Febru ary 26, 2016
Upcoming Dates…
Saturday, February 27: Family
Bowling 4-6
Saturday, March 5: Open House for
Prospective Families 10-11:30
Friday, March 11: Open House for
Professionals 12-2
Saturday, March 19: Family Ice
Skating
March 24-28: Spring Break
Friday, April 1: Special Person’s Day
Saturday, April 23: Spring Bling!
Catching up on a busy couple of weeks!
NOVICES
TheNovicesarebackintheswingofthingsthisweek!Aftertwoshortweeks,duringwhichwelookedatpoetryand
biographies,weareallhappytobebacktoourroutineandhardatwork.Lastweekwebeganreadingareallyfun
book“Mr.Popper’sPenguins”andthisweekweworkedonwritingaboutour“dreampets.”Itwasfuntoimagine
havingeverythingfromasharktoagiraffetoabear.WealsospentapartofeachdayreadingbooksbyDr.Seuss,as
webegantopreparetocelebratehisbirthdaynextweek.Wearehopingournewfoundknowledgeofhisworkwill
helpusscorepointsattheupcomingDr.Seussschool-widetriviacontestnextweek!
TheMathMagicianscontinuedstrengtheningtheirunderstandingofadditionlearninghowtousenumberlinesfor
support.Weplayedlotsoffungamesusingdiceanddominoesforadditionpractice.TheMastersofMathhavebeen
applyingtheirknowledgeofplacevaluetoaddandsubtractnumbersallthewayto1000.Weweresurprisedathow
manystrategieswehadinplacetohelpuseasilysolvetheseproblems.Weplantocontinuepracticingtheseskillsas
wekeepdealingwithlargerandlargernumbers.
TheNoviceshaveblastedoffintospaceintheme!We’vevisitedtheplanetsinoursolarsystem,learnedabout
meteors,testedhowmeteoritesmakecraters,andevenpracticedmoonwalking!Wealsofoundsomeinteresting
rocksthatsomeofusthoughtmightbemeteorites!Wetestedthemusingthesamekindsofteststhatscientists
use.Somepeoplethoughtthetestsconcludedthattherockwas,infact,ameteorite.Othersweren’tconvinced.
Wehadalivelydebate!Wealsoenjoyedlearningaboutconstellations.Wefounditunbelievablyinterestingtolearn
themythsbehindeachconstellation–somuchsothatwedecidedtocreateourown!
PLAYERS
ThisweekinthePlayers’room….
We’vebeenworkinghardondivision,specificallyinterpretingremainders.TheMathandCheesegrouphasworkedon
divisionstoriestoexpresstheirunderstandingsofdivisionintherealworld.Intheseproblems,allstudentschallenged
themselvestouseevenhighernumbersthanwhattheywereshownintheclassexamples!Theyalsostartedexploring
longdivision.They’verealizedhowconnectedmultiplicationanddivisionare,andhowimportantitisforthemtoknow
theirmultiplicationfactsquickly!We’vebeenplayinggamestopracticeourfluencywiththesefacts.Thiscrewtruly
workstotheirfullestpotentialeachday!
TheDivideandConquergrouphasbeenrelishinglongdivisionproblemsthatinvolvelargedividends,evenintotheten
thousands!Thestudentsloveusingproperterminologyandcancorrectlyidentifythedividend,divisor,andthequotient
foreachproblem.Inaddition,theyenjoyusinglongmultiplicationproblemstoself-assesstheirwork.Theyhaveanew
freedominbeingabletomultiplyaquotientbyadivisortoassesswhetherornottheyhavecorrectlysolvedadivision
problem.Inaddition,foreachproblemthattheysolve,they’vechallengedthemselvestoapplythenumbertoarealworldsituation.Thestudentscorrectlydothiscompletewithawidevarietyofsituationssuchasfieldtripbussing,
schoolsuppliessharing,bakingandcookiesheets,petfooddistributionandmore!Thisreflectsatrueunderstandingof
howlongdivisionisusedallarounduseachday!
Forreadinggroups,eachgroupisworkingonafinalproject.OurAmazongroupisbuildingarainforestinwhichthey
correctlyidentifyeachlayeroftherainforestandtheanimalsthatlivethere.ThisreflectstheirstudyofaMagic
TreehousebookbasedontheAmazonrainforest.TheMissKruppgroupisdesigningdioramasofthemuseumfromthe
bookandhowthelayoutofthemuseumandthedisplaysinthemuseumaffectedtheplotofthestory.Thisgroupis
alsocompletingawritingpiecetoexplaintheirdioramatothe“audience”,therebypracticingtheirexpressionof
comprehensioninwriting.TheMigrationgrouphaschosentocompletepostersthatillustratespecificanimals’
migrationpatternsandthebenefitsthatthenewenvironmentprovidesforfeeding,protectionand/orbreeding.The
JudyBlumegroupisbusycreating“CharacterSketches”whichdescribecharactertraitsofbookcharacters.Inaddition,
theyhavechosentowritetheirownendingtothebooks.Thestudentshavewrittenfullchaptersandtheyare
WONDERFULLYentertaining!Pleasestopinourclassroominthenextfewweekstoseetheseondisplay!
APPRENTICES
WhatanawesomeandexcitingweekintheApprenticeRoom!NowadaysinMaththewholeclassisworkingtogether,
whichhasbeenalotoffun.We'vebeenworkingwithconvertingfractions,decimals,andpercents,whichispartly
reviewandpartlynewstuff.We'vealsobeenexploringtheconceptsofratiosandhowtheyrelatetoourunderstandings
offractions.Togetfamiliarwiththeseconceptswe'vedoneavarietyofcoolactivities,suchaspaint-mixing,role-playing
dinnerarrangements,andsharinganddiscussingeachother'sstrategiesforchallengeproblems.Apprenticeshave
alwayslovedfiguringoutnewwaystolookatnumbers,sothepastcoupleofweekshavebeenalotoffun!Andin
Literacy,we'vebeendoingallsortsofgreatstuff!Thetwogroupswhohavefinishedtheirnovelshavebeenworkingon
sonnets(completewithiambicpentameter!)andtributepoems(whicharetouchinglybeautiful).Theothertwogroups
arenearingtheclimaxoftheirnovelsandaremakingpredictionsabouthowthestorieswillresolve. We'vealso
continuedourstudyofGreekandLatinwordroots,andwe'recurrentlyworkingthrougha6-pagelistofthemtogether
inpreparationforanexcitingproject!Finally,studentshavebeenindependentlyreflectingonandfine-tuningtheirfreewritepiecestomakesuretheyhavestrongcharacters,plots,andmore.
InTheme,theApprenticesarewrappingupourexplorationofPoliticalandLegalSystems.WelookedattheExecutive
Branchindetail,thefinaloneofthethreemainbrancheswecovered.Thenwetookabrieflookatthefourthbranch
thatnooneevertalksabout:us!That'sright,wecan'ttalkaboutthechecksandbalancesoftheUSpoliticalsystem
withouttalkingaboutthecrucialrolethatthecitizensplayingovernment.ForourfinalprojectofthisTheme,the
Apprenticesdecidedtheywantedtodoarole-playofhowlawsarewritten,enacted,judged,andenforced.We'revery
excitedtogettoworkonthisnextweek!