Hello everyone,
I hope you enjoyed your Columbus Day weekend. I was able to work in my yard and get my Halloween decorations up and enjoy some of the last days of nice weather. Here's what's happening in the world of GTD Resource services at Irving School
Kindergarten
We had a great time figuring out what was coming up in "Tomorrow's Alphabet" a book which requires kids to use critical thinking skills and build background knowledge for what things are in the present and what they will become in the future. For example "A is for seed, tomorrow's ?" Apple
Next we will begin to work on probability and start discussing the important probability words of "Never", "Always", and "Sometimes".
1st Grade
1st Grade classes have finished up their adventure with "DOT" who is now on "Vacation" as the students are introduced to the residents of Crytal Pond Woods and learn strands of higher level thinking through these characters. First up, Dudley the Detective. Dudley teaches the kids to 1) Get all of the information 2) Not jumpt to conclusions and 3) There is only 1 right answer (unless we are doing something creative).
2nd Grade
2nd Grade students continue to work on algebraic thinking and solving for unknowns. They are currently working on building background knowledge for groups and multiples and drawing pictures to solve algebraic problems.
3rd Grade
Math
3rd grade math students have been working on multiplication strategies and problem-solving involving groups of numbers and breaking numbers apart and performing math operations and then adding them back up.
Language Arts
3rd grade math students have started to read "Just So Stories". We have read "How the Camel Got Its Hump" and we have written summaries and are going to perform skits of the story.
4th Grade
Math
4th Grade math students have been studying prime numbers and patterns as well as making predictions of how student voting will turn out at Irving School in the upcoming Presidential Election in November.
Language Arts
We continue to work on vocabulary, comprehension, and character study of the characters in "The Westing Game"
5th Grade
Math
Students are working on reading and writing extremely large and extremely small numbers with the powers of 10 and multiplying and dividing decimals.
Language Arts
We have finished our first Edgar Allen Poe story "The Fall of the House of Usher" and are working on activities to strengthen our depth of understanding of the story. Next up, "The Tell Tale Heart".
That's all for now. I look forward to seeing many of you at conferences next week. If you have any questions or concerns regarding Gifted/Talented/Differentiation Resource services at Irving School, feel free to contact me at ppacker@op97.org
All my best,
Mr. Packer
