Life Skill: Problem Solving
Quote: There are two ways to deal with problems. Solve them or change your perception of them.
(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)
Student Life Skill 1st Grade Math Dante Curiosity
2nd Grade LA Keith Effort
2nd Grade Math Jacob Responsibility
2nd Grade Math Jacob Responsibility
3rd Grade LA Natalie Initiative
3rd Grade Math Isabella Caring
4th Grade LA Riona Initiative3rd Grade Math Isabella Caring
4th Grade Math Olivia V. Responsibility
This Week In HA...
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.
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
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:
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, ?
Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School
