We will use this page to communicate any current classroom happenings and to keep you posted on any upcoming events. Please check back often for updated information!
April 26, 2017
CAASPP Assessment Schedule
The CAASPP testing window for The Cove School will be the weeks of May 8th and 15th. During those two weeks, please refrain from making appointments for your child in the morning as we will be testing before lunch each day. In order to help your child experience success, we encourage healthy breakfasts, getting to bed early and a positive attitude! If you are able to bring in some brain food (snacks for testing that are nut and dairy-free), please let us know.
Social Studies
Our 22nd Mission/14th Colony PBL unit has come to an end. Our students did an amazing job creating their missions and colonies on Minecraft, utilizing all of the resources available to create realistic missions and colonies. Each group then had the opportunity to give our class a guided tour through their mission or colony in an effort to convince the class to choose to live in their mission or colony. We are proud of the work the students did on this project, and are impressed with how their missions and colonies turned out!
In Social Studies, the 4th graders are studying Westward Movement, while the 5th graders are learning about the events leading up to the American Revolution.
Opinion Reading & Writing
We are currently well into our final reading and writing unit, which is all about opinions and arguments. Not surprisingly, the students are thoroughly engaged! Students are learning to read nonfiction texts with an eye for the author’s perspective and possible bias. In writing, 4th graders are working to form an opinion on something important their life, while 5th graders are learning to make an argument and use research to back up their claims. 5th graders are taking on a leadership role on occasion, and are teaching some of the persuasive strategies they learn to the 4th grade students.
Art Website
Mrs. Mason has created a Cove art website highlighting the various projects her classes are working on throughout the year. Please make sure you take a look to see updates on the current projects.Thank you for your donations to SPARK- they make our art program possible!
4th Grade Updates
Field Trips
Our field trip to Helen Putnam Regional Park in Petaluma last Friday was a great success. The students learned about the food chains within a pond ecosystem, as well as how consumers, producers and decomposers depend on each other for survival. They discussed scat, wildflowers, predators, prey and invasive vs. native species. It was a beautiful day for a hiking field trip. Thank you to Joanne, Ana, Sally, Patricia and Skye for driving/chaperoning this field trip.
We have two final field trips for the year. Our last Aegis visit will be on May 19 between 10:30-12:30. We will also be going to the SF MOMA on May 25 to experience their Look, Learn, Create docent-led field trip on May 25th. With the museum tour and lunch, we will be away from school for most of the day. If you are able to chaperone (and drive to the SF MOMA) on either or both of these field trips, please let Mrs. Holst know. Keep an eye out for a permission slip next Monday in your child’s homework folder.
Bio Bottles: Supplies Needed!
The 4th graders are looking forward to creating Bio Bottles in class for science. If anyone has clear 2-Liter plastic bottles you are able to donate to the class, please let Mrs. Holst know. We need 10 total to make 5 Bio Bottles. We are hoping to add freshwater snails, aquatic plants, seeds and fish to the Bio Bottles. The Bio Bottles will allow us to create both terra and aqua environments within the same habitat. It is such a fun project to end the year.
5th Grade Updates
Family Life Unit
The 5th grade family life unit will take place during the weeks of May 16 - May 30. Remember that the parent information night will be on Thursday, May 4th, from 7:00-8:00pm at Neil Cummins in rooms E1 and E2. The Cove and Neil Cummins 5th grade teachers will be presenting the information your child will be learning during the unit. We are asking to have all permission slips back by May 9th. Thank you for your help with this!
Hall Middle School Tour
On Wednesday, May 17th, the 5th grade students will have the opportunity to visit Hall Middle School. We will leave campus at 8:30 and will be back by recess. The students are excited to have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with their new campus! If your child is not attending Hall next year, please check in with me if you haven’t already, and we can figure out a plan. Thank you!
Benjamin Franklin Assembly
On Friday, May 19th, the 5th grade students will all be attending an assembly at Neil Cummins. This assembly is a “museum on wheels” and gives students an opportunity to learn about Benjamin Franklin’s life and see how a real printing press works. I need more drivers to get our class to Neil Cummins, so if you are able to help and did not already sign up, please let me know. You are not expected to stay for the assembly, so can just drop off and pick up. Thank you!
