News for the Week of December 14, 2015

Life Skill:  Patience

Quote:  Slow and steady wins the race.
                                     --Aesop

Captain's Table of "STAR" Students

(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)

                                                   Student                     Life Skill                           

1st Grade Math                           Sloane                         Effort
                             

2nd Grade LA                              Emma                        Caring
2nd Grade Math                           Kali                            Effort

3rd Grade LA                                Ella                          Courage
3rd Grade Math                             DJ                        Enthusiasm

4th Grade LA                                Luke                         Effort
4th Grade Math                          Brayden                      Effort

This Week In HA...

1st Grade LA

This week in first grade, the students wrote a summary sentence to describe the beginning, middle and end of the story, E-mergency, by Tom Lichtenfeld and Ezra Fields-Meyer.  Afterwards, they created a lipogram for each of the summary sentences.  When creating lipograms this week, the students chose to eliminate the letter "o" for the beginning summary sentence, the letter "a" for the middle summary sentence and the letter "i" for the ending summary sentence.  In doing so, we found that it was easier to create some lipograms than others.  Ask your child which letter it was easier to create a lipogram for.  Another type of writing we learned about this week was a panagram.  Panagrams are sentences that include every letter of the alphabet.  The most famous pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".  I have placed other examples of these to the right above.  Ask your child if he/she was able to create a pangram and tell you the sentence he/she created.  

With the holidays coming, we also took some time to write a holiday themed story and complete some fun word puzzles.  The stories that the students created were very funny as they explained who would fly Santa's sleigh instead of his reindeer, who were sick.  Ask your child to read you the story he/she compiled.

2nd Grade LA

Second grade students began completing a reading analyzer on chapter 4 of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  This tool is helping us gain greater understanding about this important chapter in the book.  In chapter 4, Pellegrina, Abilene's grandmother, told Abilene the bedtime story about the princess, who was very selfish, spoiled, and unloving and as a result was turned into a warthog by a witch because she had not learned to love others.  After being turned into a warthog, the princess was killed by the king's men, who had mistaken her for game in the forest.  Due to this turn of events, Abilene was extremely upset, as she wanted a happily ever after ending.  When Abilene requested the story to end happily, her grandmother, Pellegrina, posed the question, "How can a story end happily if there is no love?"  Ask your child to explain key words used in this chapter and describe feelings he/she became aware of as we discussed chapter 4 using our analyzer.  

Since we are approaching the holiday break, we took some time to write a holiday themed story and complete some fun word puzzles.  Second grade students also created some very funny stories about who would guide Santa's sleigh instead of his reindeer, who were sick.  Ask your child to read you the story he/she compiled.

3rd Grade LA

This week, third grade students went on a field trip to the Dunes Learning Center, therefore, we had a very limited amount of time to complete activities.  In the time that we had, the students listened to a story titled, The Legend of the Poinsettia, written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola.  After hearing the story, we discussed key story elements to assist the students in determining if the story was a myth, legend or tall tale.  Ask your child to explain the story and identify the type of story it was.  Afterwards, we played 4 Corners to work on identifying the parts of speech.  The students all had a wonderful time playing this game.  

4th Grade LA

In fourth grade this week, the students finished documenting their sources on the sources cited page and continued compiling the 10+ important events for their timelines.  Those students that had finished compiling their events moved on to begin constructing their timeline by typing up the events in the template provided in Google Docs.  Ask your child to show you how he/she is progressing using the Google Docs file we have created.  Please let me know if you are having difficulty accessing your child's account and I will be happy to assist you.  


Fourth grade also took some time to have some fun before the holiday break.  The fourth grade students were provided time to doodle and create some interesting pictures.  A great deal of fun was had by all as we shared our pictures.  

Building Vocabulary

The "Words of the Day" for this week are baffle and redundance.  Ask your child to define these words and use them in a sentence.  If he/she is unable to define these words, ask him/her to look them up in the dictionary.

1st Grade Math

First grade students continued working on coin identification and calculating amounts of coins needed to purchase items with different prices.  Then, we took some time to play Holiday Addition Bump.  This game was a lot of fun and required us to use our addition skills.  

2nd Grade Math

This week, second grade students learned that the Fibonacci Sequence is also called the Golden Ratio or Spiral.  If you take squares with the widths specified by the Fibonacci numbers, a spiral will form and go on forever, which is a situation termed by mathematicians as infinity.  Therefore, we learned that math shapes not only our world but the whole universe.  Ask your child to think of mathematical spirals or shapes he/she finds in nature.  Due to the 2nd grade festivities planned on Thursday, we were not able to have time to work the fun holiday themed math sheets and activities.  Therefore, we will complete them after the holiday break.  

