We had a busy month in third grade Social Studies. We started the month by learning about and celebrating Chinese New Year. We learned about the Chinese culture and traditions that go along with celebrating the new year. At the end, we made dragon puppets.

Throughout the entire month, third graders learned about the 5 Regions of the USA. Students were able to do research on Mount Rushmore while learning about the midwest and then the Grand Canyon while learning about the South West. We also learned some interesting facts about volcanoes and all of our 50 states along the way.

In Reader’s Workshop, as we progressed through our Nonfiction Unit, the fourth grade students have been analyzing digital and print texts about influential African Americans to celebrate Black History Month. The students have been working in groups and using their research to develop reasons as to why their chosen individual should be honored. Their main task is to construct a letter or a commercial to the United States Postal Service convincing them to put the individual they are researching on a stamp in 2019. Students have been utilizing their synthesizing skills to create both informative and persuasive pieces. Make sure you ask your fourth grader who they are researching and what that individual accomplished! As we head into March, we will be saying farewell to our nonfiction unit and will be transitioning into our poetry unit!

In Writer’s Workshop throughout the month of February 4th graders have continued working through our nonfiction unit. After gathering research about their chosen topic using multiple sources, students spent multiple days grouping similar facts and organizing their information. The fourth graders have done such a great job researching that they truly are experts on their topics! Students then started drafting their table of contents to help present their information in a logical order for readers. We also analyzed mentor texts to learn how to write engaging introductions that hook a reader and effective closings that remind a reader of the text’s purpose. Students are now finishing their nonfiction drafts and moving into the revising stage of the writing process. We are looking forward to soon publishing these nonfiction pieces digitally on chromebooks!

Fifth Grade Math students did an outstanding job tackling long division and keeping such accurate records of their Math work in their notebooks. I am so proud of their progress and hard work. Special thanks to all the parents for helping them at home, too. I surely appreciate all of your requests for extra practice over the weekends, as well, and have offered many optional opportunities for my students on my Math website.

A new group of Peer Leaders have been chosen for our Spring session. I look forward to launching our Towel Drive for the Animal Shelter and hopefully, helping those children in the hospital, as we did last year.

The Sixth Graders have been working hard on their National History Day projects. This year’s theme is “Triumph and Tragedy.” Students spent several weeks researching and gathering primary sources for their topics. They are now in the midst of constructing their projects. We are all looking forward to seeing their finished products on Friday, March 15th at the Annual TRS National History Day!

ART

February has been an art-filled, exciting month! The students are excited to showcase their artwork during the Roosevelt art show “Light Up the World.” The art show will take place on Thursday, March 21, 2019 at 6pm in the Theodore Roosevelt auditorium. The students have been working hard since September to create several projects that allowed them to express themselves. The students then choose which artwork they are most proud of to be displayed in the art show. Each student will showcase one piece of artwork and some grades have a 3D display as well. The third grade classes made a “Night and Day” project, a “kid-friendly” lantern, landscapes and some have moved onto creating their own Cubist/Abstract drawing. The fourth grade classes made 3D Stars, a creative version of “Starry Night”, and are working on painting Chinese lanterns in celebration of the Chinese New Year. The fifth grade did a lot of painting such as making “Starry Mountain Nights”, Filipino Parols or Stars, and their own version of Jasper Johns’s “Map”. They are currently working on creating their symbol to represent themselves. Lastly, the sixth grade studied color theory in the beginning of the year and painted their own color wheel experimenting with mixing colors. They just finished painting beautiful parasols for our Japanese culture unit, and are currently working on drawing their favorite landmark while adding a Cubist technique to their piece. The students have done creative and skillful work in the art room all year! We hope that parents, friends, and family can come and view these wonderful projects that they did!

March 14- End of Trimester 2 TRS

March 15- TRS Grade 6 National History Day 1 pm

March 21- TRS Art Show 6-8 pm parent viewing

March 22- Grade 4 Famous People in History Day- 9:15-10:30 am parent viewing

March 23- Taste of Roosevelt- 1-4 pm