CAASPP Assessment Schedule
The CAASPP testing window for The Cove School will be the weeks of May 8th and 15th. During those two weeks, please refrain from making appointments for your child in the morning as we will be testing before lunch each day. In order to help your child experience success, we encourage healthy breakfasts, getting to bed early and a positive attitude! If you are able to bring in some brain food (snacks for testing that are nut and dairy-free), please let us know.
Social Studies
Our 22nd Mission/14th Colony PBL unit has come to an end. Our students did an amazing job creating their missions and colonies on Minecraft, utilizing all of the resources available to create realistic missions and colonies. Each group then had the opportunity to give our class a guided tour through their mission or colony in an effort to convince the class to choose to live in their mission or colony. We are proud of the work the students did on this project, and are impressed with how their missions and colonies turned out!
In Social Studies, the 4th graders are studying Westward Movement, while the 5th graders are learning about the events leading up to the American Revolution.
Opinion Reading & Writing
We are currently well into our final reading and writing unit, which is all about opinions and arguments. Not surprisingly, the students are thoroughly engaged! Students are learning to read nonfiction texts with an eye for the author’s perspective and possible bias. In writing, 4th graders are working to form an opinion on something important their life, while 5th graders are learning to make an argument and use research to back up their claims. 5th graders are taking on a leadership role on occasion, and are teaching some of the persuasive strategies they learn to the 4th grade students.
Art Website
Mrs. Mason has created a Cove art website highlighting the various projects her classes are working on throughout the year. Please make sure you take a look to see updates on the current projects.Thank you for your donations to SPARK- they make our art program possible!
4th Grade Updates
Field Trips
Our field trip to Helen Putnam Regional Park in Petaluma last Friday was a great success. The students learned about the food chains within a pond ecosystem, as well as how consumers, producers and decomposers depend on each other for survival. They discussed scat, wildflowers, predators, prey and invasive vs. native species. It was a beautiful day for a hiking field trip. Thank you to Joanne, Ana, Sally, Patricia and Skye for driving/chaperoning this field trip.
We have two final field trips for the year. Our last Aegis visit will be on May 19 between 10:30-12:30. We will also be going to the SF MOMA on May 25 to experience their Look, Learn, Create docent-led field trip on May 25th. With the museum tour and lunch, we will be away from school for most of the day. If you are able to chaperone (and drive to the SF MOMA) on either or both of these field trips, please let Mrs. Holst know. Keep an eye out for a permission slip next Monday in your child’s homework folder.
Bio Bottles: Supplies Needed!
The 4th graders are looking forward to creating Bio Bottles in class for science. If anyone has clear 2-Liter plastic bottles you are able to donate to the class, please let Mrs. Holst know. We need 10 total to make 5 Bio Bottles. We are hoping to add freshwater snails, aquatic plants, seeds and fish to the Bio Bottles. The Bio Bottles will allow us to create both terra and aqua environments within the same habitat. It is such a fun project to end the year.
5th Grade Updates
Family Life Unit
The 5th grade family life unit will take place during the weeks of May 16 - May 30. Remember that the parent information night will be on Thursday, May 4th, from 7:00-8:00pm at Neil Cummins in rooms E1 and E2. The Cove and Neil Cummins 5th grade teachers will be presenting the information your child will be learning during the unit. We are asking to have all permission slips back by May 9th. Thank you for your help with this!
Hall Middle School Tour
On Wednesday, May 17th, the 5th grade students will have the opportunity to visit Hall Middle School. We will leave campus at 8:30 and will be back by recess. The students are excited to have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with their new campus! If your child is not attending Hall next year, please check in with me if you haven’t already, and we can figure out a plan. Thank you!
Benjamin Franklin Assembly
On Friday, May 19th, the 5th grade students will all be attending an assembly at Neil Cummins. This assembly is a “museum on wheels” and gives students an opportunity to learn about Benjamin Franklin’s life and see how a real printing press works. I need more drivers to get our class to Neil Cummins, so if you are able to help and did not already sign up, please let me know. You are not expected to stay for the assembly, so can just drop off and pick up. Thank you!
March 16, 2017
Open House
Remember to join us at Open House on Wednesday, March 29. The classroom will be open 6:00-7:15pm, and the 5th grade choir will perform a few songs at 7:15pm in the gallery. When you enter the classroom, your child will guide you through and show you the learning they have been doing. We hope to see everyone for this special evening!
