Week 11

Dear Parents,

It was good to meet with so many of you in conferences and talk about how to help your students succeed. There were a few of you we didn’t get to meet during conference week, but conference week is certainly not the only time we can meet with you! If you would like to meet with us and you have not yet mentioned it to me or Mr. Ohbayashi, please send us a message through Jupiter Ed, and we will be happy to arrange a time to meet.

A common theme I heard from many of you in conference week is how you are not looking through your fourth graders’ homework in great detail any more. Rather you are going over their homework briefly to make sure your students are completing it, answering in complete sentences, showing math steps, and handing in their work. In this way, you are trying to help your students develop a sense of responsibility for their work. Of course every student and family has different needs. However, developing a more mature sense of responsibility in our fourth grade students is one of the main things we as teachers are trying to accomplish to prepare the students for fifth grade and middle school. It was great to hear that so many of you were on the same page with us even before conference week. Thank you for all your support. This is truly shaping up to be an amazing year.

There were a few questions raised that were also common in conference week, and I will be devoting some space to them in this post and in my next few posts. Probably the most frequent questions were regarding online homework. First, how do you know if students are making progress in the RM system, especially when they are doing homework? My first answer to this question is that accuracy trumps speed. The most important measures of success in the RM program are how many problems the students get right and how challenging the problems they get right are.

These two goals are linked in the system because students earn the right to work challenging problems within the RM system by doing well on the easier ones. Furthermore, the more accurate your students are during a lesson, the less time they have to spend on review in Wall of Mastery. Students who work slowly through a lesson but are very accurate will find that when they get to Wall of Mastery, many of the problem sets in Wall of Mastery are already marked complete, even though they haven’t worked on them yet. This is because a student who is very accurate and careful needs much less review than a student who works too quickly. Basically, accuracy on problems in Guided Study will give students the opportunity to be exposed to more challenging problems in Guided Study and will also reduce their workload in Wall of Mastery.

Please keep in mind, then, that when we discuss the RM program, accuracy should be your main goal for your students. Sometimes, very strong math students actually go through the program more slowly than weaker students because the stronger students are working slowly and accurately and earning the chance to work on more difficult problems while some of the weaker students may be rushing ahead.

Of course, the school year is not infinite and the students do need to complete the program within the year. This is why I mention on my blog what lessons students should be working on in Guided Study, to make sure they do not get behind. I also mention what lesson they should not go past in order to keep them from moving too quickly.

A number of parents have asked me where they should look to figure out what lesson their student is doing. I tried to describe it, but I think the simplest way is just to show you. Please take a look at the following screenshot. In between the red banner that says “Guided Study” and the orange bar labelled “Problem: Level A” there are some very faint letters that say, “Properties of Multiplication.” That is the lesson this student is on. You can always find what lesson your student is working on in Guided Study by looking at the fain letters directly beneath the banner. I’m sure you find them annoyingly faint. I agree, but unfortunately, I can’t change it.

If your student is working in Wall of Mastery instead of Guided Study, the words “Wall of Mastery” will appear at the top of the screen instead if “Guided Study.”

Notice also the words “Level A” on the orange bar at the top of the screen. That refers to how challenging the problems are. Level A is easiest, Level B is medium, and Level C is most challenging. All students start with A level problems, but if they get at least 70% of them correct, they earn the right to work on B and C level problems.

This week, students should be starting on the lesson, “Column Multiplication by a One Digit Number” on Monday night, if not before. If they are not on this lesson by Monday night, they are behind their class. They should not go past the objective “Column Multiplication by a Two Digit Number.” If they are past this lesson working on “Formulas for the Area and Perimeter of Squares and Rectangles” or anything related to division they are too far ahead! They should go to Wall of Mastery.

One note on discipline for the week: We have had repeated problems with students taking the sticky-tack off the name-tags on their own desks and off the name- tags on other students’ desks. This is destructive and disrespectful to classrooms which all the students share. The name tags are necessary, and it is impossible to get them to stick on the students’ desks with anything else like tape. (We have tried.) Taking the sticky-tack is really stealing whether the students realize it or not. It is expensive and we can’t keep replacing it. Further, when the name tags fall on the floor they sometimes end up getting destroyed. Students end up using the sticky-tack/putty as a toy with which to distract themselves in class, which is another problem. Several students who have been playing with sticky-tack/putty in class have claimed that they brought it from home. However, as name tags are repeatedly found on the floor stripped of sticky-tack, it is becoming obvious that students caught playing with sticky-tack are not getting it from home.

