Capstone Presentation Schedule

Today in PA, we drew names at random to select times slots for when each student will present their Capstone Projects.  These projects reflect 7 months of hard work done by this amazing group of learners and the accumulation of knowledge gleaned from kindergarten all the way to fifth grade.  I am extremely proud of this group of learners and cannot wait for them to share their hard work.  Time slots are 30 minutes, so times are approximate.

Parents are invited, bring a photo ID and check in at the office, as are any Brookdale staff who would like to see how the 5PA students have taken a problem and created a unique solution to make the world a better place.  

All work must be shared via Google with Mr. Schumann by 10:00 AM on May 26th. 

9:20-9:50 Amrita
9:50-10:20 Nora
10:20-10:50 Cooper
10:50-11:20 Theo
11:20-11:50 Lunch
11:50-12:20 Sean
12:20-12:50 Michael
12:50-1:20 Naren
1:20-1:50 Amit
1:50-2:20 Ryan
2:20-2:50 Lakshana
2:50-3:20 Ayush

PA and TD for the Week of 5-20

Please take a look around your house for books from my library.  I've got about 30 in the hands of kids that I need back before school ends. 

KTD Math will be creating their own math game using dice this week of me to use with my students next year.  They are so creative and engaged that I thought I'd give them a chance to create something new for the kids to use next year. 

KTD Literacy will continue to explore different biomes, or habitats with me this week.  The students will be using Facts 4 Me, a website the school has a subscription for, to explore and compare two different biomes.

1TD is going to be reading two books by Chris Van Allsburg this week. Jumanji and Zathura. Both stories are about board games that take the players on adventures.  We will be comparing the similarities and differences. 

2TD students all selected a third Roald Dahl book last week after we finished James and the Giant Peach.  The kids are reading their novel and recording any connective threads between the two books we read and the book they selected.  we will be having a Socratic Seminar to finish up the year discussing the works of Roald Dahl. 

3PA will be finishing up their posters on the Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt this week.  These kids have come so far with their ability to collaborate work together, sets goals, and map out a strategy for completing group work this year.  I am so proud of them. 

4PA will be finishing and presenting their sensory memory projects this week.  The group has been very engaged and working quite well on this collaborative project. 

5PA Capstone...need I say more.  I'll post the schedule for presentations on May 30th later this week.  Parents are invited to attend and I invited our superintendent, Dr. Karen Sullivan, to come see what 5th graders at Brookdale have accomplished in PA this year.  

PA and TD or the Week of May 6th

KTD Math will be playing a dice game version of Connect Four.  The kids will each get one die, roll it, and then double the number.  I have a grid with the numbers 2-12, and first person to get four numbers in a row wins.  I made extra copies to send home.

KTD Lit will explore two nonfiction articles next week about biomes and biodiversity.  A biome is simply a habitat or region of the Earth.  We will learn about the six types of biomes on Earth and why biodiversity is so important for the health of the planet.

1TD explored life on the space station last week, and this week we will be reading different articles about dream jobs.  What is it like to be a digit artist at Disney?  How about being an astronaut, or an ocean explorer?  I have several jobs for the kids to read about and discuss.

2TD will finish James and the Giant Peach next week, we will discuss the novel and compare it to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory during the first half of the week.  The second half of the week, the kids will be picking a Roald Dahl book of their choice from my library, or from the LMC to read with a partner.  The kids will be looking for connective threads between all three Dahl books for our final project of the year. 

3PA will be studying the mythology of the Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt this week.  The kids will each research eight deities of their choice during our time together for a project we will finish the year with.

4PA will explore the idea of memory this week.  What is memory? What types of memory exist?  Why do we remember some things and forget others?  The neurological disorder projects were very good last week.  The kids put a lot of time and energy into their work.

5PA will have the whole week to work on the visual for their Capstone, their speeches, and the summary.  Most of the class is 80% done, and I have had check in meetings with every student to monitor their progress and help guide them in the final stages of this endeavor.  The Capstone projects will be presented during the school day on May 30th.  The 5PA kids will be with me all day so we can all celebrate the work that has taken the whole year to complete.  I will be posting the schedule of when each student will present, and parents are invited to come and watch.  

6PA Math Summer Class

  The 5th grade students who qualified for 6PA Math at Hill need to sign up for this summer class to prepare them for next year. A copy of the letter with all the directions for registration will come home with students today.  I apologize for the late notice, but I just got the information from the district office this week.  The deadline for registration is May 10th.  

PA Night at Hill

On Monday, May 13th Hill Middle School will host a meeting for 5th grade parents of students in PA who are moving on in 6PA next year.  The presentation will begin at 6:00 and end at 6:45. 

Rosie Revere, Engineer From Space

The Expanding Universe Nova HD 1080p

PA Qualification Letters

On Thursday, the letters with the PA testing results will be sent home.  This is my least favorite day of the school year, because I know there will be many disappointed kids.  I wish PA were like the draft and we just got to pick who to put in the program, but that is not the case.  

There has never been a year that all of the 5th graders moved on to middle school PA, and this year is no exception.  I am not going to speak with the kids in 5PA about the results before the letters go home, but I will be happy to talk with them next week.  It's important for parents to know that students who didn't qualify for 6th grade PA will have the opportunity to test in February of 2020 for 7th grade PA.  

Egyptian Mummy Paintings

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/egyptian-mummy-portraits/index.html

I came across this article today that has some beautiful images of paintings found on the sarcophagi in Egyptian tombs.  There is also a short video about the one billion dollar museum being built in Giza.  

PA and TD for the Week of 4-15

KTD Lit will be discussing writing stories this week.  We will be reading the book Also An Octopus, a great book that shows all stories begin the same way...with a little bit of nothing. 

KTD Math will play the game 101 and Out.  This is a dice game that uses addition and a copy will come home for the kids to play with you. 

1TD will read the book Animal Ark by Kwame Alexander this week.  The kids will be writing poems about animals based on the poetry in the story and photos from the National Geographic book Photo Ark. 

2TD continues with James and the Giant Peach this week.  The peach is currently in the ocean with no land in sight.  

3PA will take a break from Ancient Egypt this week to explore a topic that came up when we were exploring the Great Pyramids.  The seven wonders of the ancient world.  The kids will have the week to create a visual of some kind that identifies the seven wonders and some of the interesting facts about them.  

4PA will continue to develop their brain disorder slide shows. Our focus this week will be reading testimonials of people with the disorders and their family members.  I want the kids to tell a human story in their presentations, not just rattle off facts about the disorder.  They need to make it real by sharing all of their research through the eyes of those impacted by the disorder. We will set a due date for this project this week. 

5PA will start the week by discussing how growth promotes change.  We will be watching parts of a NOVA documentary on the Hubble telescope to get the conversation started.  The kids will also have two days for Capstone work.