NEWSLETTERS | intelem

March/April 2017

Hello Families,

We have been diving right into our new hub, The World Below. We started with a review of animals and habitats. We studied the types of living things on earth--producers, primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers, scavengers, and decomposers. Be sure to check out our food chains in the hallway. The kids researched and illustrated each part of a particular food chain. We have just finished our birds and butterflies investigation. Be sure to check out facebook for great photos of some of our learning adventures. We will revisit our study of birds in May with a service project about some fellow residents in need, the Golden-Cheeked Warbler, and a field trip to the Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Refuge!

This week we will be moving from above ground to underground with an ooey-gooey earthworm investigation. We will be conducting all sorts of experiments ,as well as learning about vermicomposting and creating one of our own for the school grounds. Be sure to look out for a sign-up email regarding supplies needed.

Please Mark your calendars:

April 10th - Video Arcade Games Presentation Day 2:30 - 3:30

April 17th - No Classes - Teacher In-Service Day

April 26th – Longhorn Caverns Field Trip - Details to come

May 1st – May 5th – Teacher Appreciation Week

May 3rd – Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Refuge Field Trip - Details to come

May 5th or May 12 (save both dates) – Middle School Dance and Class Party

May 14th – Mother’s Day (Sunday)

May 18th – Hub Presentation Day! More Details to come

May 19th and 20th - Enchanted Rock Camping Trip - More Details to come

May 22nd - May 24th - Portfolio Days!

May 25th - Last Day of School/Yearbooks, Student Talent Show and Picnic

February, 1017

Hello Families,

What a busy, busy month we are having! Here is the lowdown:

Science/Hub

We started the month off learning about the different cloud formations and then moved onto the phases of the moon. If you ask any of the kids I think they would say that creating the moon phases out of Oreos was definitely the highlight! Next, we moved onto the solar system and learned the order of the planets. Currently we are investigating the differences between the planets of our solar system. Each student has chosen a particular planet to research and learn about the size, composition, atmosphere, temperature, length of 1 day and 1 year in Earth years, moons, distance from our Sun and Earth, and other fun facts.

The students will be creating a model of their chosen planet with homemade 3-D paint, and presenting their research at the upcoming hub presentation (More info coming soon).

Language Arts

We began our new guided reading book study-a biography of Helen Keller. To better understand the difficulties Helen Keller had to overcome, the students participated in a partner simulation activity where they took turns playing the role of Helen, a deaf, blind, and mute child; and the role of Annie, Helen's teacher. Trying to get your blindfolded partner to sit crossed leg or to do jumping jacks, without any sort of spoken direction, is a lot harder than it looks!

During our book study we will be tackling many different concepts such as analyzing cause and effect, using context clues to understand new words, making inferences and predictions, and using figurative language as a literary device.

Math

I will be sending the students' workbooks home on Thursday so you can get a first hand look at your child's progress thus far.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to teach such a hardworking group of children! I look forward to their excited smiles every morning. :)

January, 2017

Salutations,

Happy New Year! Thank you so much for all the wonderful holiday goodies, gift cards and homemade cards from my students. My heart was warmed! Looking back at December, our final hub presentations were a huge success. I have never seen a group of kids work as hard as these kids.

Day after day we worked fervently to make the most of our projects. The amount of knowledge applied to create every aspect of their country was outright amazing. I think this project will be one forever in their memory. I know it will be in mine! The projects will be uploaded to each student’s portfolio along with a project rubric.

Subject updates:

Math—each math group is starting a new workbook. We are in the review stages now but soon will be off and running.

Language Arts—We will be wrapping up our novel study of Charlotte’s Web for the next couple of weeks. For the final project, the students will be creating a digital storyboard summarizing the plot on storyboardthat.com. Next, we will be moving into the genre of biographies/autobiographies reading about Helen Keller. The students will each need a copy of Helen Keller by Margaret Davidson by January 30th.

Hub—We have been getting ready for the upcoming NASA field trip by a quick study of forces and motion. The students are learning about Newton’s Laws with plenty of hands-on activities. Next week will begin our second hub, The World Above. The hub is broken up into 2 spokes—Earth’s Atmosphere and the Solar System. We will start the hub off with a study of weather where we will be building a weather station. We will also be learning about the water cycle--evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation and accumulation.

Important Dates:

Charlotte’s Web field trip – Wednesday, January 11th.

