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