Pi Day
On Tuesday, we had a great time celebrating Pi Day! We celebrated the never-ending number 3.14159… on March 14th at 1:59pm. We were able to kick off the celebration with an awesome rendition of “American Pie” re-written as “Irrational Pi” by our very own Nathan Beach (Bella’s dad). Students then learned about circles, and investigated the circumference and diameter of various circles (pies) to learn that the ratio of circumference to diameter is where this number came from. The event culminated in students getting to enjoy some pie. Thank you so much to all of the wonderful parents who brought in a pie or two to share and made this event a special one for the students! Ask your child how many digits of pi he/she has memorized; we are having a contest later this week!
Missions/Colonies PBL
What if you were given the task by King George III of building the 14th colony or Archbishop Fonte of building the 22nd mission? What would you need to survive? Where would you get your resources? What factors do you need to consider when choosing the location? How would you design the layout of your colony or mission to make sure it supports a successful community? What do you need to consider when interacting with the Native Americans in the area? All of these questions are currently being explored by our Huddle class in our PBL unit on colonization in the United States and California.
Opinion Writing/Reading
This week we are kicking off our third and final language arts unit on opinion reading and writing. We are beginning our work by reading The Giving Tree and having students pick a side as to whether the tree in the story is weak or strong. Students will develop reasons and evidence for their opinion, will caucus with like-minded peers, and will present their argument to someone on the opposing side. They will then work to debunk the points raised by the opposite side. This fun entry event will be the start of students learning to read opinion-based texts and decipher the author’s point of view. They will also learn how to write about their own opinion in a convincing way. We know students at this age love to debate, so we are looking forward to this fun and dynamic unit!
Author Visit-Linda Sue Park
The 4th and 5th graders were given the chance to hear Newbury Medal winning author, Linda Sue Park, speak at the Cove last week. She spoke in detail about the creative process behind her book series, Wing and Claw. She emphasized the importance of choosing ideas and characters she was passionate about in order to achieve the highest level of writing. She also highlighted the number of drafts she needed to complete (her record was 37 drafts!) before achieving her final, published version. Linda Sue Park spoke quite passionately about the importance of taking the time to read each day, as it will continue to stimulate our brains throughout our lives. She was an inspiration to us all.
Aegis: 4th
Thank you to our 4th grade parent volunteers (Andrew and Ana Burgert and Joanne Ryan) for accompanying us on our most recent visit to see our senior buddies at Aegis last week. Everyone enjoyed the rain-free walk to and from Aegis and did a really nice job engaging in lively and interesting conversations across generations. The woman in charge gave our class a wonderful compliment as we were leaving. She noticed the maturity in the way our class was interacting with their senior buddies. She said she rarely sees this level of confidence and ease from 4th grade students. This program has been such a wonderful experience for our 4th graders. Our next visit (and our last) will be on May 19.
Upcoming SF MoMA field trip: 5th
On Monday, the 5th graders will be on a field trip to the SF MoMA. We are really excited about our trip! A docent from the museum visited earlier this week to prepare the students for the trip, and they are eager to go! We will meet our wonderful art teacher, Natasha Zolp, when we arrive, and will have a tour of the museum followed by some free time to wander different floors. We are hoping to eat lunch at the Yerba Buena Gardens before heading home, assuming the rain holds off for us. It should be a great trip!
Open House
Remember to join us at Open House on Wednesday, March 29. The classroom will be open 6:00-7:15pm, and the 5th grade choir will perform a few songs at 7:15pm in the gallery. When you enter the classroom, your child will guide you through and show you the learning they have been doing. We hope to see everyone for this special evening!
Pi Day
On Tuesday, we had a great time celebrating Pi Day! We celebrated the never-ending number 3.14159… on March 14th at 1:59pm. We were able to kick off the celebration with an awesome rendition of “American Pie” re-written as “Irrational Pi” by our very own Nathan Beach (Bella’s dad). Students then learned about circles, and investigated the circumference and diameter of various circles (pies) to learn that the ratio of circumference to diameter is where this number came from. The event culminated in students getting to enjoy some pie. Thank you so much to all of the wonderful parents who brought in a pie or two to share and made this event a special one for the students! Ask your child how many digits of pi he/she has memorized; we are having a contest later this week!
