child to complete the following math problems involving these concepts:

1st Grade - If Stephanie buys a pet mouse for $12.50 and gives the clerk a $20 bill, how much change will she get?
2nd Grade - Belinda bought a bag of dog food for $5.10.  She gave the clerk $6.25.  How much change will she get?
3rd Grade - Dave bought a rag doll for $8.47.  He gave the clerk $10.02.  How much change will he get?

Another way to assist your child with practice of these skills is to have him/her purchase a few items for you with a $20 bill the next time you are at the grocery store.

4th Grade Math

Now that the fourth grade students have completed "What's the Next Number? activities, I introduced our next unit developed by Ed Zaccaro titled, "Don't Let It Break".  In this unit, the students are to use math to determine when things will break.  We discussed why it would be important to know about weight limits and how this impacts our safety.  Have your child figure out the following math problem from this unit for you:

A bridge has a sign by it that says it can safely hold 5 cars that each weigh 3000 pounds.  If no cars are on the bridge, how many 150 pound people can safely stand on the bridge?

We have had a very busy week in HA and learned many new concepts.  I hope everyone has time this weekend to rest and relax to prepare for our continuing journey to distant shores of learning this year.

Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School

News for the Week of November 2, 2015

Life Skill:  Problem Solving

Quote:  There are two ways to deal with problems.  Solve them or change your perception of them.

Captain's Table of "STAR" Students 

(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)

                                                   Student                     Life Skill                                       1st Grade Math                           Dante                       Curiosity                               

2nd Grade LA                              Keith                           Effort
2nd Grade Math                          Jacob                    Responsibility

3rd Grade LA                              Natalie                      Initiative
3rd Grade Math                          Isabella                       Caring

4th Grade LA                               Riona                        Initiative
4th Grade Math                          Olivia V.                Responsibility    

This Week In HA...

1st Grade LA

First grade students began a lesson on Pig Latin.  We discussed how words in Pig Latin are formed and listened to the folk singer, Lead Belly, sing a song in Pig Latin.  Then, we sang the song ourselves. Afterwards, we completed activities which involved translating words into Pig Latin.  Ask your child to speak a sentence or two in Pig Latin. You can also have fun writing sentences and translating them to pig latin at the following link:  http://funtranslations.com/pig-latin.

This week, in preparation for the upcoming writing assignment, the students completed an activity in which they needed to identify the topic sentence for a paragraph.  Then, the students learned about graphic organizers in the form of a hamburger model.  Therefore, we worked on learning how to utilize this type of graphic organizer to organize our thoughts in preparation for writing a persuasive paragraph.  Our question was:  "Should all first graders learn to speak Pig Latin?"  So far, we have begun to complete the hamburger graphic organizer to respond to this question.  Ask your child to tell you how to use the hamburger graphic organizer.

2nd Grade LA

In second grade this week, the students read the poem, Eldorado, by Edgar Allen Poe.  After reading the poem, the students were to write about what they thought the poem was about in their journal.  At this point, many of the students were unsure of the meaning of this poem.  To assist them in comprehending and sorting out critical information, we completed a reading analyzer together.  The reading analyzer helps students ask important questions about what they have read and dig deeper into the meaning and feelings the author is trying to convey.  After completing the reading analyzer, we reread the poem and then watched a video about the poem.  The students reported that they understood the poem more clearly after watching the video.  Ask your child to tell you the story and meaning behind this poem. You can watch the video with your child by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqHaKcpKR-s

3rd Grade LA

Third grade students were asked to journal their thoughts about the following quote:  "Aim for the

stars: if you fall short, you will land on the moon," by an unknown author.  The students were able to interpret and convey the meaning of this quote in their writing.  Afterwards, we began a new unit this week on myths and legends.  This week, we read and discussed stories created by early civilizations to explain the creation of the world.  In doing so, we learned that myths are traditional stories about the early history of a group of people.  These stories explain natural or social phenomenon and involve supernatural beings and/or events.  Ask your child to explain the quote and define a myth.

4th Grade LA

This week in fourth grade, the students continued working on understanding and identifying Latin and Greek word roots.  We also discussed how the English language has changed over time and and continues to change as new advancements in technology have added new words to our language.  After discussing Latin and Greek work roots, the students had to create 3 new words of their own.  Ask your child to tell you the words he/she created.   

Building Vocabulary

The "Words of the Day" for this week are embark and predicament.  Ask your child to define these words and use them in sentences.

1st Grade Math

This week, first grade students finished the Color It on the 100's chart activity, which revealed a picture of Dracula.  Afterwards, we began working on a unit titled, "How Much Does It Cost?".  In this unit, the students were presented with math problems requiring the calculation of the cost of items and determining which scenario presented was the best deal.  We will continue to work on this unit next week.  Have your child rework this problem we completed in class and explain their calculations to you:  

Which is a better deal, 4 pet alligators for $20.00 or 5 for $24.00?

2nd & 3rd Grade Math

Second and third grade students completed our unit titled, "How Much Does It Cost?"  We continued to learn how to solve math problems requiring the calculation of the cost of items and/or determining which scenario presented was the best deal.  Ask your child to explain the following math problem to you:

2nd Grade - At Sea World, it costs $2.50 to see the dolphin show.  What would it cost for a family of 5 people to see the dolphin show?
3rd Grade - Which is the best deal, 5 candy bars for 80 cents or 4 candy bars for 60 cents?

After completing the "How Much Does It Cost?" unit, second and third grades moved on the another unit involving money titled, "How Much Change Should I Get?".  In this unit, the students are required to solve math problems to determine the change to be received in a transaction.

4th Grade Math

In fourth grade this week, the students continued to complete the Afterschool Activities logic puzzle. This time, we found that we had accurately identified all of the components of the puzzle. Ask your child to show you his/her puzzle and explain how he/she determined his/her answers. After completing this logic puzzle, fourth grade students began working on a unit titled, "What's the Next Number?", which are math activities created by Ed Zaccaro, who has a master's degree in gifted education and has taught students of all ages.  His goal is to make math fun and challenging with his unique sense of humor.  Therefore, we are using activities taken from his book titled, Primary Grade Challenge Math, which offers a higher level of math materials and goes beyond calculation skills.  The activities are designed to introduce complex math skills to gifted learners and instill a deeper level of mathematical understanding and thinking skills in young children while nurturing a love of mathematics.  The unit on "What's the Next Number?" requires students to identify patterns within a sequence of numbers.  The students had to determine how each successive number changed and apply this rule to determine the next number in the pattern.  Have your child give you the next number in the sequence of numbers in the following math problem:

2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, ?

What a week of beautiful weather we have had.  Welcome to November!  I hope that everyone enjoys the long weekend and time to relax and engage in whatever you enjoy doing most.


Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School