3rd Grade Math

In third grade this week, the students completed another round of timed multiplication tests.  All of the students have passed the X 2's and X 3's at this point but there are several students, who have passed higher level multiplication tests.  Therefore, ask your child what level he/she is currently attempting to pass and practice these multiplication facts over the holiday break.  Afterwards, we played many fun multiplication games to continue to practice our multiplication facts.  One of the games you can play at home with your child is Multiplication War.  Ask your child to show you how to play this game.

4th Grade Math

Fourth grade students continued working on fractions but also took some time to work on fun holiday themed word problems and a logic puzzle titled, Ugly Christmas Sweaters.  Ask your child to explain the Ugly Christmas Sweater logic problem and how we solved it.  Also have your child try the following word problems involving fractions:

• If Mom made 30 gingerbread men and Owen ate 6 of them, what fraction of the cookies did Owen eat?  Reduce your answer to its lowest form.  
• If 8 people ate 32 slices of ham, what fraction of the ham did each person eat?  Reduce your answer to its lowest form.  

It has been a wonderful week in HA as we completed many activities along with playing some fun games prior to the holiday break.  I hope that everyone has time to enjoy the fun and festivities of this holiday season with family and friends during our winter break.  Happy Holidays to all!

Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School

News for the Week of December 7, 2015

Life Skill:  Flexibility

Quote:  If you are not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you
              won't see a different solution to a problem you are trying to solve.
                                                                               --Jeff Bezos

Captain's Table of "STAR" Students 

(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)

                                                   Student                     Life Skill                           

1st Grade Math                           Alyssa                   Perseverance                 
                             

2nd Grade LA                             Zachary                     Curiosity
2nd Grade Math                         Michael                  Perseverance

3rd Grade LA                                Sam                           Effort
3rd Grade Math                           Emma           Problem Solving/Courage
                                                     Rebecca                Problem Solving 

4th Grade LA                               David              Problem Solving/Caring
4th Grade Math                            Nick                           Effort      

This Week In HA...

1st Grade LA

In first grade this week, the students began a new unit, which involved deciphering the Spy Pie Cypher.  This cypher required the students to make connections between sections of a pie and locations marked with a dot within each section of the pie which corresponded to a specific letter to enable them to decipher the message.  We learned that we had to be very careful in determining the location of the dot as some of our deciphered words were incorrect but we were able to go back and correct our mistakes.  Afterwards, we learned about lipograms, which are written works in which a particular letter is purposely left out.  Ligograms have been created by writers throughout history and have allowed writers to play with words.  The students created a lipogram using the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill, by changing words in the rhyme with the letter "e" in them to other words without the letter "e".  We found this activity fun but challenging and determined that we needed to know many synonyms for words to assist us in rewriting the rhyme without words with the letter "e".  Ask your child to show you the lipogram she/he created for the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill.  After completing our lipogram activity, we read the book, E-mergency, by Tom Lichtenheld and Ezra Fields-Meyer.  Ezra is a 12-year-old boy, who Tom Lichtenheld collaborated with to write E-mergency after seeing Ezra's video, Animal House.  After reading, E-mergency, we watched Ezra's video.  Here is a link to the video for Animal House:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0LPfQLm4WA. I hope you enjoy watching this video with your child.  Ask your child to compare and contrast the Animal House video with the story, E-mergency.

2nd Grade LA

This week, second grade students reviewed the parts of speech and learned how to diagram a sentence.  We also discussed the parts of a sentence: the subject and predicate.  Ask your child to explain each of these terms.  Afterwards, we finished reading chapters 5 & 6 and learned that Abilene and her family had embarked on their voyage.  During the voyage, Abilene encountered two boys, Amos and Martin, while playing up on the ship's deck.  The two boys grabbed Edward and began tossing him around. As a result, Edward was thrown overboard by the two boys as Abilene tried to retrieve Edward from them.  The last thing Edward saw was Abilene shouting from the deck of the ship while holding his gold pocket watch that brilliantly glinted in the sun.  Meanwhile, Abilene watched Edward sink beneath the waves.  Ask your child to tell you about chapters 5 & 6 and ask her/him to predict what will happen next in our story.

3rd Grade LA

Third grade students finished reading Johnny Appleseed.  Then, we discussed the elements of the story and compared them with those we identified as being a part of myths and legends.  This discussion helped us to create a definition of a tall tale.  We defined a tall tale as an exaggerated, usually unreliable story and entered this definition into our genre flap book.  Ask your child to retell you the story of Johnny Appleseed and explain why this story is considered a tall tale.  After completing these activities, the students were placed in groups to read another tall tale.  Ask your child to give you the title of the tall tale she/he read and retell the story to you.

