First Quarter has literally flown by! It has been a busy quarter with lots of learning and growing. We have enjoyed collaborating with teachers and teaching our students and look forward to a challenging and exhilarating remainder of the school year! 3-5 DEP Meeting It was great seeing so many families at our annual Differentiated Education Plan meeting for grades 3, 4, and 5! We hope you found the session useful and have a better understanding of how Talent Development is integrated into everyday instruction at Elon Park. If your schedule did not allow you to attend in person, the presentation and all accompanying handouts can be accessed at this link. Second Grade Testing Updates Results from CogAT testing have been sent home and shared with families. Our district utilizes multiple forms of data to identify students as Academically Intellectually Gifted, or AIG. These forms of data include the CogAT, Gifted Rating Scales, and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or ITBS. We will conduct ITBS testing for students who qualify to participate in this opportunity within the first two weeks of November. Participating students will receive written notification to let families know the exact dates of testing. Some of our second graders have qualified to participate in the portfolio opportunity for possible AIG identification. We are planning to host an informational session for families of these children in early December. Stay tuned for more details! Once ITBS testing is completed, we will begin providing "push in" support to classrooms. We look forward to working closely with our second grade teachers and students! Third Grade Our third graders have been active and engaged! We have learned about the different components of the Literature Web, a Teaching Model from William & Mary Language Arts units. In our lessons, we modeled identifying these elements from our classes' interactive read aloud texts, 'Stone Fox' and 'Because of Winn Dixie'. Students then had an opportunity to create a Literature Web and apply this strategy using their self-selected, independent reading text. We also had an opportunity to conduct an interactive read aloud using the selection 'Shells' by Cynthia Rylant, a realistic fiction text from the William & Mary Language Arts Unit, Journeys & Destinations. Students are beginning to explore the concept of change and symbolism in literature. In math, we have wrapped up our higher level studies with identifying and extending patterns with Project M3: Awesome Algebra. Currently, we are intensifying our study of algebra by utilizing Hands-On Equations. Some students were exposed to this fun, kinesthetic way of learning algebraic concepts last year and we are extending lessons this year by integrating addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. Our color-coded Circle Map allows us to keep track of the important ideas we learn through each lesson. Some scholars are even working on creating their own algebraic equations and putting these equations into both word form and story problem form. Wow! Fourth Grade Our fourth graders have impressed us with their ability to think deeply about literature! We recently read "The Power of Light" by Isaac Bashevis Singer. This selection comes from our William and Mary curriculum. After reading the selection, we modeled analyzing the text using the five components of a literature web (key words, feelings/moods, images/symbols, big ideas/themes, and structure). Finally, students participated in a Paideia Seminar, which encourages active thinking through dialogue. Next, we will incorporate nonfiction reading strategies into our time together. Our 4th graders have been on a virtual tour of the past exploring ancient methods of multiplication. We have practiced using Napier's Bones to multiply numbers, and have also tackled methods that the Ancient Egyptians and Russian Peasants used as well. The students have shown a lot of interest in this historical look at multiplication and we are now applying this information to a culminating project that compares the methods of the past with the current methods we use today. Stay tuned next month for some examples of their finished products! Fifth Grade Our students have worked hard within their small groups on their PBL task, the Cupcake Conundrum. Their products were engaging, visually appealing, and extremely creative. Check out some pictures below! You can also catch glimpses of some of their presentations & products in this YouTube video that was shared at our DEP Meeting. We are now focusing on fractions and integrating higher level, creative tasks during their Math Workshop block. Our fifth graders had a blast reading the short story, 'Charles' by Shirley Jackson. It is a realistic fiction selection from the William & Mary Language Arts curriculum that gave us the opportunity to expose our students to the character analysis diagram, an enriched strategy used to gain a deeper understanding of characters in a text. The students also participated in our first Paideia Seminar this year. This strategy is powerful because it encourages active thinking through dialogue. We also explored symbolism to represent character relationships in our interactive read aloud, Hoot. Next, we will incorporate nonfiction reading strategies into our time together. Thank you so much for all of your support! Please reach out to either one of us at any time with questions or concerns. 'Till next month...
--Ms. Pagano & Ms. Deegan
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