Many thanks to all parents and students for their participation in parent-teacher conferences last week and this week. We appreciate the value that our school's parents place on their students' education by taking the time to discuss progress and to set goals for future performance. We hope parents find our discussions productive.
Please make a note of the following testing dates for CMAS, and ensure that students are present at school - on time, well rested, and energized with healthy meals.
April 6, 7, 8 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) - English Language Arts
April 10, 13, 14 (Friday, Monday, Tuesday) - Science
April 16, 17, 20 (Thursday, Friday, Monday) - Math
If opting out, please make sure you have documented your choice according to the instructions previously shared by the district.
This month, our focus in reading will be poetry - reading, analyzing, understanding, reciting, and writing poetry. In an age of short videos, tweets and hashtags, the brevity of a poem is the perfect art form for students today which is something that students should be able to relate to.
At the heart of poetry is self-expression and structural creativity. It honestly reflects how kids can engage with social media and technology. Poetry has the potential to teach more than a basic understanding of iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets and haikus. It teaches the power of limited words and creative use of language to express emotion and meaning. Poetry allows students to express emotions in a controlled way. It can also help young people truly find their voice. Both of these are essential tools for promoting mental health.
Poetry can help students realize when and how language is used in advertising, the media and politics to manipulate them - an important critical thinking skill. It also helps in understanding different perspectives. Teaching and learning from poetry can help students respect and understand the viewpoints of people across the globe. In an age of increasing divisiveness, this is a hugely important part of education.
We will begin with a selection of poems written by American poets. Students will learn how to read poems properly, identify mood and feelings provoked, recognize figurative language, analyze structure and how all of these contribute to a poem's meaning.
Our study of the human body will later this month after Spring Break.
At the end of the whole unit, we will have established an understanding of a system as a collection of parts working together to perform a function. We are currently emphasizing this point with our study of plants.
In the next coming weeks, students will concentrate on the circulatory, respiratory, muscular, skeletal, digestive, excretory and nervous systems. For each system, students will need to explain the primary function(s) of the systems and understand all of the organs associated. Special attention will be given to how the systems work together within a whole body system to keep the human body operating at full potential.
Information about our last body system unit, the reproductive system, was emailed on Monday, March 2.
We finished our study of volume of rectangular prism and we are now completing a short unit on multiplying and dividing decimal numbers.
Our next unit will cover the following geometry topics:
Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties.
Young AmeriTowne is an outstanding program for students to learn about business, economics, and the concept of free enterprise. Students will actually run the town, including city government and various businesses. They will have bank accounts, use "AmeriDollars" to save/spend/invest, and become consumers in the town. It is a highly engaging, educational, and hands-on experience for all students and we are looking forward to the experience.
Work in class will begin this month to familiarize students with the concepts of Young AmeriTowne. We will cover basic economics, the flow of money through an economy, free enterprise, banking, and investing. Follow this link for detailed information on the Young AmeriTowne curriculum.
Next, students will learn about the various businesses for which they will be responsible during their time with Young AmeriTowne. They will be assigned jobs at a business based (as best we can) on their interests, abilities, and interviewing skills. Students will make twelve job choices and we will do our best to assign them one of their choices; very few will actually get one of their top six job choices and some may not even get one of the twelve. Teachers will make it very clear that each job is important at Young Ameritowne, as it is for jobs in the real economy. There is no need for disappointment at not getting their most coveted jobs, and we will not be making any changes to job assignments.
Also, students will undergo job training and then participate in "staff" meetings to ensure their places of business will run smoothly. Attendance at these training and staff meetings will be required in order for students to be assigned to certain jobs. If students miss any of these dates, their job assignment may be given to someone else who has been present at the meetings and trainings. This depends upon the nature of the job.
Our trip to Young Ameritowne is scheduled for Thursday, May 7. This is an all day field trip - more information will be sent home next month.
Please see the Calendar Page within this website for upcoming important events.
Within the calendar you can find important events, event timeframes, and additional brief notes about many events.