It was wonderful seeing so many families at this year's KidFest! I hope you had a great time.
Important Dates and Reminders
Important Dates and Reminders
Our remaining library days are: 30; and May 14, 29.
Our remaining Walking Wednesdays are: April 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29.
April 29, 2013: Ohio Reading Achievement Assessments (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
April 30, 2013: Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
May 3, 2013: Field trip to Kelton House (Chaperons should be at school by 9:00.)
May 10, 2013: Walking field trip to Thompson Park to meet our Tremont pen pals (I would love as many volunteers as would like to come. Just send me an email. Students should bring a two liter of diet soda and one roll of Mentos. They should also pack a sack lunch with no peanut or nut products.)
May 11, 2013: Windermere Wish Run
May 27, 2013: No School: Memorial Day
May 29, 2013: Field Days (Please contact Mr. Moore if you are able to volunteer at adammoore@uaschools.org.)
What We Learned This Week
This week was primarily filled with review as we prepare for the Ohio Reading and Math Achievement Assessments.
Word Study
- I can identify a word as a noun, verb or adjective.
- I can use parts-of-speech to create a list of synonyms and antonyms.
- I can identify root words.
- I can identify prefixes and suffixes and understand how they change the meaning of the root word.
- I can identify the subject and predicate in a sentence.
- I can make supported guesses for the meaning of unfamiliar words using context clues.
Reading
- I can read for information.
- I can use the question in my answer to form a complete sentence.
- I can underline my evidence.
- I can use the text for spelling.
- I can identify the central theme/main idea.
- I can identify supporting details.
- I can compare and contrast reading subjects.
- I can take notes by identifying note worthy information and can record it in my own words.
Writing
- I can synthesize my notes on my famous woman research into a play.
- I can share study subject's contribution.
- I can present my research in a conversational way, rather than as if I were reading a report.
Math
- I can restate math questions in my own words.
- I can identify the important action words in a math question.
- I can show my work as a number model/sentence or a picture.
- I can label my answer in units of measure.
- I have entry points to solving problems: reread, restate, underline key words, use a chart, use a picture, use a number model, solve using multiple strategies, look at the answers in a multiple choice problem to help me understand the question.
Social Studies
- I can understand women's contributions to the history of our country and world.
- I can identify inequalities based on gender.
- I can share what I've learned through a play with a partner.
In celebration of Women's History Month and as a continuation of our earlier biography survey where we learned we knew little about women and people of color, we've been researching famous women and their contributions. This has been a very complex process where we started with immersing ourselves in the history of women's equality and the women's suffrage movement of the 1900's. We then researched many different women to come up with commonalities and guiding questions (What was their contribution? What was their risk/sacrifice? What would they do today to advance women's and others' equality?). Students researched one specific woman and began to write a short play with a partner. Through the students' conversation they reveal answers to our guiding questions and they teach the class using a more engaging process than writing and sharing a traditional report. This allows students who may struggle with reading and writing to leverage their verbal skills. It also allows high literacy students to be more creative and engaged than a traditional report would have allowed. We are still working on these and I hope we can wrap them up next week. They may not all be a success on the surface, but the process has been great and in the end students will have thought more deeply about their study subject and women's contributions than they would have otherwise.
Science
The eagle cam we've been watching in Colorado as part of our life science has been very interesting. The three babies are much larger than I would have thought and we're learning interesting facts. We've been able to watch the parents feed them as well.
The Columbus falcon cam was inactive for much of the winter, but there is a family now and the eggs should hatch any moment. You can actually hear peeping from inside the eggs. The weather is wet and cold so the parents are keeping the eggs covered so it may be hard to see, but nonetheless, very interesting. You can also hear much of the sounds and noise from downtown, cars, church bells, etc.
We wrapped up our physical science study with our soda geyser demonstration.
