Homework & Important Dates

August 14 and 15: Beginning of the Year Assessments

August 16: First Day of School 1st-8th

August 30: Student enrollment fees due ($150); Click HERE to pay online.

September 2: No School, Labor Day

September 5: School Showcase, 5:45pm-6:30pm; 6:30pm-7:15pm

September 12: School Pictures (Individual for yearbook)m

October 2: "Count Day" and School-Wide Picture (school t-shirts will be handed out for this event)

Curriculum Update 4/18

CKLA

This unit examines the fiction genre through a classic novel, Treasure Island. Students will focus on character development, setting, and plot, as well as literary devices, while reading an abridged version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s popular adventure story. It is important for students in the upper elementary grades to read longer works of fiction and trace the development of plot, characters, and literary elements over the course of a novel; this unit will provide students that opportunity. In addition, this text presents an opportunity for students to learn about the adventure story as a unique subgenre of fiction. Students will also be exposed to other relevant aspects of the text, such as geography, pirates, and sailing.

Math

Below is an outline for the cumulative review we are currently doing in math. Students have learned much and are further working to master many concepts!

Fractions

• Equivalent fractions
• Adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions
• Using fraction models

Geometry

• Draw lines and angles
• Identify angles in shapes
• Classifying shapes and angles
• Identifying/drawing lines of symmetry

Measurement and Data

• Solving real-life problems involving money
• Perimeter and area
• Making line plots to display data
• Angles and geometric figures
• Measuring angles

Numbers and Operations in Base Ten

• Comparing whole numbers
• Using place value to solve problems
• Add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers
• Rounding whole numbers
• Writing whole numbers in different forms

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• Factors and multiples
• Generate and analyze number patterns
• Prime and composite numbers
• Estimating solutions

Social Studies

Upon completion of chapter 4 of our social studies unit, students will know about Colorado's early history, including:

1. Vocabulary words like nomad, conquistador, prospector and homesteader
2. The Homestead Act
3. The first peoples of Colorado
4. How the U.S. came to control much of the land of present-day Colorado
5. Why the ancient Puebloans left the four corners area
6. Ways the Native Americans used buffalo
7. Why some early settlers wanted Colorado to remain a territory
8. The Colorado Constitution

...And more!

Science

In our last mini-lesson, students discovered that making close observations like a scientist can help them figure out how magic tricks work. Through a hands-on activity, students built a “Gold Finder” and practiced performing a magic trick on their friends.

Next up: Sound, Waves, & Communication

This unit helps students develop the idea that sound is an actual thing, a wave of vibrations traveling through the air. Equipped with this understanding, students can begin to make sense of how sound and music work.

In-Focus

We have spent more energy on character development of late, focusing specifically on kindness, attitude, perseverance, self-control, gratitude and consideration. Students are encouraged daily - through quotes, class discussions, questioning, prompting, practicing, redirecting, writing, brainstorming, etc. - to be kinder, stronger yet gentler and more appreciative. We have examined quotes like, "Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve" (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and Marianne Williamson's "Our Deepest Fear," which encourages students to shine in reaching their full potential as scholars and as people. Because "intelligence plus character is the true meaning of education," In-Focus is prioritized and implemented into subjects like CKLA.

Our Deepest Fear

By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness

That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small

Does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking

So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,

As children do.

We were born to make manifest

The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;

It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we're liberated from our own fear,

Our presence automatically liberates others.

Ameritowne

Ameritowne

Now that students have completed interviews and been assigned jobs, they will be trained in preparation for our field trip next Monday! Students will learn the basics of jobs from accounting and design, to police work and banking.

CKLA

During the coming weeks, we will focus on descriptive details in creative writing. We will also identify elements such as similes and figurative language, determining how such elements enhance writing. Students will eventually compose their own works, focusing specifically on descriptive language.

Math

We are currently mastering long division, while reviewing all previously learned concepts. To best help your child, please help he/she memorize multiplication tables! There will be a test in February to ensure memorization.

Social Studies

Below is an outline for what we be studying in social studies during the next couple weeks:

• Americans and Their History
  • Abraham Lincoln: Civil War President
• America and Europe
  • The First Americans
  • Europeans Explore
  • European Colonies
  • The Colombian Exchange
  • Government in the English Colonies
    • Vocabulary: Archaeologist, artifact, hunter-gatherer, agriculture, culture, colony, enslaved, tradition
  • A New Nation
    • Independence
    • The American Revolution
    • A Hard Job
    • A New Constitution
    • The New Nation Grows
    • Lewis and Clark Explore the West
      • Vocabulary: Independence, territory
    • Growth and Civil War
      • Manifest Destiny
      • New Industries
      • The North and the South
      • The Civil War
      • Rebuilding the Nation
      • Changes for Native Americans
        • Vocabulary: Immigrant, industry, states' rights, abolitionist, secede, reconstruction, segregation, reservation

CKLA Unit 5: Geology

12.6.18

Areas of Study about the Earth

1. What are Earth's seven continents?
2. What clues do the ruins of ancient buildings provide about the ancient Roman civilization?
3. What is the name for the place where an animal or plant normally lives and grows?
4. What can cause changes in an ecosystem?
5. What was the city of London like in the Middle Ages?
6. What are the names of the oceans of the world?
7. How would you describe the tropical rain forest of the Amazon River?
8. What features make up the environment?
9. What are the names of the important rivers of the world?
10. What do the pictures embroidered on the Bayeux Tapestry illustrate?

