April 30, 2008

Dear Division IV Parents,

Is it already May tomorrow?  There¹s still so much to do before summer!  How
did this happen?  We¹re sure that¹s what you¹re hearing your children say at
home, tooS

RAIN CHECK
As luck would have it, the Manitou Water Processing Plant people were tied
up with a water emergency on Monday.  However, they were so looking forward
to guiding the DIV students through their plant, they have asked us to
reschedule. We still made good use of our field trip time by visiting both
the Old Colorado City Library and the Penrose Library and enjoying a picnic
and some play time in the park.

SPRING TRIP
We leave for Boulder next Tuesday!  Remember that gear check is on Monday.
You¹ve been doing a great job of checking on medication forms ­ don¹t
forget-we cannot give any medication without a doctor¹s signature and
properly labeled containers.

STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
You should have received an invitation from your son or daughter to attend
our Storytelling Festival this Friday from 12:00-2:00 in the DIV classroom.
Feel free to bring a lunch at 11:30 and eat with us before we begin.  The
event promises to be a lot of fun; you¹ll be amazed at how well your
children¹s memories and presentation skills have developed over the year!

MIDTERMS
Fourth quarter midterms will be given to parents this Friday.  Please review
them with your children and sign a copy to return to school.

ACADEMICS

Reading, writing and social studies merged as we entered our new social
studies unit:  The Middle Ages.  Each student selected a person or event
from this time period to research.  We have been working on writing out
bibliographical information, taking notes, and organizing facts into logical
paragraphs.  With some practice runs at ordering facts about bats and about
Native Americans, we should be able to order our own "notefacts" quite
easily when the time comes.

Students have also selected novels to read over the next two weeks.  Be sure
to send them on the Boulder Trip!  We will be having some down time to
immerse ourselves in these stories in anticipation of creating book projects
about them the following week.  Students will be given nightly homework time
allotments to complete the reading.  Any additional time they can spend on
finishing their books will certainly help.  No one is expected to start a
project before May 12th, however!

Students in science have been studying global water awareness through
vocabulary words, family surveys, water conservation studies, and our world
tour including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, the Philippines, and Honduras.
We are also doing water usage comparison, e.g. "The average person in the
United States uses 80 to 100 gallons of water each day.  During medieval
times a person used only 5 gallons per day."

While it is part of students¹ continuing math assignments to make progress
through their textbooks, do not be concerned if you see them working on
other materials.  The math groups are focusing on specific topics in math
during the remainder of this month, especially decimals, decimals, and
moreSS.. We are working on problems with money conversion, making and
receiving change from large bills, dividing decimals by whole numbers, time
zones, mean & range, and working with reciprocals of whole numbers and
fractions. 

Calendar Reminders:
May 2        Storytelling Festival
May 2        Midterms go home
May 5        Gear check
May 6-9    Boulder Trip

Regards,
Shannon Holub & Melinda Harder


Computers
 
There is a lot of excitement in Division I East and West these days!
Students are being exposed to the brand new iMacs and learning how to
operate OS X for the first time. Our focus is on taking care of the new
equipment and learning how to use the dock and the brand new KidPix!
Division II students are being introduced to the new iMacs as well and are
learning how to operate the new Mavis Beacon Typing suite.   Division III is
continuing to work with the Scratch program but are now working individually
and using the new iMacs to take pictures of themselves to create their own
sprite images.  Division IV is continuing to work on their PowerPoint book
projects and will soon be getting to work on the 2008-2009 school calendars
using iPhoto and the new iMacs.  Division V is continuing to work in their
rotating groups on PowerPoint, Lego robot building and programming, Scratch
programming and stop motion video capturing.
 
Spanish
 
Division I Spanish vocabulary work will include the topics of sports and
nature.  The students are learning two poems, Las Hojitas and Flores.  These
poems help students memorize vocabulary while they practice their accent.
Division II students continue working on their show and tell in Spanish.
This activity will serve as a review of the vocabulary learned such as
greetings, adjectives, verbs and question words.  Division III are learning
the vocabulary of city places and will create their dream city.  Division IV
students are presenting their session between a psychologist and a patient.
After their presentation D IV will learn the vocabulary words associated
with a fiesta and break a piñata.  D V will be presenting their airport play
and create a mosaic based on the Aztec¹s Calendar.