Community Three
January 8, 2016
Coming Next Week...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Next week, your child will begin learning with other C3 lead learners. He/She will learn math concepts with Mrs. Swanson, Mrs. Eller, or Mrs. Franco. He/She will learn language arts concepts with Mrs. Schaefer, Mrs. Tucker, or Mrs. Hampton. We will still engage in project-based learning; however, core skills will be addressed mostly in the mornings (afternoons too, as they are encountered). Because your child will learn with other lead learners, those lead learners will also be able to indicate observations and mastery (or improvement) in various areas. We appreciate your understanding and support of our doing things The Pike Road Way!
Literacy
Your child will describe characters that he/she is reading about. It is important to be able to identify characters’ traits, motivations, and feelings and how they change throughout a story. The way that characters change from beginning to the end is important when thinking about that order of the story
Want to get started with this at home? Great!
· Have your child name and describe their favorite characters from stories they have read or movies they have watched. Talk to them about who they were, what they did, and how the character behaved.
· Ask your child why characters are important to a story. Point out that without characters, there would be no story.
· Have students think about the people they know. Especially family members. What are those people like? What feelings do they have? What types of things do they do? Explain that characters in stories are like real people. They have likes as well as dislikes, and they have feelings.
Opinion Writing
Community 3’s patriots have learned that The Town of Pike Road is the fastest growing town in Alabama. They are forming opinions about if this is a good or bad thing and why. Your child will share their opinion with others through writing. These opinions will drive our project ideas.
Geometry
· We will begin to work on equal shares. Learners will have multiple opportunities to understand how a shape can be divided into equal fractional parts and these parts have the same area.
What We're Doing....
The Project
This week we launched a new project! The focus is being part of the vision of planning the future of Pike Road. Our driving questions is, “What is your hope for the future of the town of Pike Road? How can we share that hope with others.” During this project our learners will be researching the needs of growing towns. To do this, the learners will be focused on the Social Studies map standards 1 and 2. We will also be using our geometry skills to help us build and design maps.
Math
This week we have focused on different geometrical shapes. The students have participated in various activities to demonstrate the different attributes of shapes. Students will be expected to name, identify, and describe attributes of shapes including: polygons, parallelograms, and quadrilaterals.
Reading
This week we have been practicing fluency in our reading. Our learners have also reviewed story elements to aid in their creation of their own narratives. Learners have been researching different visionaries and their impact on their communities.
Writing
We have been writing our narrative stories. Our learners have been working in groups and individually to create stories with dialogue, sequence, and morals. Our narratives are modeled after the fables for mentor text.
Language
The students are working on various language skills to improve their writing.
Ask Me About...
- Can you describe the following figures?
- Quadrilateral
- Parallelogram
- Trapezoid
- Rectangle
- Rhombus
- Square
- What shapes do you see around the house? Can you describe their attributes?
- What do you know about maps and the globe?
- Can you locate the continents and the oceans?
- What would you add to the city of Pike Road to make it more desirable to others?