PTA Meeting – Wednesday, January 11th at 2:45.

NASA – January 13th – see Kori’s emails on Friday’s Schedule

January 16 – Martin Luther King Day – No Classes

December, 2016

November has flown by! I guess time flies when you are having fun! We finished up our government studies just in time to begin our final hub project. In small teams, the students are creating the geographical, governmental, and cultural features of their very own country. Pure excitement is in the air! The teams will be presenting their amazing creations at the Passport to a World Beyond family event on Monday, December 19th at 1:30pm.

Our Charlotte’s Web book club is coming along beautifully. The children have been learning new vocabulary, describing settings and characters’ feelings, and discovering the science behind spiders and their webs. We even were able to weave our own little webs! In addition, I am excited to announce that we will be attending a production of Charlotte’s Web on Wednesday, January 11th at the Zachery Scott Theatre in Austin!

To celebrate the holidays, Tuesday, December 20th will be a hot cocoa and pajama day. The students would also like to have a Secret Santa book exchange. We will draw names on Monday, but, shh, keep it a secret. Please have your child bring their Secret Santa book on Dec. 20th wrapped, with just the receiver’s name on the gift tag. We are going to play a game to try to guess who the Secret Santa is for each child. Books under $15 with a Newbery or Caldecott medal are recommended.

Check out the super cute photos from some of our November activities!

November 4, 2016

What an exciting month October has been! I can't believe it is already November. Below are the highlights of our October studies and a list of important dates.

Language Arts

Writing--Our students did an amazing job writing a one-paragraph essay answering the prompt, "If I Were President.....". We worked on writing introductions and conclusions, elaborating on our ideas, and using transition words to improve the flow. I certainly would vote for any of these aspiring politicians!

Grammar--We learned how to distinguish plural nouns from possessive nouns. We also used our 5 senses to describe nouns during our adjective investigation. We topped it off with an outdoor adjective scavenger hunt.

The students just loved learning

about adjectives through nature

and exploration!

Reading--We started our Charlotte's Web guided reading groups. Guided reading is an instructional model where students meet in small groups to practice oral reading fluency and to discuss literary elements, comprehension, and vocabulary. This past week we discussed setting and practiced recalling facts and details. Next week we will be learning about cause and effect. **Note: On the weekend, students will need to complete the vocabulary sheet before they read the assigned chapters. To avoid confusion, please do not read ahead.

--We also started a new read aloud book, The Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. We have a daily read aloud session after recess where I read aloud a novel while modeling comprehension strategies. After I have read, the children reflect about the day's reading in their reflection journal. I prefer students to not read the read-aloud book on their own until after we have finished the book. This is to avoid any accidental spoilers that may slip out in front of the other students.

Geography-- The students have had so much fun learning about the different regions and states in America. This week we are having our last regional quiz. Next week we will have a combined quiz over the Southern and Midwestern states and the following week we will have a combined quiz over the Western and Northeastern states. The grande finale will be a big quiz over all the states combined!

Hub--We have been learning the story of our nation's independence as well as the writing of the U.S. Constitution. This led to a brainstorming session where we translated the complicated wording in the Preamble into words that we can understand. Next week we will be learning about the branches of our government and hopefully have time to investigate other types of governments found around the world.

Science--Halloween Science Day was a blast! The children learned about sublimation by observing frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) transitioning from a solid directly to a gas, bypassing the liquid phase. They also had a ton of hands-on fun engaging in some exciting dry ice activities.

Math--Yellow: We have been working on fractions and elapsed time and will be moving on to capacity this week.

Green: We have been working on improper fractions and mixed numbers and will be moving onto multiplying and dividing fractions this week.

Purple: We have been working on measurement and just started multiplication. They are so excited to be multiplying!

Important Dates

McKinney Falls Nov. 11th Camping Trip - see Kori’s email for more details

November 9th – PTA Meeting at 2:45 pm

November 17th – Thanksgiving at LTSA 2pm ( see notes below from our previous ideas)

November 18th – No Enrichment Classes

Thanksgiving Break – November 21 – 25th No School, No Enrichment Classes

October 7, 2016

Wow! What an incredible first month we have had! Listed below are a few of the highlights of September.

