Dear Students and Parents,
The sun shone for our musical production of Sing Me a Song, but the brightest “performance” came from Chatham Day School students. You were all delightful stars in my eyes. Thank you to parents, family members and friends who were able to attend our event.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Novel Study/Writer’s Workshop
We took a break from reading and writing poetry this week to write a descriptive paragraph about an object, person, or place that is important to us. Students used automatic writing to brainstorm topics and find “fizzy” words. The imagery techniques developed through poetry were clearly in evidence in these descriptive pieces. We also spent time developing note-taking strategies for research. Students discovered the power of categorizing a topic and recording details in an organized format. The information was now easy to retrieve and ready to be transferred into a final project.
Spelling/Grammar
Although most irregular tense changes are familiar to students by third grade, some continue to pose difficulties for students in the throes of the writing process. Buy/bought, bring/brought, creep/crept, catch/caught are some pairs that can catch students off guard. This lesson was designed to heighten awareness of irregular tense changes during the drafting phase.
MATH
Students practiced evaluating expressions by substituting numbers for variables. Typical problems followed this format:
If a=12 and b=3,
what is the value of the expression a+b?
of a - b?
of a * b?
of a/b?
Students demonstrated admirable levels of adaptability to the changing values of an expression in this introductory algebraic-thinking concept. We also covered adding and subtracting fractions with common denominators and using formulas to find the perimeter and area of rectangles.
SOCIAL STUDIES/ SCIENCE
Students used computers to research facts about our 49th and 50th states, Alaska and Hawaii. They recorded information relating to climate, history, geography, and people associated with these Pacific states. Information about Alaska is being collected for the creation of a brochure that will encourage potential tourists to visit the largest state in the union. In science we researched underwater research vehicles and learned their uses in environmental science, marine biology, and marine salvage and recovery. Then students applied their research to designing and labeling their own submersible vehicles, explaining the purpose and capabilities of their creation.
Kind regards,
Mrs. Bennfors