Weekly Updates May 2024

ELA Star 360 Testing - Wednesday May 8th

Order your yearbooks by May 9th!

Progress Reports sent home May 3rd

 

This week we started working on debate skills. The class watched videos of elementary students speaking about debate teams. They planned their argument for a question from Tuck Everlasting. Some students challenged themselves to plan both sides of the argument and state a rebuttal. We will try our first debate on Monday. Students also learned to identify static and dynamic and round and flat characters. Students also learned how to format dialogue in writing. They understand using punctuation and quotation marks, but needed practice starting a new line with a new speaker. 

 

Through the Wild Robot we learned different point of view from the island animals. The students did a fun activity where they drew a picture of a vocabulary word and their classmates had to identify the word. It helped them reflect on details and what could have been included to help their friends identify the word. They had a lot of fun in science doing an activity that showed how variations in animal traits can be detrimental to survival. We also read poems and identified theme, point of view, lines and stanzas. 

 

This week was Show Week and, as you know, it can be pretty busy! The students who were not involved in the show did a wonderful job keeping busy and staying on task.

 

The 4th grade class had the opportunity to compare the novels we have read to movies made about them. The consensus was that the makers on Tuck Everlasting (featuring three Oscar winners) did an ok job making the film. They liked some of the changes and didn't understand others. For example, the character of Miles seemed unnecessarily rough. They were glad that they made Winnie and Jesse the same age to eliminate the creepy....when you're 17 become immortal and marry me.....storyline. We also discussed our final projects that we will work on next week. 

 

The 3rd grade class had a fun week. We did an escape room that they all crushed! Some worked solo and some worked with partners, but they all seemed to have fun. We played some math games, read a lot and got to see our classmates perform during the dress rehearsal. It was a fun week but we are back to the Wild Robot on Monday!