General News
The Halloween carnival was such a hit! The Deltas got some first hand experience hosting (and wrangling) the younger kids. It was a beautiful act of service for building community and fun was had by all! We also got to spend some time in the library and lounge downstairs for our new monthly tradition: Lit. Lounge! We enjoyed cider, hot chocolate, or peppermint tea, learned about the new library system, and got to check out some leisure reading books! We look forward to doing it again next month!
Reading/Writing Update
This week in class, we focused on character traits and how to use evidence to make inferences about them. During book club meetings, students summarized their novels’ plot development so far and collaborated to set a reading goal for next week. In our literacy lessons, we learned that character traits are determined by a character’s actions and that identifying them requires combining our background knowledge (schema) with text clues to make inferences. We then applied these skills to nonfiction, reading articles about famous early earth scientists and identifying traits that shaped their discoveries. We read about James Hutton, Charles Darwin, Inge Lehmann, and Alfred Wegener and determined that they were many things including: ambitious, creative, adventurous, intelligent, hardworking, generous, and so much more! Students shared their findings in small groups and came together as a class to discuss the text evidence that supported their conclusions.
Math Update
Year 1 kids are launching into fraction skills starting with multiplication and division of fractions (which is easier than addition and subtraction–coming soon!) We began the unit by learning how to find a fraction of a set using picture models. Each time we tackled a problem, we modeled the standard algorithm so that kids feel comfortable making that leap soon. Year 2 kids are also beginning a new unit: ratios, rates and proportions. We learned how to name a ratio (and how ratios compare to fractions) By next week, we should start experimenting with finding equivalent ratios via proportions (maybe even with scale factor drawings if time permits! If not, we’ll tackle that skill next week!)
Theme Update
Deltas began exploring the different topics related to the history of the earth and selected their top 3 choices for their individual research project. (Topics were next assigned and your child should have their topic assignment on a bright green sticker on last week’s P&P. It is also available on Google Classroom if spreadsheets are more your speed!) We explored the concept of time and timelines, preparing kids to embark upon a small group project next week where they will make large-scale posters outlining important events in the history of the earth. To help conceptualize, kids created a timeline of their own lifetime selecting 7 important/impactful events, organizing them into chronological order and then creating timeline infographics. We ended the week with a fun hands-on lab to give Deltas more chances to internalize the scientific method (a witch-themed lab with vinegar, baking soda and balloons!) They are getting so much more independent during these types of activities. Great work this week, Deltas!
| 
| 
|
|---|---|---|
|  | 
|
| 
|  |
| 
| |
 |
|  |
|  | 
|
| 
| 
|
 | 
| 
|
| 
| 
|
| 
| 
|