We have addressed the problem several times with both classes, but Mr. Ohbayashi, our dean of students, has decided that from now on students who caught playing with stick-tack/putty at school will receive an automatic detention. Students who take sticky-tack/putty off the name tags on the desks will also receive an automatic detention. While I think it is unlikely that any of the students are actually getting the sticky-tack/putty from home, if they are please have them stop because from now on they can receive a detention for bringing it. We are sorry to have to resort to drastic measures in this case, but we are hoping that the prospect of a detention will deter students without us actually having to give them a detention over sticky-tack.

In science, we will be studying electricity and magnets for the rest of this week and most of next week. After that we will move into states of matter and geology. The students will be assigned a geology project to be completed at home during the first week of their study of geology (three weeks from now). They will be making a model of the layers of the earth as their science homework for that week. This should hopefully be fun and it will help to give them a physical connection to something they can’t see. It is also great exposure to different ways of thinking scientifically; scientists often build models to help them understand facts and theories better.

 If you would like to start shopping for supplies for the science project early, here is the list: 1. A can of red play-dough  2. A can of yellow play-dough  3. A can of orange play-dough  4. A can of black play-dough  5. A can of blue play-dough  6. A metal or metal-looking bead at least a ¼ inch in diameter (to be the earth’s iron core)  7. A black Sharpie for writing labels   8. A green Sharpie

These are all the note I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Wycklendt

Conference Week

Dear Parents,

I hope you got some time to have fun and relax with your students during fall break! I got to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time on my break. (I am not an Arizona native.) It was truly awe-inspiring, especially at sunset. It seemed like every time I moved to view the canyon at a new angle, a totally new landscape was revealed. I’m sure most of you have gone to the Grand Canyon before, and you are definitely blessed to have seen it. If you haven’t, go! You will not regret it.

As you are surely aware, this upcoming week is parent-teacher conference week. I am looking forward to sitting down with you all and discussing how we can support your students this year. Our priority is first to listen and respond to anything you wish to discuss. The evals are typically the basis for our side of the conversation, although we may have a few additional points to raise for some students. Please come early for your conferences because we do have conferences scheduled back-to-back all afternoon Monday-Thursday.

 All school days this week are half days, with pick-up starting at 12:00pm. There is no lunch time on half days and hence no hot lunch—not even for Athenaeum students. If your students are in Athenaeum, please make sure they bring a lunch.

Please remember that shorts are only allowed as part of the uniform for first and fourth quarters. Since we are now in second quarter, only pants and skirts are allowed now. Last year there was some confusion about other aspects of the dress code for cold weather, so here is a quick review: No boots may be worn; only solid black or solid white tennis shoes or dress shoes are allowed.  Students may wear fleeces or jackets that are not navy uniform ones outdoors only. Indoors they must wear uniform fleeces, sweaters, or long-sleeved polos. If students wish to wear undershirts for extra warmth, they may do so as long as the undershirt is not sticking out of their uniform shirt (i.e. no turtlenecks and no long-sleeved undershirts worn under short-sleeved uniform shirts.) Girls may wear knee socks or tights for warmth with skirts. These may be black, navy, or white. Girls may not wear leggings for warmth even when the leggings are paired with socks of the same color.

Because of the half days, we will only have one math class each day in the classroom. We will not be going into math lab. I will still be assigning some online math homework. Students may complete the lesson, “Properties of Multiplication” but they should not go past it. If they are in “Column Multiplication by a One-Digit Number” or “Column Multiplication by a Two-Digit Number” they should stay out of Guided Study and should go to Wall of Mastery instead.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. I look forward to meeting with you.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Last Week of First Quarter! Math and Science Test Guides!

Dear Parents,


I cannot believe we are already in the last week of the quarter. Can you? To me, it seems like time has flown by, but of course, the students have managed to pack a lot of learning into this time.

We do have a test in math on Thursday and another one in science on Wednesday. I have included study guides below my signature line. However, I am going to make the rest of this message short and sweet because the study guides do take a lot of time for me to write and (I have heard) for you to read.

The science test is going to be short, more like an extended quiz. I say this to help calm any nerves before the test, especially since the students have multiple tests this week. I still expect students to study for it and do their best work, of course. Students should focus particularly on neutrons and the nucleus because these areas that a large number of the students have been prone forget.

The math test is on substituting numbers in expressions with letters and finding the value of unknown letters in equations. The most common mistake I see here is that students try to solve the equations by a simple law of opposites. Because they must subtract to solve addition equations, they think they must always add to solve equations. This works for unknown minuends, but not for unknown subtrahends, Students that always perform opposite operations to solve for unknown letters will therefore get about 30% of their equations wrong.

