9/1/23
August 24th, 2023
April 2024
This newsletter is intended for students who receive Gifted/Talented services in one or more area. If your child receives these services then you will have received a letter from the school notifying you that your child qualified for services, a parental consent form, and a parent response form.
Important Upcoming Dates:
MAP testing - Be sure to check out your grade level schedule for updated testing dates.
May 21st - Election Day
What Is My Child Doing In GT:
As we close out the year all students will be participating in important testing. Please encourage your child to stay focused and do their best as these scores are used to help determine middle school class placement for both 4th and 5th graders.
Math:
3rd grade students (PTP) have been learning to think Algebraically using Hands on Equations. This month we have extended this skill to writing and solving equations from word problems. An example of word problems that you can use to support this skill at home can be found attached to this newsletter. More information and example videos of verbal problems that your child is learning to solve are linked here.
5th grade is learning how to solve scale problems involving various shapes. They have also been reviewing area and volume of cones, cylinders, trapezoids, triangles, and compound shapes made from those basic shapes as well as determining the area and volume of shaded areas in overlapping situations.
4th Grade - Our fourth graders are continuing in their journey of learning conversions between customary units of measurement. Please help reinforce this at home by allowing them to do hands on conversions and help out in the kitchen. Also encourage them to make conversions between miles, yard, and meters. A great way to support this skill is to have them find the best deal on products that require conversion before finding the unit prices. An example of this skill that you could challenge them with at home would be to have them determine the better deal between buying a 20 oz container of ice cream for a certain price and a gallon of ice cream for a certain price and asking which is the better deal per ounce.
Reading:
All three grades are continuing to dive deeper into the Junior Great book series and specific questioning techniques. Be sure to ask your child to come up with evaluative and interpretive questions about the books they are reading at home or to tell you some of the different types of questioning techniques we are learning here at school.
4th Grade- Our fourth graders are currently writing their own creative stories involving the legend of the Green Man story from the medieval era .I continue to be impressed with how creative they are and how much they enjoy writing. I can’t wait to share these stories as they are completed.
5th Grade - Our fifth graders have learned so much about not only the beginning of the United States government but also other forms of government globally. They are currently reading the story The Coming of the Surfman (excerpt) and are in the process of writing essays discussing the symbolism drawn between either: the story and the Korean war or the parallels between the story and the rise and fall of the Berlin wall. They will begin a novel study of the book Grenade by Alan Gratz this month. Please support their learning by continuing to help them compare and contrast different forms of government to that of our own government. You can challenge them to develop a deeper understanding of the text by asking them questions such as - what vocabulary choices did the author choose that surprised them and what metaphorical, foreshadowing, or symbolic meaning is contained in the author’s specific word choice.
Seems like I say this every month but, I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by. Again, please tell Father Time to slow down. I am not ready for your children to be another year older. I am enjoying this journey too much for this year to be going so quickly. I’m not even going to think about our fifth graders graduating. I am extremely blessed to be able to work with such amazing students and families! We are stronger together.
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