News for 12/18

It's winter break! We can't believe that the first half of the school year is over. We have had such a wonderful semester and are looking forward to a great 2018!

Math:

3rd Grade- 

Third grade has had a great time with our Data Analysis unit. We have learned about line plots, stem and leaf plots, as well as bar graphs and frequency tables. We will wrap up our unit when we return in January.

4th Grade-

We spent the week wrapping up our decimal multiplication and division unit.  Students played BINGO, a spinner game and did a cut/glue matching activity to show off their knowledge.  We took our DCA test over multiplication and division of fractions and decimals Wednesday to end the week.

5th Grade-

Students spent the week studying the differences between expressions, equations and inequalities.  We used a fun website called SolveMe to solve lots of equations, and completed a fun pennant flag project to place in the hallway.  We took our DCA over rates, ratios and percents and expressions and equations on Wednesday.

ELA Enrichment & ISP:

1st Grade- 

We spent the week studying snowflakes!  We learned that snowflakes have 6 sides, just like a hexagon.  Students used all kinds of fun materials to create a symmetrical 6 sided snowflake.  You can see them on display at STEAM night in January!

2nd Grade-

Building is now complete! The students are so excited about how their rooms have turned out. They are looking forward to displaying them in January at STEAM night. We also had a little fun this week with some pentominoe challenges. It really got our brains thinking!

3rd Grade-

We have nearly completed construction of our houses. The students are excited to share them at STEAM night in January. We are also looking forward to wrapping up our novel study when we return.

4th Grade-

Building is nearly complete and the houses look great! We are also looking forward to wrapping up our Mr. Lemoncello novel study when we return.

5th Grade-

Fifth grade has begun writing their scripts for their Mysterious Benedict Society novel study. We can't wait to see them develop and are excited to share them with the group!

Have a wonderful holiday break and see you next year!

Important Dates:

12/25-1/8 Winter Break

1/9      Students back to school

News for 12/4

What a week! We had some warm weather, cold weather, and then ended with a light dusting of snow! It's been a great week!

Announcement: 
Please join us for our Fall Open House on December 12th from 3-4pm. This is a student-led fall showcase for all current TAG students. Please bring your student with you when you come. They will be your tour guide and will be sharing their work with you. This is a come and go event. We hope to see you there!

Math:

3rd Grade- 

Third grade has completed their division unit this week. We explored a variety of division strategies and put them into practice. We also began our unit on Data Analysis and will be exploring a variety of graphs and ways to collect and interpret data.

4th Grade-

Fourth graders have had a great week wrapping up our learning about fractions. Students have had the opportunity to show off their knowledge by completing a menu project.  They were given a menu of activities, and chose a combination of small projects and math problems to add up to 100.  They've been hard at work on them all week, in between visits to the robolab.  Projects are due on Monday, 12/11/17.  I can't wait to see their showcases of learning!

5th Grade-

Fifth graders spent the week learning about finding percents, parts of a whole and whole amounts when given different variables.  We started the week just giving the problems a try, but they quickly figured out we needed a formula!  We learned all about setting up ratios as a proportional relationship, and were able to solve lots of problems using the formula soon after.  We ended the week by applying our learning about proportions to problems about eating at a restaurant using a coupon and paying tax, and a pizza delivery fee increase.  We've had a great week of learning! 

ELA Enrichment & ISP:

1st Grade- 

First graders started the week with some Math practice.  We played a dice game where we added the numbers we rolled, then completed a snowman color by number with our answers.  We read the book The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle and learned some fun things about crickets!  We wrote about our learning, labeled the parts of a cricket and made a puzzle from a cricket picture.  It's been a busy, but fun, week!  

2nd Grade-

We have been building, building, building this week! Several students have completed their room projects and are excited to share them in January. We were also super excited to have some surprise visitors outside our window on Wednesday. We had the pleasure of taking a moment to observe 4 Blue Jays in the tree outside. There was conversation about how they looked, what they were doing, and why they might have all been there at once. We snapped a somewhat fuzzy picture of one of them before they headed off. It is always fun to be able to learn from the world around us!

3rd Grade-

We are eagerly awaiting our holiday cards from the exchange and are ready to study where they have come from. In the meantime, students have been hard at work building their houses to meet the goal of displaying them in January at STEAM night!

