News for 1/21

It's been a great week in TAG! We've had a lot of fun learning! If you have not had a chance to complete the parent climate survey from the district for the campus please take a moment to do so. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

Parent Climate Survey

Below is information about the Gifted and Advanced Academics Parent Conference. This will be held on Saturday, February 2nd from 9am-12pm at Walsh Middle School. If you are interested please click the link below to view the flyer.

2019 GTAA Parent Conference Flyer

1st Grade Talent Development

First graders started our spring ISPs this week!  All students have 6 great topic ideas and we are working on deciding which topic they would like to use for their projects.  We visited the library to begin looking for books, and we've had a lot of fun!

2nd Grade Talent Development

Second grade was really excited to display their train cars at STEAM night on Thursday. They enjoyed showing off their hard work. We also began our spring ISPs this week. We had a visit from our librarian, Mrs. Bamford, to talk about how to go about choosing a research topic and using reliable resources. The students are working on brainstorming topics and developing questions.

3rd Grade Math

Third graders started unit 6: Geometry, Perimeter and Area and Measurement this week.  We began with angles, and have learned a lot about acute, obtuse and right angles and triangles.  Students have had fun using exploragons to make angles and triangles.  We also started practicing taking notes in our journals by creating a file folder organizer for all of our geometry words.  Students are loving geometry so far, and are so eager to learn new things!

4th Grade Math

Fourth graders have spent the week continuing geometry.  We started the week learning about all of the angles in triangles, quadrilaterals and other polygons.  We explored the measurements of the angles in these shapes and added them together.  It was interesting to see the patterns the students saw, and the conclusions they were able to draw from these patterns.

We've spent the later part of the week creating mini golf hole designs using geometric elements.  They have been so creative in their work, and are doing a great job!

5th Grade Math

Fifth graders have spent the week continuing their Financial Adventure project.  They have all built an adult life for themselves, complete with housing choices, car payments, a budget with necessities and discretionary expenses, and even furnishing their living space using real world pricing.  It has been so fun to see the observations they've made, and watching them discover just how hard it is to keep your finances in check!  They have all built a slideshow with their information and will present it at a showcase for their classmates on Monday.

3rd Reading

Third grade had a great week. We learned about plot diagrams and used one to discuss the story of Cinderella. The students were also surprised with a skype visit from the author of "Rump", Liesl Shurtliff. It was a great visit and the students really enjoyed getting to "meet" her.

4th Reading

Fourth grade wrapped up their unit on Traditional Literature this week. We ended with myths and are finishing up writing our own fractured fairy tales. Next week we will begin our unit on drama! It will be a fun unit to explore!

5th Reading

Fifth grade continued their unit on persuasive text. They are busy developing their advertising campaign for their product. Our goal is to complete these next week and have our presentation day shortly after. 
Fifth grade was also very excited to launch their campus community project, the Share Table. This table give students to place unopened foods in a bin for others to take rather than throw the good food away. The kids are very excited to see their hard work put into action. Be sure to ask your student about this project!

Have a great weekend, see you next week!

Important Dates:
1/30 Grisham Choice Sheet Presentation 7:45am
2/1 2nd Grade Living Museum 8:15am
2/2 Gifted and Advanced Academics Parent Conference 9am-12pm @ Walsh Middle School

News for 1/14

2019 is off to a great start! We are hard at work and having fun. It will be exciting to see what's in store for us this semester! Below is information about the Gifted and Advanced Academics Parent Conference. This will be held on Saturday, February 2nd from 9am-12pm at Walsh Middle School. If you are interested please click the link below to view the flyer.

2019 GTAA Parent Conference Flyer

1st Grade Talent Development

First graders have spent the week wrapping up our London landmark research projects.  They got all their facts written, chose pictures for each landmark, and put together the umbrellas to showcase their learning.  We can't wait to show off what we've learned at STEAM night next week!

2nd Grade Talent Development

The second grade got to work completing their train car projects. We talked about how to cite their sources and the importance of giving credit to those sources. They are very excited to showcase their work at STEAM night next week!

3rd Grade Math

Third graders have spent the week finishing up our unit on Data Analysis.  We learned about a brand new kind of graph- a stem and leaf plot.  Ask your student about these kinds of graphs.  We learned a lot about how to organize data in different ways with these graphs!  

4th Grade Math

Fourth graders have spent the week practicing our skills in measuring angles.  We've explored many different ways to do this and have enjoyed discussing methods to ensure accuracy.  They really enjoyed the laser challenge activity we did on desmos.com.  Ask you student about how light travels in a straight line, and reflecting off of a mirror to hit a target!  We also created a fun project using their first names and the measurements of the angles of the letters.  These will be up in the hallway soon!

5th Grade Math

Fifth grade has spent the week on financial literacy.  The students are working on a digital financial adventure project.  Each student chose a career, and they are using their salary information to build a life for themselves.  They are making choices about types of housing, what kind of car to drive, whether to eat out or at home, and how much to spend on discretionary items, among many other things.  It's been fun to talk to them about how they see all of these financial events, and learn about their ideas on how money works.  They will use this information to build a slideshow to be presented to the class next week.

3rd Reading

Third grade began their unit on traditional literature. We have been learning about fables, fairy tales, legends and myths. The students have been focusing on theme as well as the components of each type of story. 

4th Reading

Fourth grade had a great start to 2019. We introduced the unit on Traditional Literature. We will be examining fables, tall tales, fairy tales, and myths. As part of the fun, students will be taking an original fairy tale and fracturing it in their own way. We plan to create a book of fractured tales to share in the library. We also began our novel study of "The Land of Stories" by Chris Colfer. We are excited to see how this novel ties in with our unit of study.

5th Reading

Fifth grade is off and running this year. We are working on a unit about persuasive text. We have been examining advertisements and discussing techniques used to persuade people to buy or use things. The students will be creating an ad campaign for a simple office product using the persuasive techniques we have learned in class (bandwagon, spokesperson, emotional, logical, slogan, and repetition). It will be fun to see who's product is voted most useful!
The fifth graders were also very excited to begin their novel study of "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart. They have already been hooked by this exciting story and have seen some connections to our persuasive text unit.

Have a great weekend, see you next week!

Important Dates:
1/21 MLK Day- No School
1/24 STEAM Night 6:00pm
1/25 Spirit Day- Pajama Day
1/30 Grisham Choice Sheet Presentation 7:45am
2/1 2nd Grade Living Museum 8:15am
2/2 Gifted and Advanced Academics Parent Conference 9am-12pm @ Walsh Middle School