Weekly News
4/20-4/24
In Writing this week, Galaxians moved into the drafting phase of their literary persuasive essays about their historical fiction Literature Circle books. We discussed ways to explain their examples more clearly and show how they relate to their main ideas. Sixth graders also discussed the use of the word “I” and verb tenses in essays.
In Reading, Galaxy students continued with their reading elective. Some students are meeting in self-selected Literature Circles, some are participating in a genre study of books related to Mexico and some are writing Reading Journals or “blog” entries about their independent reading books.
This week fifth grade mathematicians began their unit on geometry. They looked at how quadrilaterals can be classified based on their properties as they explored squares, rectangles, trapezoids, parallelograms, rhombuses, and kites. To learn more about this topic, please check out the family math letter. Sixth grade mathematicians wrapped up their unit on expressions, equations, and inequalities with their end of module assessment. On Friday, they reviewed area, perimeter, volume, and surface area, and they will officially begin their new unit on area, surface area, and volume next week when they begin to learn more about how to calculate the area for various polygons.
In Integrated Studies this week, the students finished preparing for the Mexico End-of-Unit Celebration. Thanks to all of you who were able to attend! If you would like to take a closer look at our Google Earth presentations, please use the links below.
Yucatan Peninsula
Northern Region
Around Mexico City
Mexico City
Southern Region
Central Plateau
We also kicked off our Spring Trip unit. During this unit, we will be going over expectations for the trip, answering questions, and giving Galaxians all the information they need to get excited about our trip! This week we also did role plays about common issues that come up during trips so we could talk through how we would want to respond as a community.
Spring Trip Pro Tips!
Growth mindset! Any travel comes with unexpected events from rain, to cancellations, to food that might not be your favorite. Now imagine traveling with 30 kids! One of the things that we stress as we start talking about our trip is flexibility and growth mindset. Sometimes the unplanned events make for the greatest adventures and the best stories. Sometimes when you try that food that you always assumed you hated, you discover that you really love it. There will be times on the trip when Galaxians will feel like they are a little outside of their comfort zone. This is how we continue to grow! On trips, it isn’t the places that we go so much as the people we are with and the attitude that we have that make the memories. Just like we will do role plays in our Spring Trip unit, we also encourage families to talk with their students about what they might do if it rains, if plans change, or if they are unsure if they like a certain food.
Do you have what you need? Each morning on the Spring Trip we will review what we need for the day. This will include making sure students have their daypack, water bottle, lunch, necessary layers, sunscreen, etc. As we look ahead to the Spring Trip, this is a good skill to practice at home each morning as your Galaxian prepares for the day of school ahead. By turning over some of the responsibility for their materials each morning to your child, you can help them prepare for managing their personal items on the trip. Please practice morning and evening routines with your child to make sure they can complete them independently. We are always here to help, but we are outnumbered by our Galaxians, so being able to complete tasks like tying shoes, zipping coats, opening containers, etc. makes for a more efficient day.
Upcoming Events
Study Session: weekly on Wednesdays, 3:10-4 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25
End of Unit Mexico test
Friday, March 27
GrandFriends Day, RSVP here
Tuesday, March 31
STEM themed Unit celebration, 2:15pm