4th Grade LA

This week in fourth grade, we discussed how to cite the sources we used to gather our information and how to determine if the source is a credible one.  Then, the students continued working on completing their biography projects.  At this point, the students have completed the following steps and requirements involved:

1. Chose a person to research using a full-length biography.
2. Identified sources, which must include one primary source and 2 or more secondary sources.
3. Read the full-length biography and other sources and collected information using the biography summary and supporting documents.  

We have begun completing the following steps:

1. Creating a works cited page to acknowledge the sources utilized.
2. Creating a list of 10 of the most significant events in this person's life.

Ask your child how she/he is progressing with her/his project and determine if she/he has decided on a costume and props for their monologue.  Please let me know if I can help in obtaining any props or items necessary for the monologue. Last week, I created a file in Google Docs, which included the instructions for the project and forms we will be using to complete the biography project.  After your child set up her/his Google account this week, I shared this file with you to allow you to have access to the project information and enable you to view her/his work.  If you are having trouble viewing this file or did not receive an email indicating that this file was shared with you, please let me know. 

Building Vocabulary

The "Words of the Day" for this week were oust and grapple.  Ask your child to find these words in the dictionary and read you the definitions.

1st Grade Math

First grade students continued working on identifying and calculating the amount of groups of different coins.  Problems also included determining which coins are needed to pay specified amounts.  Have your child name the coins and their value on the following sheet before calculating the amount of the coins.

2nd Grade Math

In second grade, the students continued working on the Fibonacci Sequence.  We learned that Fibonacci, an Italian mathematician, was fascinated with numbers and repeating patterns and introduced the system of numbers that we use today.  In the activities we worked on, the students created many different sequences.  Ask your child to complete the following sequences:

                       3, _, _, 9, 15, _, 24, 39, _, _, 165
                         _, _, 4, 6, _, 16, _, _, 68, 110, _

3rd Grade Math

This week in third grade, the students continued working on mastering their multiplication facts by taking another timed multiplication test.  Ask your child how she/he is progressing with memorizing her/his multiplication facts.  Afterwards, we continued working on the multiplication unit from Ed Zaccaro's curriculum materials.  Have your child complete this multiplication word problem:

If 312 Bailly students buy 3 stickers each to slap on Mr. Zeck to raise money for Riley Hospital for Children, how many stickers will Mr. Zeck get slapped with in all?  How much money will Mr. Zeck have raised for Riley Hospital for Children if each sticker costs $.25 each?

4th Grade Math

Fourth grade students finished reading The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fractions Book along with completing some simple fraction problems while reading the book.  Then, we began applying what we learned by completing an activity involving equivalent fractions in the simulation of a real life situation.  We completed activities similar to those involved when cooking in the kitchen.  While you are cooking in the kitchen this weekend, ask your child to compare the fractions listed in your recipe's ingredient list and give you an equivalent fraction for each of the different fraction amounts listed in your recipe. 

This was a very busy but fun week in HA as the students learned many new concepts and information and worked very diligently to complete the related activities.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School

News for the Week of November 30, 2015

Life Skill:  Resourcefulness

Quote:  Think about what you can do with what there is.
                                            --Ernest Hemingway

Captain's Table of "STAR" Students

(STAR = Stop, Think, Act Responsibly)

                                                   Student                     Life Skill                           

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

2nd Grade LA                               Nate                           Effort
2nd Grade Math                           Jany                        Initiative

3rd Grade LA                               Alaina                         Pride
3rd Grade Math                          Rebecca                 Responsibility 

4th Grade LA                               Logan                       Integrity
4th Grade Math                           Jacob                        Initiative
                                                      Nick                         Integrity
This Week In HA...

**I have had several students express frustration and anxiety with activities presented in our HA units of study and become upset when they make mistakes or have difficulty with activities this fall.  As a result, I am concerned about the students' mindsets and understanding of the learning process.  Therefore, I shared the following concepts during classes where these incidents occurred and will be utilizing this information across all of my classes this next week:

I am sharing this information to enable you to discuss these concepts with your child.  Please also feel free to contact me if you have any concerns about your child.

1st Grade LA

This week in first grade, the students completed a vocabulary map for a word from our book on anagrams.  Then, we began working on rearranging letters in words to solve some anagram puzzles.  It was fun to see so many ways to rearrange a set of letters to enable us to create new words.  Ask your child to create some anagrams for you.