4th Grade-

In fourth grade, we have been busy building houses. Many students are almost done and will be ready to work on some technological aspects to our projects. They are looking forward to showing off their work in January!

5th Grade-

Fifth grade is hard at work finalizing the planning for their model sets and scripts. We worked on character identification and began developing their role in our scripts.

Have a great weekend and see you next week!

Important Dates:

12/12    6:15 Singing Stars Caroling

12/13    8:00 3rd Grade December Around the World               performance for families
12/21    Sweater Spirit Day and class holiday parties
12/25-1/8 Winter Break
1/9      Students back to school

News for 11/27

What a great week we have had! It has been great to be back and see everyone. The students have been hard at work and having fun!

Announcement: 
Please join us for our Fall Open House on December 12th from 3-4pm. This is a student-led fall showcase for all current TAG students. Please bring your student with you when you come. They will be your tour guide and will be sharing their work with you. This is a come and go event. We hope to see you there!

REMINDER: The window to refer students for TAG testing and submit all paperwork closes at 4:00pm on Friday, December 8th. 

Math:

3rd Grade- 

Third grade has begun working on their division unit. We have been working on learning different strategies for dividing multi-digit dividends by single and double digit divisors. They have been working on solving problems using the standard algorithm, area model, and strip diagram models. It has been a lot of fun to work with problems in a variety of ways.

4th Grade-

4th graders have been exploring multiplying fractions this week. We practiced our skills by creating holiday cards for a unique card exchange across the world.  Students used stars on their cards, and depicted a problem multiplying a whole number and a fraction with their stars.  We wrapped up the week by creating a shopping list for a huge holiday baking project.  We had nine recipes and students had to calculate how much of each ingredient was needed for multiple batches of each recipe.  We had fun, and their brains worked hard!

5th Grade-

5th graders have spent the week studying ration, rates and unit rates.  We created holiday cards for a card exchange our TAG students are participating in.  Students created cards that used stars and showed a ratio relationship with their stars.  Some of them got really creative and measured the sizes of stars down to the millimeter to show a perfect ratio!

We spent some time on rates and discussed real life examples- miles per gallon, points in basketball games, and price per box of cereal to name a few.  We dug deeper with unit rates and had a whole lesson using candy!  Students had a great time finding the total number of candies in one box, and then finding ratios and percentages of each color and the unit rate for one piece of candy.  We ranked the candies from the best unit rate to the worst. Check out our posters in the hall outside Mrs. Hamilton's room!  

ELA Enrichment & ISP:

**ISP supply note...the students have been creating materials lists for their ISP projects in class. Please know that we will be using found objects as much as possible. The students are not expected to purchase special supplies for these projects. 

1st Grade- 

1st graders had a great week studying the book Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle.  We read the book several times, and loved seeing the unique clear overlay pages to enhance the illustrations!  Students colored and cut out seahorses using the unique color collage style of Eric Carle and added yarn fins to their creations.  They turned out great!

2nd Grade-

Second grade participated in a holiday card exchange program that our TAG classes are a part of. We are sending out 29 holiday cards and will be receiving 29 cards back. We are excited to use our received cards for some fun math activities! 
The students have also been hard at work completing the typing of their ISP essays this week.

3rd Grade-

Third grade also participated in a holiday card exchange program that our TAG classes are a part of. We are sending out 29 holiday cards and will be receiving 29 cards back. We are excited to use our received cards for some fun math connections to place value, addition, subtraction, and division!
The students have also been hard at work completing the building of  their ISP projects. They are getting closer to completion!

4th Grade-

ISP has been the theme of our time this week. We have been working hard to compete our houses for the January STEAM night. The students are excited to show off their hard work!

5th Grade-

Fifth grade has begun planning and developing their TV script ideas for their novel study. We have been brainstorming ideas for scenes and will start working on scripts soon. They have also been working on their "Think Tank Thursday" Environmental projects. They are looking forward to sharing knowledge with the other students in school.

Have a great weekend and see you next week!

Important Dates:

12/7     6:30 Singing Stars Concert

12/12    6:15 Singing Stars Caroling
12/13    8:00 3rd Grade December Around the World               performance for families
12/21    Sweater Spirit Day
12/25-1/8 Winter Break
1/9      Students back to school