Classroom News

April 11, 2014

 Dear Families,

 It looks like spring is here. A gentle reminder that kids should bring boots to school, as the playground still has snow on it and it is muddy out there. It is important for all students to have a second pair of footwear in the building so that we can keep mud to a minimum. Staying in at recess isn’t an option as kids need fresh air and they need to run around!

 Social Studies: We are continuing our study of the Middle Ages. Students have been working very hard on their reading and answering questions about their readings. I hope your child has started thinking about their castle assignment. The due date for the Castle Project assignment is May 16. Students have also been working in small groups to create an illustrated time-line of the Middle Ages. Working in small groups can be challenging. I am encouraging kids to assume positive intentions and to compromise. The time-lines are an in-class assignment. There is no at home work that kids need to do on this. I am amazed at the creativity going into their work. The time-lines are informative and are works of art!

 Math: In math, we finished up with area and perimeter of polygons. and are now on to circles. We began with some new math language for circles: radius, radii, diameter, circumference, and, of course, Pi. All of these words are key to our next unit. We will equate the value of pi as 3.14. Later on, remembering:
  May I have a large container of butter? 
might help students remember the longer number span of Pi used in high school and college math: 3.1414926. Ask your student how the question relates to that number. As for Pi, well, it is an irrational number, it has no pattern and mathematicians don’t think anyone has ever figured out the end of Pi. We also looked at a website that showed us the first 100,000 numbers in Pi. We have also been working with Arlyn on robotics. It is amazing to see kids outside of their comfort zone and using their math skills to program the robots to do what they want them to. Students are learning that it might take trial and error, patience, as well as, an understanding that we often have to try many times to solve problems.

 Literacy: We are having many great discussions about argument writing. It is important for students to know that they may have opinions, but if they can’t back them up with strong, solid evidence from credible sources, their opinion is weak. We will be working on argument writing for the rest of the year. We are also continuing to read, The Door in the Wall. The book uses great language of the Middle Ages. One of the words students came across was bannok, a quick bread that is rolled out in a circle and then cut into triangles before baking. We call them scones today. On Thursday, I brought some scones to share. We are also continuing to read our read-aloud, Crispin. Crispin is quite the sympathetic character who is on an incredible journey to gain his liberty. He is a young boy learning how to take charge of his own life.

 GRADUATION Slide Show: A letter was sent home today from Laurie Mekkelsen who is working on the 6th grade graduation slide show. She would like to have all pictures to her by May 9th. If you would like to help Laurie with the slide show, please contact her. For more specifics on the slide show please look for the letter your child has brought home.

 Have a great weekend. Ellen