Language Arts

Raz-Kids--We began our leveled reading program. The students read books at their assessed level, recall their reading, and answer comprehension questions. Students level up after a running record reading assessment. It is a great help in the classroom! The opportunities for differentiation are plentiful! Please remember to download the app for your child.
Spelling--Our spelling curriculum is off to a good start. These past weeks we have been working with words with the same vowel sounds in both 5th and 3rd grades. In the coming weeks, third grade will be focusing on words with a silent e and homophones. Fifth grade will be focusing on more words with the same vowel sounds and contractions.
Read Aloud--We are very close to finishing A Wrinkle in Time. The students are excited to learn what happens to their favorite characters. We have been working on character sketches of Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace. We have also been discussing making inferences and predictions throughout the story.
Writing--We have been integrating writing into our read aloud and hub activities throughout the month. Now we are working on the steps to writing a paragraph while integrating our next spoke with the prompt-If I were president.....
Grammar--Both groups have been learning about concrete and abstract nouns, and subjective and objective pronouns. The students also have working on daily editing activities with the daily language arts program we started at the beginning of school.

Math

Green Group--Fractions are being conquered by our older students. I am so proud of their hard work!
Purple Group--We just finished addition with renaming and are now working on subtraction with renaming with much success!
Yellow Group--We sped through our addition and subtraction review and are now speeding through multiplication. I just can't keep up with this group! :)

Science

Before we started working on hub we had a couple of weeks to explore the wonderful world of atoms and molecules. The students learned how atoms and molecules behave in the different states of matter. We also learned about molecular equations and even built models of a few with legos. The students couldn't get enough of this!

Hub

Our first spoke project of the hub, A World Beyond, focused on how engineers and scientists use the engineering design process and the scientific method to create innovations that can better our world. The students were absolutely amazing! Their eagerness and enthusiasm to learn was astounding. The two projects were about:

A smart collar to help endangered wolves
A magnetized fish hook to deter sharks

The students are excited to show the video of their presentation during their portfolio review at parent conferences!

For our next spoke we will be learning about the different forms of government from around the world as well as the ins and outs of the U.S. government. We also will be investigating the election process to get ready for the big election in November. I decided this would also be a great opportunity to learn the states and capitals of the U.S. too. We will start the geography portion this week and then move onto the government portion.

September 2, 2016

What a great first week we had in our Intermediate Elementary class at LTSA! It already feels like we are one big happy family. I have learned so much about your children and truly enjoy each of their sweet personalities.

Our first week was filled with getting-to-know-you activities, exploring the different learning areas of our classroom and getting used to our new schedule and routines. As a class, we developed our classroom rules and assigned the classroom jobs for the week. Surprisingly, most of the kids wanted to be the Classroom Custodian. I think the fancy title may be enticing them.

We also began our daily Rainbow Math routine where the students and I engage in a class discussion and review over 3 different math problems of various concepts. Spiraling, material that is revisited repeatedly over months and across levels, ensures retention and long-term mastery of learned math concepts, skills and facts. The children loved it and have been looking forward to it everyday!

We are spending the first couple of weeks at school assessing each student to determine their appropriate level in math, reading and writing. Each student has been working on Singapore Math placement tests and writing samples. Next week we will finish up the math assessment and assess reading levels. We also will be learning about our math and language art centers and will be in full swing by the third week of school.

Our Hubs this year are The World Above, The World Below and The World Beyond. Before getting started on our exciting adventure, we have been exploring the very foundation of our lovely earth--matter! After learning about the Atoms Family, the students understood how Perky Patty Proton and Nerdy Nelda Neutron like to hang out at the Nucleus Arcade while Enraged Elliott Electron and his brothers hang out on the roadways surrounding the Nucleus Arcade, upset that his sisters won’t let them in. We also had fun singing the Atoms Family Song….finger snaps and all.

From our learning we created a model of a helium atom with modeling clay, wire and toothpicks. The children carefully created the nucleus with 2 protons and 2 neutrons and with an electron shell containing 2 electrons.

At the end of the week, our young chemists performed electrolysis of water during science time. They were able to split water molecules (H2O) into hydrogen gas (H2) and oxygen gas (O2) by passing an electrical current through graphite into water. The gas bubbles appeared on the tip of the graphite and sides of the pencil. Since each water molecule contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, we were able to determine that the pencil with more bubbles around it was the hydrogen gas. Truly amazing!

We will continue our matter investigation next week by exploring the periodic table and building molecules out of Legos. There will be lots of hands-on fun! I look forward to making many wonderful memories with your children!