Greetings Families,
I hope everyone's weekend is off to a great start. If you like, you can inform your child that my wife is doing well. I had to rush out early yesterday as she became very ill, but whatever her ailment was, it seems to have passed in large part. I am thankful to have such a skilled assistant to take over when I must leave and a gracious team to support her in leading the class.
Below are the lessons for the week.
Assessments at Glance (Important Dates)
Thursday: Science Project Due & Literature Assessment
Friday: Spading Assessment
Monday (April 25, 2016): AzMERIT
Tuesday (April 26, 2016): AzMERIT
Monday (May 2, 2016): History Assessment
Lessons
Science: This week in science, students are continuing their discovery of the universe. On Monday, students will consider tides and how the moon, and sun to a lesser degree, impact their coming in an going out. On Wednesday, the students will be introduced to the planets and other objects of the solar system. This lesson will set the stage for the museum days in which students will learn from one another by taking notes from the project posters. On Thursday, students will travel outside to the south part of the campus to consider a scale model of the solar system. The aim on this day will be for students to consider the great size of the universe and how we are relatively small by comparison. Thursday is also the due date for the project. On Friday, we will begin the student project museum activity, where students will walk around the room to learn about the objects of the solar system from the efforts of their peers. This activity will continue into week five, as only ten students will present each day.
Math: In math this week, the students will be considering shapes, with a focus on perimeter. Students will review previously learned shapes and be introduced to others, with the goal of being able to identify regular and irregular shapes with three to ten sides. They will finish the week by discussing how shapes can have the same perimeter, but different area and vise versa. Wednesday will have a little bit of a different focus, as the students will be considering patters in mathematics.
History: This week we will be discussing the colonies of Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia. We will be covering the difficult concept of slavery and the plantation system. See last week’s blog post for more detailed information on this topic. On Monday students will be given a study guide. We will not have covered everything on the study guide yet, but we wanted to give students plenty of time to study for this assessment so they are encouraged to start filling in what they have learned and to start reviewing those questions. The study guide is due on Monday (4/25) and the test will be on Monday (5/2).
Best,
Michael naaktgeboren