Wednesday, March 23

Summer Enrichment Programs for Gifted Youth

As I get information about summer programs, I will post it here. You can explore them and see if any would work for your schedule and finances. :-)

Math Camp
Location: Colorado College

We would like to make the gifted education community aware of Epsilon, a new summer camp for the exceptionally (EG) and profoundly (PG) gifted, ages 8 to 10 years old (students must be under the age of 11 during camp), who love math. This new camp, directed by Dr. George Thomas, founder of Mathpath and Canada/USA Mathcamp, will be held at Colorado College from July 24 through August 14, 2011. Epsilon Camp combines an intellectually rigorous student camp running in parallel with a parent workshop addressing the concerns and challenges of raising EG/PG children. Epsilon students will be exposed to mathematics enrichment not available anywhere else at this time for their age group.

For more information, including eligibility requirements and how to apply, please visit http://epsiloncamp.org/index.php

College of William and Mary
Location: Virginia

This is a link to a PDF flyer of the offerings through W&M. Page 7 of the PDF is where the grade levels pertaining your children begin. There is some information on the previous pages about scholarship opportunities.



http://cfge.wm.edu/forms/SEP%20Summer_2011_revised%203_22[1].pdf


There are no conferences for 4th-6th grade next week. They are only for primary grades. If you would like a conference (after report cards), let me know. I would be more than happy to meet with you at a time that works for all of us. Grades are good!

Upcoming Dates

Picture Day is Monday, April 11th . Information is coming home today, Wednesday, March 16^th. You must prepay for these pictures. If you do not prepay, your child's picture will not be taken. Class picture order forms were handed out on Thursday. They will be taken on the same day. You must prepay for these as well.

NWEA tests
Our class is scheduled to test on the following days:
Tuesday, April 5th in the AM
Friday, April 8th in the AM
Monday, April 11 in the AM


I'm sure the students will ask about snacks on these testing days. If you would like to provide a snack for the whole class, please let me know. 

Thursday, May 26^th: Field trip to the Audubon Center  9:00-2:00. Permission slip will come home in May.

Missing/Late work

I forgot the missing or late work today. I will send it home Thursday.

Language

Writing: Finishing the poetry unit

Latin Word Root----Quiz on Thursday

tempor   time
ver/veri      truth

ex-   out, away, from

con-  with, together

-acity   having the quality of
-aneous  having the quality of
- ary    of, related to
-fy  to do, to make

Math

All: Geometry

4^th: Multiplication of larger #s

5^th: Fractions

Science

Geologic time and fossils

*index fossils

* layered sections

Social Studies

5th grade: Explorer investigations. In pairs, they are researching an explorer and choosing 2 out of 4 options for sharing their understandings of the explorer. Some of students choosing maps may have some “aging” of the map to do at home.  J Most other work is being done in class.

4th grade: Regions of the US: NE, SE, Midwest, and SW. Students have been divided into groups and make presentations to the rest of the class about their region

4th grade spelling words Unit 29 March 28th VV pattern

BASIC: lion, liar, poem, quiet, fuel, science, idea, usual, radio, India, piano, diary, violin, perido, cereal, video, meteor, rodeo, January, February
CHALLENGE: variety, gradual, geography, diagram, punctuate
REAL WORLD VOCABULARY: Outer Space
astronomy, solar system, gravity, crescent, satellite, lunar, comets, meteorite

5th grade spelling words Unit 29 March 28th  Suffix -ion

BASIC:  elect, election, react, reaction, confess, confession, express, expression, connect, connection, tense, tension, decorate, decoration, pollute, pollution, imitate, imitation, educate, education

CHALLENGE: fascinate, fascination, construct, construction

REAL WORD VOCABULARY: Learning Algebra

equation, variable, solution, operations, intersect, axis, ordered pair, coordinate

March 16, 2011

Parents of 4th graders:

Part of the health curriculum for your children is HIV/AIDS information. This information is presented during the Communicable and Non-communicable Disease Unit. In order for your child to receive this information, you must sign a permission slip that was sent home 2 weeks ago in the Wednesday Watch papers. If you did not see one or have misplaced it, please email me or have your child request another one. They need to be returned by March 18th. 

Upcoming Dates

NWEA tests will be sometime between April 5-19. I will let you know more precise dates when I know them.

Missing/Late work

As of this week, I am taking 10 points/day off of late work. I have been pretty lenient with point deductions.