Missions/Colonies PBL
What if you were given the task by King George III of building the 14th colony or Archbishop Fonte of building the 22nd mission? What would you need to survive? Where would you get your resources? What factors do you need to consider when choosing the location? How would you design the layout of your colony or mission to make sure it supports a successful community? What do you need to consider when interacting with the Native Americans in the area? All of these questions are currently being explored by our Huddle class in our PBL unit on colonization in the United States and California.
Opinion Writing/Reading
This week we are kicking off our third and final language arts unit on opinion reading and writing. We are beginning our work by reading The Giving Tree and having students pick a side as to whether the tree in the story is weak or strong. Students will develop reasons and evidence for their opinion, will caucus with like-minded peers, and will present their argument to someone on the opposing side. They will then work to debunk the points raised by the opposite side. This fun entry event will be the start of students learning to read opinion-based texts and decipher the author’s point of view. They will also learn how to write about their own opinion in a convincing way. We know students at this age love to debate, so we are looking forward to this fun and dynamic unit!
Author Visit-Linda Sue Park
The 4th and 5th graders were given the chance to hear Newbury Medal winning author, Linda Sue Park, speak at the Cove last week. She spoke in detail about the creative process behind her book series, Wing and Claw. She emphasized the importance of choosing ideas and characters she was passionate about in order to achieve the highest level of writing. She also highlighted the number of drafts she needed to complete (her record was 37 drafts!) before achieving her final, published version. Linda Sue Park spoke quite passionately about the importance of taking the time to read each day, as it will continue to stimulate our brains throughout our lives. She was an inspiration to us all.
Aegis: 4th
Thank you to our 4th grade parent volunteers (Andrew and Ana Burgert and Joanne Ryan) for accompanying us on our most recent visit to see our senior buddies at Aegis last week. Everyone enjoyed the rain-free walk to and from Aegis and did a really nice job engaging in lively and interesting conversations across generations. The woman in charge gave our class a wonderful compliment as we were leaving. She noticed the maturity in the way our class was interacting with their senior buddies. She said she rarely sees this level of confidence and ease from 4th grade students. This program has been such a wonderful experience for our 4th graders. Our next visit (and our last) will be on May 19.
Upcoming SF MoMA field trip: 5th
On Monday, the 5th graders will be on a field trip to the SF MoMA. We are really excited about our trip! A docent from the museum visited earlier this week to prepare the students for the trip, and they are eager to go! We will meet our wonderful art teacher, Natasha Zolp, when we arrive, and will have a tour of the museum followed by some free time to wander different floors. We are hoping to eat lunch at the Yerba Buena Gardens before heading home, assuming the rain holds off for us. It should be a great trip!
February 7, 2017
Play Day, Bike Rodeo and 4th Grade visits to Aegis all a success!
Students had a great time participating in our school's Bike Rodeo, Play Day, and a recent 4th grade visit to Aegis. See above for pictures!
Readathon
There is no homework this week in honor of the final week of the Readathon. Our only homework for students is to read, read, read! We are also encouraging each student to get at least one donation for all of the reading they are doing. One donation of any amount will help our school greatly! The money earned from the Readathon supports teachers and students alike by giving us money for professional development for teachers and for classroom supplies for students. Thank you for encouraging your child to read and to participate in raising money for our school!
Math Update
Tomorrow afternoon, all of the teachers in our district will be participating in a third professional development workshop. Our focus is on discourse, side-by-side solutions, creating story boards and building visual models to solve real-life math problems. We are excited to continue to learn and grow as educators and immediately apply what we learn in class with our students. We are finding our math conversations are much richer and students' understanding of math practices is much deeper.
Valentine's Day
We will have a small, students-only Valentine's Day party in class on Tuesday, February 14th. Students are not required to bring in Valentines, but if they choose to do so, we ask that they bring one in for all 50 Huddle students. Please see the link to the class list so that students can fill in the names.
Hall Visit for 5th graders only
Hall administrators Mr. Saibel and Ms. Tate will be visiting 5th graders at The Cove on Monday, February 13th at 9AM. This will be a good chance for 5th graders to learn about their upcoming middle school experience!
Art Update from Mrs. Mason for 4th graders only
Students looked at many examples of vases from the Chinese Ming Dynasty era. They worked hard to create a symmetrical drawing of vase which they then colored in with blue oil pastel. The students are in the process of painting over the vase with white paint, and then sketching out a design, drawing inspiration from nature and/or their personal interests. The last phase of the project involves scratching away the surface of the vase drawing with a wooden skewer to reveal the vivid blue underneath.
