Julia Scalzo, Gifted Resource Specialist
4MA- 2:20-3:20
3PA- We have learned about annotating important ideas as we read. To practice this skill, we annotated the story Shells by Cynthia Rylant. Our focus was on identifying key, or important words, feelings, big ideas and symbolism. We used these directed notes to answer questions during class discussion, and to realate these ideas to the concept of change.
4PA- Students read, annotated and discussed the story, Lenny's Red Letter Day by Bernard Ashley. Our areas of focus included identifying Implicit and Explicit details while reading. We will use these notes to further our understanding of the story next week.
5PA- After reading and analysis of the story, The Hemulen Who Loved Silence by Tove Janssen, we compared the setting to the storm that hit the eastern coast, Hurricane Sandy. In this nonfiction article, we discussed how sense of community helped these people, which was also a big idea discussed in our Hemulen story.
4MA- Students continue to learn about decimals and place value. Key concepts focused on this week were on using estimation (rounding) to find a reasonable answer, and multiplying decimals. Next week we will continue to focus on rounding decimals and learn about dividing decimals. We will them begin review for our end of the unit test!
It was great meeting so many of you at our Curriculum Night/Open House last week! Here's an update of what we've been working on:
3PA- Students have been learning about the concept of CHANGE. We learned that there are generalizations about change. Ideas and examples of change were brainstormed and put into these groups, or generalizations. We also read an Aesop fable called, "The Miser". We annotated the story and learned about character perspective. As a culminating activity, students created a Twitter feed where characters were "tweeting out" their perspective at certain parts of the story. These are hilarious!
4PA and 5PA- We finished up reviewing Literary Elements. Specifically, we learned about how each element complements one another and enhances the story. We also focused on the different types of conflict that arise in a well written story. Learning experiences wewre different for 4th and 5th grades, but the learning objective was the same.
4MA- We have been learnig about decimals and place value to the thousandths place. Other concepts explored involved standard notation, expanded form, greater than/less than, and rounding, We also had our first Mid-Module assessment for Unit 1.
Another great new school year, and another new PA room location! This year, our learning and fun will be in room 130! I am SO energized and excited to be back working with your children this year! To kick off a new year, students designed a Sailboat Retrospective about a goal they wanted to set for the year. Be sure to check it out on our bulletin board in the hallway on Curriculum Night/Open House Noght! We also settled into PA and the routines that accompany it. Information was also sent home with regard to "All things PA" to familiarize yourself with both the program and a bit about me.
For your convenience, our PA schedule can be found to the left of this message. You can always access this page to learn about "goings on" in PA.
In addition to working with grades 3-5 for Project Arrow, I am sharpening my math skills by working with our 4th grade Accelerated Math students. Stay tuned! It's going to be a GREAT year!
Thinking is a GIFT!
Julia Scalzo