I will also be printing off a list of late work on Wednesdays so if can go home in the Wednesday Watch. It should be on a (small) colored piece of paper. If your child does not get one, then they do not have any late or missing work. This will include work from absences as well.

Language

Writing:

Test preparation:

Latin Word Root----Quiz on Thursday

enni/later

bi-   two
cent-  hundred
per-  through
uni-  one

enni   year

later   side

-al like, related to


LW Root drawings for carni

Carnivorous by JI

Carnivorous by GR

Math

All: Geometry

4^th: Multiplication of larger #s

5^th: Fractions

Science

Science Fair Projects were amazing! The people visiting the school commented on them. I had other teachers coming to me and telling me how impressive they were—and they had not heard the presentations! The high school students, who gave input as judges, were equally impressed by your children’s communication skills, creativity, and scientific background knowledge. When all was said and done, my comments to all of them was that more credit needed to go to the parents, their involvement, and support of their children than to me.

I will post pictures of display boards that were still here as of Monday at the end of the blog. They will only be identified by initial.

The Science Fair Evaluation done by me went in the grade book. Special awards and places for the display boards/presentations did not impact the grade.

In the end, the places were determined by completeness and thoroughness of the entire project, not just the display board. For example, I stated many times in class that the data needed to be recorded in the science notebook as well as on the board (in some fashion). When 2 projects were equal in quality and presentation, I started looking more closely at the notebooks. Most of the special awards, but not all, were suggested by the high school students.

Many thanks to you again!

Social Studies

5th grade: Explorer investigations. In pairs, they are researching an explorer and choosing 2 out of 4 options for sharing their understandings of the explorer. Some of students choosing maps may have some “aging” of the map to do at home.  J Most other work is being done in class.

4th grade: Regions of the US: NE, SE, Midwest, and SW. Students have been divided into groups and make presentations to the rest of the class about their region

4th grade spelling words Unit 28 March 21st VCCCV pattern

BASIC:  hundred, supply, single, middle, explain, surprise, pilgrim, instead, complete, monster, settle, address, farther, sample, although, turtle, orchard, sandwich, athlete, kingdom

CHALLENGE: fortress, instant, exclaim, mattress, sculptor

REAL-WORLD- VOCABULARY: A Mask

unique, paste, width, project, conical, overlap, assemble, dangle

4th grade spelling words Unit 29 March 28th VV pattern

BASIC: lion, liar, poem, quiet, fuel, science, idea, usual, radio, India, piano, diary, violin, perido, cereal, video, meteor, rodeo, January, February
CHALLENGE: variety, gradual, geography, diagram, punctuate
REAL WORLD VOCABULARY: Outer Space
astronomy, solar system, gravity, crescent, satellite, lunar, comets, meteorite

5th grade spelling words Unit 28 March 21st Prefixes: in-, un-, dis-, mis-

BASIC:  unable, unknown, unequal, unstable, unwise, dismiss, disaster, dishonest, disagree, discover, disgrace, insincere, indirect, insecure, incomplete, informal, mislead, mistreat, misspell, mislaid

CHALLENGE: invisible, mishap, unfortunate, discourage, unnecessary

REAL-WORLD- VOCABULARY: The Moon

elliptical, revolution, rotation, crater, spacecraft, probe, astronaut, hydrogen

5th grade spelling words Unit 29 March 28th  Suffix -ion

BASIC:  elect, election, react, reaction, confess, confession, express, expression, connect, connection, tense, tension, decorate, decoration, pollute, pollution, imitate, imitation, educate, education

CHALLENGE: fascinate, fascination, construct, construction

REAL WORD VOCABULARY: Learning Algebra

equation, variable, solution, operations, intersect, axis, ordered pair, coordinate

Science Fair Projects

by AS

by AW

by CW

by EW

by HB

by HC

by JR

by JS

by LC & SF

by LG

by MJ

by AV & MW

by ND

by SH

by SR

by TS

March 9, 2011

Montana AGATE Student Scholarships

Montana AGATE is the state organization for people interested in gifted education. In addition to holding a convention every year in April, it awards scholarships to identified gifted students who submit answers to questions.

The money can be used for anything the student wants, but the intent is to provide an opportunity for the student to pursue a passion or interest. However, saving the money is a wonderful, worthy use as well.

Fourth and fifth graders have the opportunity to receive $400! This is an increase of $200 from past years.

