The Delta Dispatch – October 2nd
General News
P&P this week
ELA:
- Read chapter 13 & 14 of Esperanza Rising
- Complete reading response questions for Esperanza Rising
- Complete grammar spiral review page and cursive practice
Math:
- Complete math packet.
Theme:
- Complete “Souvenir” packet and artifact.
End-of-Quarter Calendar Items!
- Check your email for an upcoming Delta Dish update including sign-up for parent conferences and some social gatherings on the horizon!
Reading/Writing Update
This week, we finished typing our persuasive letters and wrapped up our regional research project! Early finishers had time to choose their own adventure with free writing creative fiction, working on a research paper of their own choosing (yes, some people actually chose this!), or settling in with a good book. It was a fun way to end the project while giving students a little freedom to follow their own interests and creativity. At the end of the week we started working on a creative illustration project to summarize and symbolize Esperanza’s journey throughout the book.
Math Update
Year 1 Deltas spent part of the week escaping zombies! We dusted off a favorite Google Forms escape room from the quarantine archives, which turned out to be a perfect way to practice a whole buffet of decimal skills: models, adding and subtracting, rounding, and multiplying. Nothing motivates careful computation quite like the threat of imaginary zombies. We also tackled our mid-week check-in. If your child is still feeling wobbly with the standard algorithm for multi-digit multiplication and/or long division, this little pause between quarters is a great time for some low-pressure practice to keep those skills from getting rusty.
Year 2 Deltas put their fraction skills to work with a recipe project starring the nefarious Mr. Mayer, Ms. Lorrie’s former co-worker at Hill Elementary, in the role he was clearly born to play: villain. Students wrestled with some delightfully unruly fractions and mixed numbers while putting their skills into a real-world context. We also completed our mid-week check-in. Results will be posted on ARs, which will make their way home over Fall Break.
Theme Update
In Theme, Deltas put all those geography ideas we’ve been collecting this quarter to work by becoming country creators! Students designed their own imaginary countries, complete with maps, natural and political features, and other details that asked them to think about the big geographic concepts we’ve explored throughout our study of the United States. It was a fun chance to take what we’ve learned and turn it completely upside down: instead of studying why a place looks and works the way it does, they got to decide for themselves! We also had the privilege of hearing from three parents to wrap up our ‘Region Talks!” (Thank you Jenny, Ben & Zoe!)
We’re also busy preparing our booths for next week’s Great American Expo, where Deltas will show off some of their creations from our quarter-long trek across the USA. We’re hoping to invite our Epsilon friends to come take a peek at all their hard work!
And finally, we’ll put a delicious exclamation point on the quarter Thursday with our USA Buffet! Parents are welcome to join us as we celebrate our grand tour of the United States, presumably with considerably more calories than our original journey required.