The last quiz before test is generally a good predictor of how well your student understand the material for a test in my classes. I am sending the quiz on substituting letters for numbers and solving for unknown letters home in Monday folders this week. I am also sending the science quiz on atoms and charges home. You can use the quizzes to help gauge what your child needs to study.

Students do need to have all their homework turned in by Thursday morning in order for it to be counted into their final grades. This includes absent work, try again assignments, and any other assignments that might be missing.

Don't forget that students have off on Friday. There is no school in order to give teachers more time to write insightful evaluations for your students' report cards. We often have a few students attempting to come to school on days they have off, so this is a friendly reminder.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please feel free to send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Sincerely,


Miss Wycklendt

Study Guide for Atoms and Electric Charges

Students should know:

1.       Parts of the atom: Protons and neutrons are particles that are packed together at the center of the atom. This tightly packed group of protons and neutrons is called the nucleus. Protons and neutrons do not move. Electrons orbit the nucleus. They are the only atomic particles that move. They are not in the nucleus.

2.       Students should be able to draw and label the atom diagram we have been using in class. Their diagram should include electrons, protons, neutrons, and the nucleus.

3.       Atomic charges: Protons have a positive charge symbolized by =. Electrons have a negative charge symbolized by -. Neutrons have a neutral charge which does not require a symbol.

4.       Atomic attractions: Opposite charges attract similar to the way opposite sides of Velcro attract. Same charges repel, that is, push each other away. Electrons attract protons and vice-versa. Electrons repel other electrons. Protons repel other protons. Neutrons do not have a charge. They neither attract nor repel electrons, protons, or other neutrons.

5.       Atomic states: When there are more electrons than protons in an atom, that atom has a negative state. When there are more protons than electrons in an atom, that atom has a positive state. When there are equal numbers of protons and electrons an atom, that atom has a neutral state. Students should be able to give examples of each state and recognize examples of each state.

Study guide for Math Test on Expressions with Letters and Equations

1. Students should understand that a letter can be used to stand for a number in various kinds of math problems. When we have a mathematical expression with one or more letters and no = sign, we can assign the letters any value. However in a given problem. the letter must stand for one and only one value. 

2. Students should be able to substitute given numbers for letters and then evaluate the expressions. They should be familiar with the term "evaluate" in this context. For example, 100 - c when c = 25. 100 - 25 = 75. 

3.Students should be able to evaluate similar expressions with letters when they contain more than one letter. They should also be able to evaluate expressions with letters when those expressions include operations in parenthesis. The rule is that we always do operations in parentheses first, and then we do operations outside the parentheses from left to right. For example, h - (67 + f) when h = 100 and f = 3. Substituting, we get 100 - (67 + 3). 67 + 3 = 70. 100 - 70 = 30. 

4. Students should be able to find what an expression would equal when they are given two different values for it; they should be able to solve the problems in two different ways. For example, 48 + x. Evaluate it when x = 10 and when x - 22. 48 + 10 = 58. 48 + 22 = 70.

5. Students should be able to solve equations with letters standing for unknown numbers when the unknown number is a summand of an addition problem, a minuend of a subtraction problem, and a subtrahend of a subtraction problem. (Please see the math study guide below my signature in the week 7 blog post for definitions of these terms.)

6. To solve an equation with an unknown summand, subtract the other summand from the sum. For example, 475 + R = 508. 508 -475 = 33. R = 33 Check by substituting 33 for R and evaluating the expression 475 + 33 = 508, so 33 is definitely the correct answer.

7. To solve an equation with an unknown minuend, add the subtrahend and the difference. F + 67 = 110. 110 - 67 = 43. Check by substituting 43 for F. 110 - 43 = 67, so 43 is definitely the right answer.

8. To solve an equation with an unknown subtrahend, subtract the difference from the minuend. For example, 57 - L = 14. 57 - 14 = 43. Check by substituting 43 for L in the original expression. 57 - 43 = 14, so 14 is definitely correct. 

9. Students do not need to check every equation by substitution as a formal step, but it is extremely helpful to their accuracy when they do so. 

