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Last week in Review;)
Unit of Inquiry:
Students concluded their first unit of inquiry. In the final week, the students organized
their unit binder. For each student,
this binder contains all of the work that they completed during the
unit. Later this week, they will get
the assignment to bring this home to give their parents a tour of its
contents. Parents and students will
each be asked to complete a rubric for this assignment. Last week, students
also completed their Final Thang. This
multimedia project was the summative assessment for the unit. This is where students use the thinking
skill of synthesis while reflecting on all of the activities that they
completed in the unit, in order to pull together the ideas that will shape
their enduring understanding.
Language Arts:
Students spent time last week working on their binders and Final
Thangs.
Math:
This past week, the students completed their second math lab, where
they looked at the connection between identity and attitudes toward
heroes. Once this was complete, they
reverted to their break-out math groups.
Mr. P’s group continued with their investigation of how to model
algebraic expressions with algebra tiles.
On their own, the students discovered the distributive property. Mrs. K’s group worked on algebraic
expressions and integers. Mrs. B’s
group worked on using estimation to solve math problems.
Literature Studies:
Students completed their reading and the discussions of TA Barron’s The Hero’s Trail.
ULA Fieldtrip:
The first fieldtrip of the year was great! Students visited the rocket assembly plant
at ULA (United Launch Alliance). This
facility is where several types of rockets are assembled in order to launch satellites
into space. John, our guide, was
fantastic. He was very engaging, and
did a great job of answering the students’ questions at a level that they
could understand. The students got to
ask him a ton of different questions ranging from the sublime “what kind of
fuel do rockets use” to the ridiculous, “could we use giant whips to launch
rockets, and use less energy?” He did
a great job of giving each question a valid scientific answer.
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Students are:
·
Working on the concept of Form/ Function
·
Practicing
the thinking skill of Acquisition of
Knowledge
·
Demonstrating the skills of Group Decision Making, and Observing
·
Focusing
on The attitude of Enthusiasm
·
Mastering the Learner Profile of Inquirer
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Coming attractions
Unit
of Inquiry: This week, students will open up their How
the World Works Unit of Inquiry. In
this unit, the students will investigate how knowledge in physics has driven
innovation. The first line of inquiry
in this unit will have students investigate Newton’s Laws of motion. We will approach these concepts with a
“myth buster” format. The teachers will
present the law, and will provide a multitude of materials for the student to
use. The students will then be
responsible for designing an
experiment, making observations, and collecting data, to prove or disprove
the law.
Math: Student will
continue working in their break-out groups for the next week. The algebra group will be working on
operations with integers, expressions, and equations. The pre-algebra group will continue working
on algebraic expressions and integers, while the 5th grade math
group will be working on large numbers, estimation, and scientific notation
Reading: We will not
start a literature book right away, but instead will focus on textbook
reading and textbook reading strategies.
We will begin a literature book next week.
Writing: This week we
will begin the lab experiences that will help the students to understand
physics. In language arts, we will
teach the students how to complete a lab write up.
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Gratitude:
We would
like to say Gracias to Mr. Janicki for helping set up the ULA fieldtrip!
Merci bou
coup to all of the parents who generously gave their time to drive on the ULA
fieldtrip, including Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Rose, Mr. Schwanitz, Mrs. Shah, Mrs.
Janicki, Mrs. Fish, and Mrs. Farmer.
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