Archives

Normalization Nearing and End and an Update

Sep29

I really, truly cannot believe that we are beginning our 7th week of school.  It is nutty how quickly time is passing.

The students are all settling nicely to our daily routines, and most of the time are using their time wisely.  We still have some fine tuning to do before I can say they are completely normalized, but overall I am pleased.

The last two weeks we have spent a lot of time discussing what it means to write a complete sentence.  As such, we insist that all answers (written or spoken) are done so using complete sentences.  Last week we discussed the parts of speech we use when writing complete sentences, and the students all did follow up work honing their skills. This week we are getting down to the actual writing of “good” sentences which contain an adjective, subject, and vivid verb.  The goal is to write “best” sentences.  Though this simple sentence writing has been time consuming, I am confident the time we take now will pay off 10 fold in the long run.

Level 4 students are studying Utah History and began studying the five Native American Tribes of Utah.  This preliminary study before the field trip next week will give them a great background to the activities they will be participating in at the American West Heritage Center.

Ute Dwelling

Level 5 students are studying Mesopotamia and the people of Ancient Babylonia.  Today we talked about King Hammurabi and the students interpreted the early code.  They acted as judges to pass down a sentence they thought was appropriate before comparing their sentences to Hammurabi’s Code.  Whew!  I would not want to go before some of your children in court.  They were harsh!

Hammurabi’s Code

Level 6 students have been studying Ancient Rome.  Today we discussed the three types of government in Ancient Rome and then they began researching and interpreting the Twelve Tables.  We will continue this discussion throughout the week.

This year our cultural routine is working out marvelously.  We are working in units of individual subjects rather than a different subject daily.  This is allowing the students to really immerse themselves in one subject rather than continually switching gears.  My observations during their individual work time have convinced me that this is a good change.

If you have volunteered to help with reading groups, I will be sending out an email by mid-week.  Watch your inbox please.

One more thing, book reports and science fair questions are due tomorrow.  So far the cereal boxes and questions have been fantastic.

~Cheers

Homework Update and October Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up

Sep24

Good Morning!

Thanks to all of our parents who volunteered for our field trip to the NHMU.  It was a great success and the kids had a great time.  The level 4 and 5 workshops were really fantastic!  I will definitely plan this field trip again next year.

Because your children have a book report and their science fair question due next Tuesday, September 30, there will be no new IXL homework this week.  They should continue working on the previous IXL homework if they have not already completed it.

We have been learning about what makes a complete sentence, and this week we are focusing on all the parts of the sentence that make a Great sentence.  As such, we have studied strong verbs and how and when parts (aka prepositions).  Your children will have homework tonight that will help them understand  Dead Verbs (weak verbs and “be” verbs).

Our first Parent Teacher Conference is coming up October 13-15.  Please sign up for a 30 minutes slot.  The sign-up is available on the right-hand sidebar.

~Cheers

Science Fair Information

Sep14

This is the 5th year of science fair at MMA.  Science Fair is mandatory for all upper elementary students.

Please visit the science fair page, at the top of the blog, for a list of due dates and deadlines to help your student be successful.   If you follow these deadlines, you and your student will avoid the stress that comes with waiting until the last minute.  Take it from me, a parent who has had an upset child, and a teacher who has witnessed unprepared students, these deadlines are not only beneficial, but crucial in assuring that your child has a great experience at the science fair.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

 

This entry was posted on September 14, 2014, in Science Fair.

What a Week!

Feb21

 

I hope you all enjoyed the three day weekend.  I can’t believe it’s Friday already.  Whew!  Time flies when you are working hard, like the students have all week.

There are a lot of updates so pull up a chair, pour a warm drink and settle in.

Science Fair was Wednesday and we had some really fantastic projects from our class.  Our very own Hailey, a 6th level student, won 3rd place overall and will be moving on to the Ritchey Science Fair on March 20th.  Congratulations to Hailey!

Today we had a whole class lesson on context clues and how to identify words we don’t know the meaning of by looking for four clues: synonyms, antonyms, explanations and examples.  We watched a short video to help the students understand each on of these clues a little more.  Follow this link, and you can watch the video with them if you would like.

http://www.flocabulary.com/context-clues/

 

We also had a zoology lesson on mountain biomes.  We started watching the BBC Planet Earth Mountains DVD and looked for 3 animals, 3 plants and 3 mountain ranges that were mentioned in the video.  The BBC puts out amazingly beautiful educational films.

Our 4th grade students have been working on improving their sentence writing, learning about decimals and learning how to identify locations on a map given their longitude and latitude.

Our fifth grade students are finishing their unit on Ancient Egypt and have a pyramid project due on Tuesday, February 25th.  They are to create a pyramid from whichever medium they prefer.  It could be clay, sugar cubes, paper, cardboard or whatever materials your have available in your home.  They also created a classified ad looking for workers, instead of slaves, to help them build their pyramids.

In preparation for our DWA Tuesday, February 25th, our 5th level students have been practicing persuasive essay writing.  Please have your 5th level student log on to Utah Write this weekend and practice, practice, practice.  With less than one week to go, any amount of practicing they can do will benefit them greatly.  We have discussed ways to make their writing longer, by using more detail and examples within their writing.

In 6th grade this week, we had two lessons on how to write a short response to a literary passage using “ACE”. Answer the question concisely,  Cite the information directly (quote) or indirectly (summarizing), and Explaining by giving examples from the text.  This is a concept that is a little bit challenging, but with practice will become much easier.  We also discussed some of the causes of the Revolutionary War.  We talked about the Stamp Tax, Townshend Duties, Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.  Next week we will discuss the First Continental Congress.

Next week we have Ballet West coming to do an in school fieldtrip.  They will be visiting with us on Wednesday.  Also coming up next week, we have a Parent Education Night entitled: School Safety for our Generation.  This will be held Thursday, February 27th at 7:00pm.  Representatives of NOPD and North View Fire Dept. will also be there.

Lastly, we have a maturation program for our 5th and 6th level students on March 11th.  A permission slip was sent home with your student this week.   Please sign and return the form with your student by March 7th.  The program is called Growing Up Comes First.  You can see an overview of the program online by visiting www.growingupcomesfirst.org/en/parent-guide

Have a wonderful weekend.

Cheers!!

Science Fair

Feb6

 

 

 

Whew!  February sure is a busy month.  With parent teacher conference, the international festival, science fair, and……Wait!  What?  Science Fair?  Already?

I understand how stressful some of these projects can become, especially when they all come due so closely together.  I hope that your students have been having fun with their experimentation and are putting the final touches on their projects.

I have included a link back to the timeline for science fair (it also has a permanent presence on the top of the blog page), and if your students have been following the timeline, they should be in pretty good shape.  If, on the other hand, they have been procrastinating, this weekend means crunch time!  Monday is the deadline for project titles.  We have to submit the title of the child’s project, which will then be set in stone (no changes will be allowed), and submitted for judging criteria.

Please work with your students this weekend to finish up (or begin and finish) their science fair projects and create a title for their board.   Science Buddies (www.sciencebuddies.org) is an amazing resource to guide you and your student in putting together their tri-fold board.

 

http://blogs.mariamontessoriacademy.org/amity/science-fair/

 

Cheers.