"PEEK at PEAK" - Fifth Grade News
February 12
Conferences
For those of you who are new to PEAK, PEAK does not host Parent / Teacher conferences in February. Our two Open Houses replace the conference nights. However, if anyone (old or new) feels like they would like a conference, I am always happy to meet with parents. Please feel free to email me to set up an appointment. In May, I will send home a comprehensive student progress report accompanied by student work!
PEAK NEWS
Enrichment Centers:
- Topic Study:We filled out scoring guides to grade topic study projects and selected new Topic Studies! Next week we will write new essential questions. Everything should be easier the second time around!
- Math: We continued to work in our Algebra unit - everyone is working really hard!
- "5 Things Every Mathematician and Scientist need to know": We will discuss 5 rules. Today's Rule: Math and science will tell you the truth. We used the Challenger disaster as an example. NASA was told that it was not safe to launch (math and science told them so) but NASA chose to ignore the warnings. Ask your child for the other example we used to demonstrate this principle. We discussed the second principle since we missed last week: Rule number 2: Your Mind Can Be Fooled: Counter-intuitive Thinking. We used the Kansas City Hyatt Regency disaster as an example. Ask your child to explain this principle. We will give more examples next week!
Theme Study:
- Students are finishing writing and working through the editing process. Students will have 3 editors look at their writing piece. Editors will give feedback on: ideas/content, organization, voice, sentence fluency, and conventions/grammar.
- We continued to examine museums: Our purpose: To better understand how a museum is designed / set up and to model our projects after authentic museum displays. Students will create an additional project to represent our depth and breadth of knowledge. Ask your child about his/her virtual tour of the Smithsonian - it was almost like being there!
New Apps are where it's at ---
We have learned the following new Technology Applications:
- Evernote ---for Theme Study
- Symbaloo - "PEAK PAD"
- Drop Box
- S'more poster
- Padlet
- Google Docs
- Create a Graph
- Live Binders --- for Topic Study
- Edmodo (review)
- Thinglink