Thursday, August 30, 2012

Levers, Pulleys, and Gears, Oh My!

Reminders and Important Dates:

Thursday Folders & Reading Logs Due Tomorrow

Friday, August 31 - Early dismissal - 12:00pm

Monday, September 3 - Labor Day - No school!

Tuesday, September 11 - Picture Day

Friday, September 14 - Early Dismissal - 2:10pm

Life in Division III is picking up steam!  Students began transitioning to World of Math and Art of Language classes this week, and have started working on projects in those core classes as well as started exploring mechanisms and simple machines.  

Dr. Ricotta's students have named the African Dwarf frogs who reside in her classroom "Merlin" and "Gandalf" after characters in their current read-aloud, "The Hobbit.  


Students in her classroom are earning pebbles to fill a jar based on social behavior per day.
Students chose pajama day, treats, movie, game day, and crafts as class incentives.
So far, Dr. Ricotta's students have earned 12 pebbles this week!

Ms. Brown's class began working toward similar goals with a "virtual" marble jar that is housed within our SMART Board software.  Students earn marbles by going above and beyond, demonstrating good leadership skills and practicing the FISH! Philosophy.  

LifeSkills

In LifeSkills this week, we've discussed how we often have the same feelings as others when we find ourselves in similar situations, sometimes experiencing multiple feelings at the same time.  We're not as different as we think we are, and we can empathize with one another.  We've created social contracts in our homeroom classes as well, and are working to create our contracts in other classes this week and next.  Dr. Ricotta has successfully completed the social contracts for all three of her classes--homeroom, math and language arts!

World of Math

Students have jumped headfirst into World of Math, reviewing both procedures and concepts.  Unit 1 Family Letters will be sent home in the second section of each student's binder along with any home links or other practice needed.  Look for these letters as new units begin every few weeks. 

Dr. Ricotta sent home emails on Wednesday afternoon providing additional information to families and introducing herself and giving an overview of her year in World of Math This letter can also be found in the forums on the AcademyACL website under her name. 

If you have questions about goings on in the World of Math, please email your child's math teacher.

Art of Language

In Ms. Brown's Art of Language, students are beginning a research and writing project to highlight both non-fiction reading skills and academic writing.  The big topic is "nutrition."  Right now students are focusing on developing skills to help them locate and comprehend information in informational text using specific text features and structures.

Students will choose a nutrition topic they would like to explore and will be reading to locate information using multiple texts and articles and then turning that information into a piece of academic writing to be included in a book about nutrition created by AcademyACL students for other children!  Students are already excitedly discussing what topics they want to explore and considering where to find resources.  More information on this will be provided to families shortly explaining ways they can support their student during this project.

A first quarter syllabus will be emailed to Ms. Brown's Art of Language families this weekend and will be posted in the forums under her name.

Dr. Ricotta's class is currently focusing on non-fiction writing. Students have started exploring the writing process by "writing what they know!"  They are composing five-paragraph essays on animals on which they consider themselves to be experts.  A note from Dr. Ricotta for her Language Arts class went home Wednesday afternoon and can be found in the forums under her name.

Ms. Burns' class is also studying informational text features, locating them in newspapers and magazines, creating reference pages for themselves.  

Words Their Way spelling will begin coming home in the third section of students' binders soon.  Please cut these out and keep them at home for practice.  In Ms. Brown's class, several students will begin studying Greek and Latin roots as part of their word study, while others continue to master spelling patterns and derivational spelling. 

Daily two-minute edits and four-level sentence analyses using the Michael Clay Thompson analysis framework have started as well.  Students are quickly learning the eight parts of speech, to identify the parts of a sentence, types of phrases, and clauses, as well as how all of these things work together to improve our writing.

Inquiry

Students are exploring mechanisms and simple machines on a deeper level, determining how they work together so that everyday objects do their jobs.  They've created a model of a mechanism on a 1:3 scale!  This project has been amazing to watch.  It required teamwork, planning, and perseverance, as well as exceptional levels of creativity as students were using very basic materials to create this particular mechanism!  

On Friday before they go home for the day, students will be introduced to the Rube Goldberg Project, which will be the culminating event for this unit and be featured in our Mechanisms Fair to be held on the 28th of September.  Paperwork and more information, including rubrics, will go home with students on Friday in their binders as well as posted in the forums for download.

Planners

Please continue reviewing planners with your students nightly.  At the beginning or end of each class period, students are recording the lesson's objective, and should be able to provide you with additional details about what they are learning.

Knightly Reading Logs

Knightly Reading Logs went home on Monday with students and must be returned with Thursday folders on Friday morning.

Thank you for your continued support of Division III students!

~Ms. Brown, Mrs. Burns, Dr. Ricotta, and Miss McDonough



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