Math

Thus far, we have worked on place value, estimations, addition/subtraction, word problems, multiplication, division, arrays, time, money, area, perimeter, prime/composite numbers, etc. Currently, we are reviewing and will be focusing on long division and multiplication with one, two and three-digit numbers. We will also solve word problems that require multiple steps in order.

The best way you can assist your kids at home is to help them memorize their multiplication tables through 12! They should also work on memorizing addition/subtraction facts like 9+7 and 16-8. This will make both word problems and division much easier during second trimester. Below are some examples of common types of problems we work on everyday.

1. 59x16 = 944
2. 601x18= 10,818
3. 106/2 = 54
4. 6,792,481 - 599, 032 = 6,193,449
5. If a square’s sides equal 7cm, what is its area?
6. Anni bought some shirts that were on sale for the same price. She bought as many as she could with $20. If Anni got $2 in change and there was no tax on the shirts, how much could have each shirt cost? ($4, $5, $6 or $7?)
7. Jack went to a movie with his brother and sister. He movie ticket cost $5.50. The other two tickets cost $9.25 each. If they paid for the tickets with $25.00, how much change did they get back?
8. John exercises for 40 minutes every day; and Anna exercises for 30 minutes every day. In a month with 31 days, how many more hours does John exercise than Anna? (310 minutes more)

Towards the end of second trimester, we will learn more about shapes and obtuse/right/acute angles. We will also start our unit on fractions!

CKLA

So far, we have learned how to write a personal narrative, a memory narrative, an informative essay, and a persuasive essay while simultaneously studying the middle ages and other historical periods. Students have learned about cause and effect, how to compare/contrast, parts of speech and literary elements (plot, setting, character, conflict, theme). Students can determine the conflict within a story, and whether that conflict is internal vs. self or external vs. man, nature, society, etc.

Currently, we are reading poetry and learning about different poets and poetic elements like rhyme, alliteration, simile, metaphor, repetition, rhythm, etc. Students have composed amazing memory, simile/alliteration, metaphor, advice and narrative poems and have analyzed, determined, identified, etc. Students noted that poetry helps us appreciate, understand and pay attention to the world around us as we express ideas through writing as an art form.

Next week, we will wrap up our poetry unit and begin our unit on geology. This will combine science and language arts as students will improve their grammar while studying about earthquakes, tsunamis, earth’s layers, plate tectonics, etc.

The best way you can help your kids at home is to make sure they read 20 minutes a day for at least 4 days a week and turn in their reading logs! Logs are worth 10 points each; but if they don’t consistently turn them in, points start to add up. You can also help them study their spelling words for tests which are usually taken weekly (you all have done a great job of that so far!)

Science

We have learned a TON this trimester in science with units including “The Human Machine: Body, Senses & The Brain,” “The Birth of Rocks: Rock Cycle & Earth’s Processes” and “Energizing Everything: Energy, Motion & Electricity.” Students conducted daily experiments, read and watched videos to learn more about the above topics. For example, when we studied natural disasters such as mudslides, students worked in pairs as “city planners” to determine how to best keep their city safe. Students thought of constructing brick walls, escape routes and ditches, for example, to prevent the destruction of homes and potential loss of life.

When we studied rocks, students used sugar cubes to see firsthand what happens when rocks fall from the top of a mountain to the bottom (the rocks at the bottom are smaller and smoother). When studying chain reactions, students constructed their own “machines,” using paper, marbles, paper clips, a plastic cup, etc. They also made robotic hands with paper, string, etc. when learning about tendons, muscles, ligaments and other parts of the hand. “Mystery Science” is a favorite in fourth grade and will return in January with a unit on “Waves of Sound."

Social Studies

In social studies, we have learned about geography and how it affects the way we live (weather, land forms, etc.). We have defined vocabulary words like archaeologist, artifact, hunter-gatherer, agriculture, culture, colony, enslaved, tradition. Students know the fifty states and how to locate them on a map - even a blank map! Soon, they will know the state capitals as well.

We will pick back up with American history in January, but have been focusing on Ameritowne as we have studied the economy, credit, debit, keeping a check register, interviewing, job requirements, budgeting, saving, spending, investing, ethics, writing checks, risk-taking, consumerism, etc. Students will have a thorough understanding of the above topics when they go to Ameritowne in January and put their skills to use!

Miscellaneous

Students wrote letters to veterans for veterans day. This not only helped them with their letter-writing skills, it was a “service project,” so-to-speak, where they thought about others and increased their gratitude. A few of the letters are shown below.

Dear Veteran,

I have so much respect for people like you. It is amazing that you sacrifice your life for the country. I am an elementary school kid. I have a couple questions. Why do people volunteer for the army? Do you miss your family when you’re gone? I think all people should respect veterans like you!

Sincerely,

Trey

Dear Hero,

I just wanted to say thank you for your service. I really appreciate all the good things you have done for our country. Also thank you for your time to help protect our country.

Next I want to know what branch of the military you were in. I am in fourth grade and my favorite sport is basketball. Also, thank you for letting me write my letter to you. My favorite basketball team is the Denver Nuggets. What is your favorite sport?

Finally, thank you for choosing to be in the military. In conclusion, thank you for helping protect our country.

Love,

Micah