October 22, 2014

 hope you are enjoying the rainy weather! We are certainly dodging raindrops here on campus this week.

We are having a fun week in Turquesa. Yesterday, the Pacific Science Center brought their Rock-n-Roll exhibit to Indigo. We had a fun hour exploring all things related to rocks, minerals, plate tectonics and volcanoes. I personally was amazed to see fluorescence in rocks - some minerals glow under a black light! Yesterday’s experience was brought to us by the Parent Association and we are incredibly grateful!

On Friday, we are doing a cooking project. We’ll be making pumpkin soup. Tomorrow we are going to roast our own small pumpkins and we are looking forward to our scrumptious fall pumpkin delight. We will also be making crostini (crunchy baguette slices). Karolina, Iza’s mom, is shepherding us through this process and we are so grateful! We would love for one or two children to bring in baguettes. If your child would be able to do that, please let me know.

Everyone in Turquesa is working hard to complete their history research. We are living in a world populated by Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Jutes and Franks. The students are digging deep into our resources in order to gather information and understanding about these cultures that form the basis of modern Europe.

In geometry this week, the Fourth Graders are playing around with equivalence, congruence and similarity using the constructive triangles. After yesterday’s lesson, I asked them what they wanted to do for their follow-ups. I asked, “How do you want to deepen your own understanding and what sounds like fun?” They all decided that they will re-present yesterday’s lesson to a Fifth Grader. They are so excited to become the teachers of their elder peers! As a teacher, I’m thrilled for the Fourths and also for the Fifths (because a bit of review is always a good idea!).

The Fifth and Sixth Graders are continuing their geometry work on area. Yesterday, we started to explore the idea of how to understand the area of a triangle. During the lesson, it became apparent that each of the students is a little hesitant in their ability to name triangles by sides and angles. So we put the area work aside for a week and we’ll be focusing on triangle work instead. In effort to help the students get energized and excited about triangles, I told them that next Tuesday we will have a triangle quiz. We rarely have quizzes, so it can feel like a fun and interesting format for the students. It also gives them a glimpse into a different style of education (they’ll get to visit a traditional classroom for 20 minutes). I gave them all kinds of ideas and tools for how to practice and review the triangles. This will be an interesting experiment of sorts. And I’m excited to hear from the students about their experience with this alternative format.

In homework this week, your child should be completing Part 1 of Wordly Wise Lesson 4, reading their lit book assignment and thinking about a new Choice Book for this month. In addition, daily Rocket Math practice makes a huge difference and spelling practice too!