PA Progress Reports

PA Progress reports will be given to the kids on Friday to bring home via backpack mail.  Our reports are not online with the other report card grades.  Please look for them on Friday. 

PA and TD for the Week of 3-18

KTD Math will continue to explore problem solving and multiplication this week.  The kids and I will tackle a problem involving a carnival ride with about 20 steps to find the answer.

KTD Literature will read the picture book Orion and the Dark, a nod to their visit to the planetarium.  In this book, a child is afraid of the dark, and the constellation Orion comes into his room and the two become friends.  This is a great book to teach perspective, which is what we will be discussing.  The kids are going to do a short writing prompt, but they will write from the perspective of the sun.

1TD will continue to explore different picture books, looking for examples of different types of symbiotic relationships during our time together.

2TD is doing an excellent job of working together on their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character posters.  We should finish up by mid week, and then begin our next book James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.  

3PA has worked so hard on their Egyptian slide shows.  I am very proud of the work that went into the process of this project.  Last week, the kids wrote the rubric we will use to assess the final project.  The kids will use the rubric to assess each other, rotating around the room to view each project and grade the work.  When this is complete, the kids will be creating a cartouche of their name and we will learn how to write using hieroglyphics. 

4PA will finish their human brain model this week, complete with labels, a color and a symbol that represent the function of each part.  We will end the week with parts of a PBS NOVA documentary on how the brain works.  This is a fun one that will spark lots of discussion.

5PA will complete their work using their autobiography and fiction books early this week.  The remainder of the week, at their request, will be spent working on the Capstone projects.  The final push will begin after spring break.  Nine weeks to go. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Brookdale

4PA Brain Anatomy Sites

https://mayfieldclinic.com/pe-anatbrain.htm

http://brainmadesimple.com/left-and-right-hemispheres.html

Neuroscience Basics: Human Brain Anatomy and Lateralization of Brain Fun...

4PA Theme Song

Here you go Mason.  I posted the 4PA theme song.  Your grassroots campaign worked.  

4PA Theme Song

PA and TD for the Week of 3-11

KTD Math will try to tackle a very involved logic problem with me this week.  The goal is to build stamina with this logic problem that involves figuring our how many, and what types of animals escaped from a zoo.  

KTD Literacy will continue our work with spoonerisms and the poems of Runny Babbit.  Last week we even wrote a few of our own and figured out our "Runny Babbit" names.

1TD will be reading picture books, looking for examples of three types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism + +, parasitism + -, and commensalism + 0.  Last week, we learned about the three types, and had a shared reading experience with the picture book Mr. Peabody's Apples. 

2TD will finish reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Monday.  Tuesday, the kids will use their extensive notes on the five main characters, to create a large poster showing the five kids in the novel and identifying their specific character traits. 

3PA has one more day in class to finish their Egyptian Life slide shows.  These need to be completed by the time PA begins on Tuesday.  Then, we will be exploring the Valley of the Kings, using The Theban Mapping Project website.  This site has all 62 tombs discovered in the valley, giving details about the architecture, artifacts, and layout of each tomb.

4PA needs to finish their Broken Arrow Boy essay today, it is due tomorrow.  The rest of our week will be spent making a model of the human brain.  There are a few interactive brain maps linked on the website for the kids to use for this project and I have several books in the classroom to use.  I will give everyone a blank brain diagram, and the students will need to label the parts of the brain, select a color that represents the function of each part, and create a symbol that shows what each part is responsible for.  

5PA has been busy reading an annotating their autobiographies.  This week, we will finish up the autobiography and begin reading a work of fiction written by the same author to see how the life of the author makes its way into the tales they create.  We will also be working on the Capstone project.  

5PA Cinderella Shoe Project

So...five years ago, I mentioned something to the fifth graders about this Cinderella Shoe project that I did a few times with my fourth grade classroom. I admit, I pushed it aside many times because it wasn’t part of the PA curriculum. The time has come at last kids!!! The last week of March, we will do The Cinderella Shoe Project!!!  In order to do this long anticipated work, I have an odd request. My students need 15-20 high heeled shoes from the back of your closets, and any bags full of random craft supply left overs you might have. I promise that all will become clear soon. To my sweet crew of relentless students, I TOLD YOU WE WOULD DO IT ONE DAY! It just took five years.

PA and TD for the Week of 3-4

KTD Math will be experimenting with making magic crosses using larger numbers this week.  They worked using the numbers 1-5, but will they work for larger sequential numbers as well? We will find out this week.

KTD Literacy will be translating Runny Babbit poems into standard English this week.  Next week, we will try to write a poem of our own. 

1TD will be finishing up our "Lava Monsters" to begin the week, and then we will discuss symbiotic relationships in nature and in picture books.  The kids will learn about mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism and find similar relationships characters have in books.

2TD will finish reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this week.  Teams of kids will begin working on a poster showing how the different points of view from the five kids in the story helped shape the novel.

3PA will continue working on the Google Slides comparing life in Ancient Egypt to modern life.  These are the guidelines for the project that is due on Friday:

Life in Ancient Egypt was vastly different from our lives today.  For this project, you are going to compare what life was like in Ancient Egypt to your own life today.  Each slide must have a title, 7-10 facts from your reading on life in Ancient Egypt,  7-10 facts that show the modern version of what you do today to contrast each fact you found on Ancient Egypt, 3-4 images that match up to facts you found on both sides.  You can find information in the two packets you have in your binders, books we have in the room or from the local library, and the links on the PA website. Title your project Egyptian Life Vs. Modern Life and share with with Mr. Schumann.

Your slides:

• Family Life
• Marriage
• Food and Cooking
• Cosmetics and Bathing
• Clothing
• Housing and Furniture
• Entertainment
• Government
• Sports
• Religion
• Architecture
• Medicine

4PA will continue their essay on the life of Adam Moore this week. This essay is due on Friday. The class developed the following categories, based on their notes, as an outline for the paragraphs:

1. The accident

2. In the hospital

3. Recovery

4. Wonderfully, horrible people

5. Emotional state and symptoms

6. Help from others/Support

7. Going home

8. Obstacles

9. School (parts one and two)

10. Back and forth

11. Changes

12. Back to normal

5PA will have the rest of the week to finish reading their autobiographies and annotating them using the guide in their binders. Next week, everyone will begin reading one or more fiction stories written by the author of their book to see how the life of an author impacts their writing.