April 18 Update

Apr18

This morning your children were talking about there only being 6 weeks of school left.  I knew the school year was coming to an end, but I hadn’t completely wrapped my mind around it until this morning.  I am also a parent, and I know how fleeting these moments with our kids are.  One minute they are just learning how to talk, the next they are writing 5 paragraph essays for their SAGE exams.  Whew!  Time flies.

We ended our studies last week with an amazing art project that had a basis in math (photos forthcoming, I’m not the greatest at taking photos).   I want to thank Sharon Johnson for the countless hours she spent cutting thousands of 1×1 inch squares, enabling us to create this project that crossed math with art.  The artists we studied were, Ellsworth Kelly, Piet Mondrian, Victor Vasarely, Kenneth Noland, and Frank Stella.  Each of these 20th century artists utilize(d) math in their artwork.  Students created an abstract piece of art and then calculated the fraction, decimal and percent component of each color they used in their piece.  This has been my favorite project of the year.

This week we are cracking down on the following math concepts:

4th – Decimal Fractions

5th- Classifying 2D figures

6th- Percents (review), equations and equations (ongoing practice) and Statistics (just starting)

In addition to in class work, your children all have an essay due on Friday (Utah Compose) and IXL homework.  Each of them are given 20 minutes of computer time each day.  Any work not completed in this time is considered homework.

Lastly, the 6th grade students (and I) are headed to the Redwoods on Sunday, April 24.  Rachael Bush will be in our classroom with Ms. Kari during this week.

 

End of March Updates

Mar23

I can’t believe we are nearing the end of March.  Spring is definitely here, with the fluctuation in weather, and mood, I can tell your kids are ready for spring break!  Having said that, it is important that your children are fulfilling their potential, as well as the expectations that have been set for them.

Each week your child has a Utah Compose essay due.  Assignments are available Monday, and due Friday morning.  Your child has time during class to work on this (approx. 20 min each day Mon-Thurs), but it should be considered homework.  4th level students should be writing a minimum of three complete paragraphs, while 5th and 6th level students should be writing at least 5 complete paragraphs.

We have our first SAGE language assessment on Monday, March 28.  Please ensure your child gets plenty of sleep, eats a healthy breakfast, brings a protein packed lunch as well as a nice healthy (no chips or fruit snacks please) snack so they can do their best.  This is the time to show what they know.  I have stressed to the children that they wouldn’t show up to a music recital or a sporting event without having practiced;  the same is expected for our state testing.

Knowing that some children feel extreme anxiety over the test itself, I try to treat the exams as a “show what you already know” event.  All of their hard work for the school year so far, is on display this coming Monday.

MMA Family Literacy Night! “May the Reading Force Be With You!”

Mar18

Thursday March 31st
6pm-8pm
Maria Montessori Academy

Students and Families are invited to Maria Montessori Academy’s innagural Family Literacy Night! This will be a time for families to explore reading and writing with fun activities and games.
Activities will include;
Reader’s Theater Performances
Found Poetry
Story retelling crafts
Creating bookmarks
Local Author Q&A sessions
And MORE!

Please RSVP at the following link if you are planning to attend.

Family Literacy Night RSVP

This entry was posted on March 18, 2016, in General.

Utah Compose Homework

Mar10

A reminder that all students have Utah Compose essays assignments weekly.  Every child has access to computers in the classroom (approximately 20 minutes daily) and the majority of the class has an additional 1.5 hours, once a week, to work on this assignment. For some, this may be all the time they need.  For most, this time is not enough to do their best work and they will need to spend time at home working on these assignments.  Please encourage your children to do their homework, it directly affects their improvement in writing.

These expectations have been communicated to your children verbally, as well as on their weekly work expectation sheets.  Please see previous blog posts where I spoke about expectations for Utah Compose here and here.

If you have any questions about Utah Compose, or the assignment expectations, please let me know.