Your child will have the questions completely answered and printed out by FRIDAY, MARCH 11^TH. We are doing this part in class. They will come home this weekend with the application. It is up to them to get a teacher to write a recommendation for them. To view the teacher recommendation form, go to http://www.mtagate.org/scholarships/summer_scholarship.html. They do not have to have me write the recommendation, but it should be a teacher who can evaluate them on the criteria listed on the form. If they want me to write them a recommendation, then I need to have the form handed to me by Wednesday, March 16. They need to be postmarked by March 19^th, so I need a few days to get them done.

Parent Questions

Some parents have asked about the future of our class. What I know at this time is that the class will be at Poly Drive next year; I will be the teacher; and the students who are here will be 5^th and 6^th graders in the class unless you choose to have them return to their home school. At this time, there is no plan to have a 3^rd/4^th grade classroom for gifted children in the district next year.

Parents of 4th graders:

Part of the health curriculum for your children is HIV/AIDS information. This information is presented during the Communicable and Non-communicable Disease Unit. In order for your child to receive this information, you must sign a permission slip that was sent home 2 weeks ago in the Wednesday Watch papers. If you did not see one or have misplaced it, please email me or have your child request another one. They need to be returned by March 18th. 

Upcoming Dates

Viewing of the Science Fair Projects by parents can be before school or after school on THURSDAY, March 10th. They will be taken down/home on Friday, March 11th.

MontCAS tests will be March 8-15. 

Snacks have been taken care of! The children and I thank you!

NWEA tests will be in April. Dates will be posted when I know them.

Grades

There will not be many new grades posted this week. However, there will be a Latin Word Root quiz tomorrow and a Spelling test on Friday.

Missing/Late work

As of this week, I am taking 10 points/day off of late work. I have been pretty lenient with point deductions.

I will also be printing off a list of late work on Wednesdays so if can go home in the Wednesday Watch. It should be on a (small) colored piece of paper. If your child does not get one, then they do not have any late or missing work. This will include work from absences as well.

Language

Writing: Answers to scholarship questions

Test preparation: Text of the Week (expository text w/ questions)

Latin Word Root----Quiz on Thursday

 manu/vor/carni/script

de- away, down

carni   flesh, meat

manu   hand

script  write, written
vor/vour   eat

-acious having the quality of

-al like, related to

-ous  having the quality of

Math

All: Data, Graphs, Probability and Geometry

4^th: Practice division

Science

All students received the evaluation tool the judges will be using on Tuesday, March 1st. 

Many thanks for your help, guidance, practice, and support with the process and project!

Checklist of what your child will need for Wednesday, March 9th (for the judging on Thursday, March 10th):

___ Display board

___ Practice, practice, practice (I told them to pretend you, parent, are the judge. Just say, "Hi, can you tell me about your project?" and they should be able to take it from there!)

___ Science Fair Notebook (all in one folder or notebook AND organized. Some have been coming in rather randomly.)

___ Any data collection sheets that they used in recording (the original ones)

___  ONLY FOR THOSE ENTERING THE DEACONESS BILLINGS CLINIC SCIENCE EXPO--an abstract

The display boards will go home on FRIDAY, MARCH 11TH. 

What are the parts of the science fair project?  

Question/Problem

Background (research)

Hypothesis

Materials LIST 

Procedure

Results (graphs, tables)

Conclusion

What (did you learn?) (do you want to know now?)

Abstract--only for those entering the Billings Clinic Research Center Science Expo. If you would like more information about the BCRCSE, click the address below.

http://www.billingsclinic.com/workfiles/Research/pdf/2011-Sci-Expo-Elementary-MS-Handbook.pdf

Steps of the Scientific Process

http://www.jccschools.com/staff%20pages%20riverside/nurse/science%20fair/process.htm

Successful Science Fair Projects

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/fair.html

How to set up your display board (Presentation)

http://www.cool-science-projects.com/Science-Fair-Project-Display.html

Kids Corner of Science

http://scorescience.humboldt.k12.ca.us/fast/kids.htm

Social Studies

5th grade: They are reading books from the library on their explorer and the text currently.