 2nd Grade LA

In second grade, we summarized chapter 2 of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane since the students read this independently over the weekend.  Ask your child to explain what "The Rosie Affair" and "The Vacuum Cleaner Incident" refer to.  After summarizing chapter 2, we continued reading chapters 3, 4 and part of 5.  Therefore, we know that Edward learned one night at dinner that the family would be taking a trip on the Queen Mary.  On the night he learned of the family's trip, Pellegrina, Abilene's grandmother, told Abilene a bedtime story about a princess.  In the story, the princess was a very selfish, spoiled, unloving person, who was turned into a warthog by a witch because she had not learned to love others.  As a result of being turned into a warthog, the princess was killed by the king's men, who had mistaken her for game in the forest.  Abilene was extremely upset by the ending of the story, as she wanted a happily ever after ending.  Pellegrina's response to Abilene's request for a happy ending came in the form of a question, which was "How can a story end happily if there is no love?"  The day after Pellegrina told Abilene the bedtime story, the family embarked on their voyage on the Queen Mary.  Ask your child to answer this question, explain his/her thoughts about the significance of the bedtime story told by Pellegrina and predict what will happen next in the story.

3rd Grade LA

Third grade students finished categorizing the nouns we identified last week in the excerpt from one of our myths.  As a part of this activity, we also reviewed the parts of a sentence.  Therefore, ask your child to explain the subject and predicate parts of a sentence and tell you some of the nouns that fall in the following categories:

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

Afterwards, we moved on to begin our next genre of study, which is the tall tale.  To begin this unit of study, we began reading Johnny Appleseed.  Ask your child to retell you what we have read so far in the story of Johnny Appleseed.

4th Grade LA

This week, fourth grade students began gathering information and completing the biography summary and supporting documentation forms, which will assist them in creating their timeline, power point slide and monologue.  Most of the students completed the biography summary page but the photos for the project were due this week and several students have not completed this step.  I informed the students that they can email me their photos if needed and I will print the photos for them.  Ask your child how he/she is progressing.  Please let me know as you assemble the monologue costume if your child is having difficulty compiling the costume and props he/she needs.  I have also created to a file in Google Docs, which includes the instructions for the project and forms we will be using to complete the biography project.  When your child sets up his/her Google account next week, he/she will share this file with you to allow you to have access to the project information and enable you to view their work.   

Building Vocabulary

The "Words of the Day" for this week were embody and liberate.  Ask your child to define them and use them in a sentence.

                                                                     

1st Grade Math

First grade students were introduced to a fantastic website called Sumdog.  This site provides students with the opportunity to learn math skills through the use of fun and interactive games, which they play against other students from around the world.  We had a great time working on math facts through the use of the game, "Junk Pile".  A letter explaining Sumdog was sent home this week and had your child's login/password information attached.  Therefore, ask your child to log in to his/her Sumdog account and show you how to play "Junk Pile".  

2nd Grade Math

This week second grade students, finished working on subtraction with regrouping.  Therefore, we moved on to a new unit of study in which we learned about the Fibonacci Sequence.  The Fibonacci Sequence is a series of numbers in which the next number in the sequence is found by adding up the 2 numbers before it.  For example:  0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34,... is a Fibonacci Sequence.  After learning how to create a Fibanocci Sequence, we completed math problems associated with this sequence.

3rd Grade Math

Third grade students continued working on mastering their multiplication facts by taking another timed multiplication test.  Ask your child how he/she is progressing with memorizing his/her multiplication facts.  Afterwards, we began Ed Zaccaro's unit on multiplication.  This unit involves word problems requiring students to multiply to calculate the answer to the problems.  Ask your child to complete the following math problem for you:

Isaac found that each step he took was 3 ft. long.  If Isaac took 1250 steps, how far did he walk?

4th Grade Math

Fourth grade students finished completing math problems involved in Ed Zaccaro's unit titled "How Much Change Should I Get?"  Afterwards, we took a pretest for our new unit on fractions.  This pretest measures the students' current knowledge on fractions and will be utilized to assess the students' progress when compared to the post-test at the end of this unit.  After completing the fraction pretest, we began reading The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fractions Book.  While reading the book, the students completed some simple fraction problems.  Ask your child to show you how to create fractions using a Hershey bar.  This is a fun and delicious way to practice fractions.

Welcome to December!  I can't believe we are nearing the end of the calendar year already.  This year has passed by so quickly but I am looking forward to engaging in some fun family traditions that accompany this part of the year.  Over the coming weeks, I hope that you also have time to enjoy some special moments and traditions with your family and friends.

Melissa Valtierra
High Ability Aide
Bailly Elementary School