10. Students should be able to solve equations when the unknown letter is in parentheses. The trick here is to understand that the whole expression in parentheses is an unknown value. You have to solve for the value of the expression in parentheses before solving for the letter itself. For example, (95 + G) - 75 = 40 You don't know what G is, therefore, you don't know what 95 + G is. 95 + G is your first unknown value, and it is a minuend. Following the rule for finding unknown minuends, 75 + 40 = 115. 95 + G is the minuend, so 95 + G = 115. G is now an unknown summand of the addition problem 95 + G = 115. Solve by applying the rule for unknown summands. 115 - 95 =  20. Therefore, G = 20. You can, of course, check this by substituting 20 for G in the original expression and evaluating it.

Week 8 with no tests!

Dear Parents,

Congratulations! I understand most of your students were able to get into RM and work last night. I did get a few messages saying there were issues, and I believe I have the solution. If your student's Guided Study building is closed, be sure to have them check the Office, which is the building directly to the right of the Guided Study building. They most likely have a few problems to complete in the Office. When they are done, they can go into Guided Study.

I mentioned in my last blog post that students should not go beyond the lesson “Equations” in Guided Study. For their weekend homework and for the coming week, they may work in Equations. They should not go beyond the lesson, “Properties of Multiplication.” They may complete it, but they should not go beyond it. If they do complete it, they should go to Wall of Mastery.

I am not sure if I mentioned this last week, but online homework is part of your students' grades. I have records on my end to tell me how much time they have completed, and I will be logging and entering their time online into my grade book. They will receive full credit for completing the full 20 minutes, half credit for completing 10-19 minutes, and no credit for completing less than half the time online. (If students are not getting at least 10 minutes online in Guided Study, they will get very little productive work done because Guided Study always starts with a 5 minute warm-up.) Their time does not start being recorded until after they are logged in, so if you are using a timer to monitor, please don't start it until they are logged in. Also, if the internet stops, or the program kicks them out, or any other technical disruption occurs, that time does not get recorded on the record that I see, so please pause any timers until they are logged back in.

Next week, we are starting multiplication, and we will be working on multiplication facts. We are going to be doing multiplication facts a little differently than addition and subtraction facts. Students are going to start by studying their multiplication flashcards each night, preferably with a parent or an older student. I will send the students home with a multiplication log each week to record how many times they practiced their facts. (They should go through them at least twice each night.) Please sign and date the log to confirm they have practiced their facts. At the end of the week, students will turn the log into the math fact bin, and I will include it as part of their grade based on how many times they have completed their facts.

We are going to start by practicing our two, five, and ten times tables. I have instructed the students to separate their multiplication flashcards into groups for each fact, but since facts do overlap, it is probably best if they separate the twos , fives and tens they need for the coming week into a pile single separate from the rest of the flashcards. Multiplication flashcards were on the list of supplies students were to bring to school on the first day. Most of you should have them, but if not, please get some this weekend. You can usually find them at Walmart.

I understand that practicing multiplication facts with your student is potentially time consuming, and I thank you for your support in this area. Math facts are crucial to math success, and multiplication facts are especially important. Students who have memorized their multiplication facts can easily perform column multiplication and division. They are set up for success with equivalent fractions and fraction conversion. Students who do not know their facts struggle in all these areas because all of areas require multiplication.

While it might be less time-consuming to have students fill out worksheets of multiplication facts, in my experience worksheets are ineffective in this area until students have had some multiplication fact practice. It is not as easy for students to try to figure out a multiplication fact they don’t know as it is for them to figure out an addition or subtraction fact they don’t know. If they do try to figure out an unknown multiplication fact by successive adding, they are more likely to be wrong. Naturally, practicing wrong answers would defeat the purpose of the facts, so it is best if they have supervised practice at first. We will eventually move into worksheets for multiplication fact practice after they have had plenty of supervised flash card practice.

In science this week we will continue our investigation of atoms and begin working more directly on electricity. We will be discussing some electricity basics like charges and states, and we will also learn about static electricity. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to do a lab experiment on static electricity as well.

There are no tests in either math or science this week.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please send me a message through Jupiter Ed with any questions, comments, or concerns you have.

Sincerely,



Miss Wycklendt

Week 7 and Math Test

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all well. This coming week we have some exciting things going on in both math and science.

In math, we will be transition to the portion of our curriculum where students have online homework in the RM system. I have received many questions from parents and students about when this would occur, so I gather this is a much-anticipated event. Students will be expected to log into the same RM accounts they use at school on computers at home and work for 20 minutes each night in the “Guided Study” portion of the curriculum. I will send more specific directions on how this is to be accomplished on Monday.