4th grade: Regions of the US: NE, SE, Midwest, and SW. Students have been divided into groups and make presentations to the rest of the class about their region

4th grade spelling words Unit 27 March 14th VCCV pattern

BASIC:  poster, whether, rocket, bushel, bucket, ticket, chicken, clothing, whiskers, gather, rather, bracket, secret, author, agree, declare, apron, degree, achieve, machine

CHALLENGE: regret, nephew, method, decline, vibrate

REAL WORD VOCABULARY: Electrical Devices

dependable, appliance, microwave, automated, keypad, refrigerator, dishwasher, convenience

REAL-WORLD- VOCABULARY: Electrical Storms

dangerous, thunderstorms, safest, vehicle, conduct, avoid, strikes, electricity

5th grade spelling words Unit 27 March 14th Unstressed syllables (spelling words by syllables with particular attention to the unstressed syllable)

BASIC:  disturb, entire, wisdom, respond, neglect, crystal,

forbid, surround, challenge, entry, impress, fortress, kitchen, frighten, limit, talent, dozen, pirate, spinach, salute

CHALLENGE: adapt, refuge, distribute, industry, somber

REAL WORD VOCABULARY: Summer Theater

auditorium, musical, skit, backstage, scenery, spotlight, pantomime, theatrical

March 2, 2011

NEW 

MSU-Billings is looking at offering camp opportunities for gifted students.  As part of their planning process, they would like to have the input of parents of gifted children and educators in the area.  We are currently looking for parents that would like to participate in a brainstorming session to offer ideas and input to the planners at MSU-Billings.  A definite date has not been set, but it appears that a meeting could be held in the next week or so.  If you are interested please contact parent, Bill Mercer at wmercer@bresnan.net or 698-1671

or teacher, Darla Williams at 690-9662 or williamsdl@billingsschools.org.

Parents of 4th graders:

Part of the health curriculum for your children is HIV/AIDS information. This information is presented during the Communicable and Non-communicable Disease Unit. In order for your child to receive this information, you must sign a permission slip that was sent home 2 weeks ago in the Wednesday Watch papers. If you did not see one or have misplaced it, please email me or have your child request another one. They need to be returned by March 18th. 

Amazing Artwork

Dr. Andy Wildenberg came to our class on Thursday and did an introductory lesson with the kids on fractal geometry. He brought some fractals he had created, as well as some that his students created (at RMC). We are fortunate to have so many willing parents with passions and talents to share with us! 

The students used a program on the computer that Dr. Wildenberg wrote that allowed them to manipulate items to create fractal images. They also drew some of their own. As they finish the drawings, I will post them here. They will be identified only by initials.

Sierpinski Triangle 

hand drawn by MA

Star Fractal by ND

Sierpinski Triangle by SH

Upcoming Dates

I will be at Poly Drive on SUNDAY, MARCH 6TH  FROM 1-4 PM TO HELP WITH ANY ASPECT OF THE SCEINCE FAIR. Please call my cell phone to gain access to the school: 697-5934.

Please read under "Science" for more information about the due dates, etc.

Viewing by parents can be before school or after school on THURSDAY, March 10th. They will be taken down/home on Friday, March 11th.

MontCAS tests will be March 8-15. If you are planning trips, please try to avoid that time. 

If you would like to provide a healthy snack for the class during the 4 days of testing (Tu-Fri), please contact me so we can schedule the day. We have 27 students. 697-5934

We have families providing snacks for the class on TUESDAY, MARCH 8TH AND WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9TH.

NWEA tests will be in April.

Grades

To view your child’s grades at anytime during the year, you can go to

http://www.billings.k12.mt.us/poly/porisch/grades/index.html, key in your child’s username and password, and see how they are doing. If you have forgotten the password, email me or call for that information.

Reading

We will not be reading a novel for a couple of weeks. We will be reading every day but from a book of the children’s choice. Library is MONDAY. Please make sure your child has library books in their backpack on MONDAY. That way they can check out another book when they return their other book(s).

Language

Poetry writing: haikus

Test preparation: Text of the Week (expository text w/ questions)

Latin Word Root----Quiz on Thursday

 loqu/nomin

e- out, away, from

mis- bad, wrong

loqu speak

nom/nomin name

-acious having the quality of

-al like, related to

-ate to make, to act

-ent like, related to

-er that which

Drawing--"incredible" by AB

Latin Word Root Drawing--"traverse" by EB

We are also writing poetry and illustrating it. Below you will see the same haiku with two similar illustrations. The author/illustrator wanted to take the first one home with him, so I asked for a second one for the poetry book we'll be making. I thought you would enjoy seeing his talent. The author/illustrator is EB. If you click on them, they will enlarge.