January 19, 2017!
Progress Reports
Progress reports will be coming out to every family on Friday, January 27th. All teachers put a tremendous amount of work into these reports with the goal of giving parents a clear idea of what is being learned in class and how your child is doing with meeting expectations. These reports require time on your end in order to read through all of the narratives, so we encourage you to read them at a time when you can sit and focus for a length of time. We hope that you will also take some time to discuss the report with your child, so that you can support him or her as we head into the second half of the year. Thank you for your time with this! We will also be sending home your child's portfolio on Friday, so be sure to ask your child for their binder so you can look through their work.
Readathon
The Cove School Readathon is officially starting on January 23rd. Students will be receiving a Readathon Reading Log by Monday, January 23 to log their daily minutes for the three weeks from January 23rd through February 10th. If you already received the log, please wait to begin logging minutes until Monday, January 23rd. We are hoping each student will read for at least 20 minutes every day (their normal homework expectation), and encourage students to aim for even more! We will collecting the total number of minutes each student has read every Friday, so please send the reading log in with your child’s homework folder each Friday. We encourage you to support your child in gathering sponsors to help us reach our school goal for this fundraiser. Thank you for your support!
Bike Rodeo
The Safe Routes to School bike rodeo is coming up next week on Thursday, January 26th. There will be permission slips coming home on Monday, so please be sure to sign the form and return it to school with your child by Wednesday, January 25th. All 4th and 5th grade students should bring their bike or scooter and a helmet to school on Thursday the 26th. Thank you for your help with this fun event!
Math Update
Both 4th and 5th grade students are currently working through a multiplication and division unit. 4th graders are learning to break apart multiplication problems so that they will learn the distributive property: 45 x 3 = (40 x 3) + (5 x 3). They will also be using visual arrays to help them understand the concept of multiplication. They will then learn the connection between multiplication and division, and will learn how to solve word problems related to both. 5th graders have already learned strategies for multiplying and dividing, and are now revisiting these topics in order to learn the Standard U.S. algorithms. Students are currently finding it difficult to follow the algorithm that we all learned in school, but they are beginning to see the benefits of using these "shortcuts" now that they understand the concepts behind both operations. Similarly to 4th grade, 5th grade students will also be learning how to solve word problems relating to both multiplication and division.
Social Studies Update
In social studies, all huddlers are currently working through a project based learning unit. 4th graders have been working on creating California Travel Books to deepen their understanding of the geographical features and regions of California. We have been integrating writing and social studies by spending time researching specific stops from each region, taking notes and creating well developed paragraphs. The students are now compiling the information into a bare book, adding text features and text to create a final, published book. The 5th graders are learning about European explorers through a project inspired by the TV show "Shark Tank." Students are making videos aimed at persuading the King or Queen to fund their journey to the New World. Through this project, students are learning to gather information from books, synthesize that information in a technology-based project, work with a partner, and learn strategies for persuasion. They are currently really enjoying this project, and we are looking forward to having students present their work to the "King and Queen" in a few weeks time.
Play Day, Bike Rodeo and 4th Grade visits to Aegis all a success!
Students had a great time participating in our school's Bike Rodeo, Play Day, and a recent 4th grade visit to Aegis. See above for pictures!
Readathon
There is no homework this week in honor of the final week of the Readathon. Our only homework for students is to read, read, read! We are also encouraging each student to get at least one donation for all of the reading they are doing. One donation of any amount will help our school greatly! The money earned from the Readathon supports teachers and students alike by giving us money for professional development for teachers and for classroom supplies for students. Thank you for encouraging your child to read and to participate in raising money for our school!
Math Update
Tomorrow afternoon, all of the teachers in our district will be participating in a third professional development workshop. Our focus is on discourse, side-by-side solutions, creating story boards and building visual models to solve real-life math problems. We are excited to continue to learn and grow as educators and immediately apply what we learn in class with our students. We are finding our math conversations are much richer and students' understanding of math practices is much deeper.
Valentine's Day
We will have a small, students-only Valentine's Day party in class on Tuesday, February 14th. Students are not required to bring in Valentines, but if they choose to do so, we ask that they bring one in for all 50 Huddle students. Please see the link to the class list so that students can fill in the names.
Hall Visit for 5th graders only
Hall administrators Mr. Saibel and Ms. Tate will be visiting 5th graders at The Cove on Monday, February 13th at 9AM. This will be a good chance for 5th graders to learn about their upcoming middle school experience!