Math

All: Data, Graphs, Probability and Geometry

Science

The next help session will be Sunday, March 6th from 1 PM to 4 PM.

Science Fair Display Boards: Due WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9TH.

They will be evaluated by me that evening and by the high school judges Thursday morning. They will go home on FRIDAY, MARCH 11TH. 

All students received the evaluation tool the judges will be using on Tuesday, March 1st. 

Many thanks for your help, guidance, practice, and support with the process and project!

Checklist of what your child will need for Wednesday, March 9th (for the judging on Thursday, March 10th):

___ Display board

___ Practice, practice, practice (I told them to pretend you, parent, are the judge. Just say, "Hi, can you tell me about your project?" and they should be able to take it from there!)

___ Science Fair Notebook (all in one folder or notebook AND organized. Some have been coming in rather randomly.)

___ Any data collection sheets that they used in recording (the original ones)

___  ONLY FOR THOSE ENTERING THE DEACONESS BILLINGS CLINIC SCIENCE EXPO--an abstract

Viewing by parents can be before school or after school on THURSDAY, March 10th. They will be taken down/home on Friday, March 11th.

What are the parts of the science fair project?  

Question/Problem

Background (research)

Hypothesis

Materials LIST 

Procedure

Results (graphs, tables)

Conclusion

What (did you learn?) (do you want to know now?)

Abstract--only for those entering the Billings Clinic Research Center Science Expo. If you would like more information about the BCRCSE, click the address below.

http://www.billingsclinic.com/workfiles/Research/pdf/2011-Sci-Expo-Elementary-MS-Handbook.pdf

Steps of the Scientific Process

http://www.jccschools.com/staff%20pages%20riverside/nurse/science%20fair/process.htm

Successful Science Fair Projects

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/fair.html

How to set up your display board (Presentation)

http://www.cool-science-projects.com/Science-Fair-Project-Display.html

Kids Corner of Science

http://scorescience.humboldt.k12.ca.us/fast/kids.htm

Social Studies

5th grade: In the text, they have been assigned an explorer. They are reading books from the library on their explorer and the text currently.

4th grade: Regions of the US: NE, SE, Midwest, and SW. Students have been divided into groups and make presentations to the rest of the class about their region

4th grade spelling words Unit 26 March 7th VCCV

and VCV patterns

BASIC:  dentist, narrow, shelter, corner, hollow, silver, capture, dinner, final, finish, ahead, divide, famous, recent, diner, minus, minute, value, reward, broken

CHALLENGE: decent, secure, standard, frontier, stampede

REAL-WORLD- VOCABULARY: Electrical Storms

dangerous, thunderstorms, safest, vehicle, conduct, avoid, strikes, electricity

4th grade spelling words Unit 27 March 14th VCCV pattern

BASIC:  poster, whether, rocket, bushel, bucket, ticket, chicken, clothing, whiskers, gather, rather, bracket, secret, author, agree, declare, apron, degree, achieve, machine

CHALLENGE: regret, nephew, method, decline, vibrate

REAL WORD VOCABULARY: Electrical Devices

dependable, appliance, microwave, automated, keypad, refrigerator, dishwasher, convenience

REAL-WORLD- VOCABULARY: Electrical Storms

dangerous, thunderstorms, safest, vehicle, conduct, avoid, strikes, electricity

5th grade spelling words Unit 26 March 7th Final /ij/, /iv/, or /is/ sounds

BASIC:  storage, garbage, courage, passage, voyage, knowledge, image, average, postage, luggage, language, olive, relative, native, creative, detective, adjective, service, justice, cowardice

CHALLENGE: prejudice, cooperative, beverage, heritage, apprentice

REAL-WORLD- VOCABULARY: Analyzing Data

survey, tally, statistics, mean, median, mode, results, conclusions

5th grade spelling words Unit 27 March 14th Unstressed syllables (spelling words by syllables with particular attention to the unstressed syllable)

BASIC:  disturb, entire, wisdom, respond, neglect, crystal,

forbid, surround, challenge, entry, impress, fortress, kitchen, frighten, limit, talent, dozen, pirate, spinach, salute

CHALLENGE: adapt, refuge, distribute, industry, somberREAL WORD VOCABULARY: Summer Theater

auditorium, musical, skit, backstage, scenery, spotlight, pantomime, theatrical