Art Update from Mrs. Mason for 4th graders only
Students looked at many examples of vases from the Chinese Ming Dynasty era. They worked hard to create a symmetrical drawing of vase which they then colored in with blue oil pastel. The students are in the process of painting over the vase with white paint, and then sketching out a design, drawing inspiration from nature and/or their personal interests. The last phase of the project involves scratching away the surface of the vase drawing with a wooden skewer to reveal the vivid blue underneath.
January 19, 2017!
Progress Reports
Progress reports will be coming out to every family on Friday, January 27th. All teachers put a tremendous amount of work into these reports with the goal of giving parents a clear idea of what is being learned in class and how your child is doing with meeting expectations. These reports require time on your end in order to read through all of the narratives, so we encourage you to read them at a time when you can sit and focus for a length of time. We hope that you will also take some time to discuss the report with your child, so that you can support him or her as we head into the second half of the year. Thank you for your time with this! We will also be sending home your child's portfolio on Friday, so be sure to ask your child for their binder so you can look through their work.
Readathon
The Cove School Readathon is officially starting on January 23rd. Students will be receiving a Readathon Reading Log by Monday, January 23 to log their daily minutes for the three weeks from January 23rd through February 10th. If you already received the log, please wait to begin logging minutes until Monday, January 23rd. We are hoping each student will read for at least 20 minutes every day (their normal homework expectation), and encourage students to aim for even more! We will collecting the total number of minutes each student has read every Friday, so please send the reading log in with your child’s homework folder each Friday. We encourage you to support your child in gathering sponsors to help us reach our school goal for this fundraiser. Thank you for your support!
Bike Rodeo
The Safe Routes to School bike rodeo is coming up next week on Thursday, January 26th. There will be permission slips coming home on Monday, so please be sure to sign the form and return it to school with your child by Wednesday, January 25th. All 4th and 5th grade students should bring their bike or scooter and a helmet to school on Thursday the 26th. Thank you for your help with this fun event!
Math Update
Both 4th and 5th grade students are currently working through a multiplication and division unit. 4th graders are learning to break apart multiplication problems so that they will learn the distributive property: 45 x 3 = (40 x 3) + (5 x 3). They will also be using visual arrays to help them understand the concept of multiplication. They will then learn the connection between multiplication and division, and will learn how to solve word problems related to both. 5th graders have already learned strategies for multiplying and dividing, and are now revisiting these topics in order to learn the Standard U.S. algorithms. Students are currently finding it difficult to follow the algorithm that we all learned in school, but they are beginning to see the benefits of using these "shortcuts" now that they understand the concepts behind both operations. Similarly to 4th grade, 5th grade students will also be learning how to solve word problems relating to both multiplication and division.
Social Studies Update
In social studies, all huddlers are currently working through a project based learning unit. 4th graders have been working on creating California Travel Books to deepen their understanding of the geographical features and regions of California. We have been integrating writing and social studies by spending time researching specific stops from each region, taking notes and creating well developed paragraphs. The students are now compiling the information into a bare book, adding text features and text to create a final, published book. The 5th graders are learning about European explorers through a project inspired by the TV show "Shark Tank." Students are making videos aimed at persuading the King or Queen to fund their journey to the New World. Through this project, students are learning to gather information from books, synthesize that information in a technology-based project, work with a partner, and learn strategies for persuasion. They are currently really enjoying this project, and we are looking forward to having students present their work to the "King and Queen" in a few weeks time.
December 19, 2016
Mindfulness
We just completed a 16-session Mindfulness Meditation course with Linda Wolfe, a retired LCMSD teacher. The benefits of mindfulness include: improved focus and concentration, decreased anxiety and stress levels, increased self-awareness, an increased sense of relaxation and calm, stronger impulse control and heightened empathy of others. The students had a very positive response to this program and have been using mindfulness successfully inside and outside of the classroom.
Buddies
This month we had the opportunity to meet our younger Cove buddies. The 4th graders are paired with the 1st graders in Mrs. Cortright’s class, while the 5th graders are buddies with the 2nd graders in Mrs. Karli’s class. The 1st and 4th graders have actually met twice this month. The first meeting was for the 4th graders to gather data comparing the heights of 1st vs 4th grade students. The 4th graders then used this data to create a line plot. The second time we met, the students worked together to create holiday cards. The 5th graders stepped into a teaching role to teach their 2nd grade buddies how to create radial art patterns though the use of mandalas. They also escorted their buddies though the 5th grade art show last week. Working with buddies is immensely enjoyable for all involved, so we are hoping to meet with our buddies at least once a month moving forward.
Hour of Code
On Thursday, December 8th, we had a parent volunteer come in to do an Hour of Code with the Huddlers. Thank you to Mark Picketts for bringing your technological expertise into our classroom and for getting kids so excited about coding! The students all learned the basics of programming, specifically that “Every computer program is a set of instructions; a sequence of short commands, one after another.” Students learned about loops and if statements, and how programmers collaborate to problem solve. Then, students had a chance to do enough coding themselves to earn a certificate for completing an hour of code. We have since used coding as an option during Tinker Time on Fridays, and many kids are still working on it and loving it! Thank you, Mark, for bringing this practical, fun, hands-on activity into our Huddle classroom!
Art Show
On Monday, December 12th, the 5th graders had a fantastic art show in the gallery in the afternoon! Thank you to all of the parents who were able to come by and participate! The 3rd and 4th graders all had a chance to come through as well, and the 5th graders took on the role of "teacher." They showed younger students and parents alike how to make mandalas, how to make the kinetic art display work, and how radial patterns are present in nature. There were also mandala coloring books available for purchase (with proceeds going to our art program), and the 5th graders will each get a free copy after the break to take home and use themselves. Thank you to our artist teacher, Natasha Zolp, for her vision in making this art show happen!
Math
The teachers in our district have all been part of a math professional development happening throughout the year. Under the guidance of local math guru, Eileen Smith, we are all taking a close look at math practices and how to develop understanding in our students. As a result, in class the students have been participating in problem solving that involves making storyboards of math problems, solving them using manipulatives, explaining their thinking verbally, and making connections between students’ various strategies in how they are solving problems. The students are really gaining a deeper understanding of math concepts through these strategies, and they are discovering algorithms (the generally accepted set of steps involved in solving a problem) for themselves. We are eager to continue to learn new strategies for how to help our students truly understand math practices throughout the year!
November 30, 2016
Election Results!
Thank you to all of you who were able to attend our Election Day in the Huddle class! The students were so excited to have you all visit and vote for who would be the best leader among our historical figures. In case you haven't heard, Rosa Parks won the election!
It was neat for students to witness firsthand how the voting process works. They even learned that there sometimes need to be a recount, as the students helping tally the votes originally had a tie. Upon recounting the ballots, the students discovered that Rosa Parks had actually won by a few votes. It was neat for the students to have this democratic experience on our actual Election Day! Thanks for helping to make it happen!
Nonfiction Reading & Writing Underway
We have completed our narrative reading and writing units. This unit culminated in a really fun "writing celebration" day where students got to read each other's narrative process pieces that they had been working on in class. They wrote compliments to each other, and were excited to have their stories read by their peers. Thank you to those of you who brought in treats to help make the activity feel like a true celebration!
We have begun our new nonfiction reading and writing units. Students have been working as a whole huddle to identify what nonfiction pieces look like and how to read them most effectively. Students learned about text features, like table of contents and glossaries, that help orient the reader to the material being covered. Now, they are working on identifying various text structures to understand how the material is organized. They are looking at main idea and detail, cause and effect, chronological order, and more as ways in which nonfiction reading may be set up. They will be applying this learning to their own writing as they delve into their own informational writing pieces. The students are doing a great job with this so far!
Science
In 5th grade, the students have completed their first science unit this week. Mrs. Hawkins' group has completed the Mixtures & Solutions unit, Mr. Song has finished up the Earth & Sun unit, and Mrs. Weltzien's group has wrapped up the Living Systems unit. Next week, the students will rotate to their next unit and teacher to learn about a new topic. It's been fun having the 5th graders combined for these units, and gives the teachers a chance to meet all of the students!
In 4th grade, we are continuing to explore the focus question: How do weathered rock pieces move from one place to another? by experimenting with Stream Tables. Students experienced an online virtual investigation this week learning how different variables (slope, flood, dam vs standard) affect how water erosion moves earth materials. In groups, students created a plan to run their own Stream Table next week by selecting one variable to test. We will next be learning about fossils and mapping the Earth's surface.