 If your students has absolutely no way of accessing the program at home (i.e., you do not own a computer, or you are not able to afford internet) please let me or Mrs. Washburn know ASAP so we can make arrangements for your scholar to complete their homework. In the past, some families have had success with using the RM program on a smart phone or iPad, so that could be an option at home as well.

Each week there will be a point in the curriculum BEYOND WHICH STUDENTS SHOULD NOT GO. We love it when students are enthusiastic for math, but if they get too far ahead of the full class instruction they often end up confused. As a result, they get less out of the online lesson than they would have if they had waited. When students are ahead, we ask them to work in Wall of Mastery, which is another portion of the curriculum where they can work on harder problems similar to the ones they have done already. I will explain how parents can check what lesson their student is on in the directions sent out on Monday.

This coming week, students should not go beyond the lesson “Equations.” They may complete it, but they should not go beyond it.

In science, we are transitioning to our study of atoms and states of matter (i.e., solid, liquid, gas). We do not intend to teach a thorough chemistry course in fourth grade. (They will have one in fifth grade.) Rather, we are studying atoms and states of matter because they are involved in a number of the other branches of science we teach in fourth grade, such as electricity and geology.

The definition of atom that we give students will be, “An atom is the smallest part of matter.” Now, there is some qualification to that definition; an atom is the smallest part of matter that can exist for the matter to still be the same kind of thing. For example, an atom of hydrogen is the smallest part of hydrogen; you can split that atom, but you will no longer have hydrogen. You will have disconnected ions and an explosion! We will be discussing this qualification in class, but we do not want to put it in the formal definition we give the students because too many words can be confusing.

Regarding our recent science work on graphs, I was in error when I told students line graphs had to start from 0 even if the first point is not at zero.  This was not something we discussed in class, but it was something for which I took half a point off on a number of homework assignments. Of course, half a point will not make much difference to most students’ grades, but if you would like me to fix it, have your students bring back any mismarked papers, and I will correct the grade in my gradebook.

One more thing: We have a math test coming up this Friday. The main focus of the test will be column addition and subtraction and addition and word problems. I will write a quick study guide and post it beneath my signature on this post. When I have done this, I will send a quick message through Jupiter Ed so you will know to look for it.

These are all the notes I have for you this week! If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt 

Column Addition and Subtraction Test Study Guide

1.       Students should be able to identify the parts of an addition problem. The numbers being added are called summands, and the answer to the addition is the sum. (For example, in the problem 4 + 5 =9, 4 and 5 are summands and 9 is their sum.

2.       Students should be able to identify parts of a subtraction problem. The greatest number and the one from which we subtract is called the minuend. The numbering being taken away/subtracted is called the subtrahend. The answer to the subtraction problem is called the difference. (For example, in the problem 250 – 70 = 180, 250 is the minuend because it is the greatest number and therefore the number form which we must subtract. 70 is the subtrahend because it is being subtracted/taken away. 180 is the difference because the answer to the subtraction problem is 180.)

3.       Students should be able to correctly identify parts of addition and subtraction problems even when the answer is given first (as in 56 = 60 - 4 or 450 = 50 + 400). They should also be able to identify parts of addition and subtraction problems when those problems are written in columns.

4.       Students should be able to perform column addition with and without regrouping (also called carrying).

5.       Students should be able to perform column subtraction with and without regrouping (also called borrowing).

6.       WARNING: A surprisingly large number of students at this age have a tendency to simply invert the numbers of column subtraction problems to avoid regrouping/borrowing. For example, when given a problem like 423 – 179 in a column, they will do their ones column and write 3 – 9 = 6. Then they will do their tens’ column and write 2 -7 =5.  Then they will do their hundreds’ column and write 4 -3 = 1, thus producing the answer 156. In my experience, this seems to happen for 2 main reasons: A. The student does not understand how to regroup/borrow. B. Much more often, the student is not comfortable with the process and so tries to avoid it by inverting the numbers. This usually means they don’t fully understand that you cannot subtract a greater number from a lesser number. They don’t fully understand that 9 – 6 DOES NOT EQUAL 6 – 9. (In this case, I usually give the students concrete objects to think about. If I have 6 candy bars, can you eat 9 of them?) For that reason, they don’t always recognize the situations in which borrowing is necessary.

7.       Given the above warning, please check with your student to make sure they know how to borrow and recognize when it is necessary to borrow instead of trying to mentally invert the digits of the column subtraction problem. Even if you are fairly confident they can do column subtraction with borrowing, please check. You would be surprised how common the above errors are at this age.

8.       Students should be able to perform one and two step addition word problems using language like “more,” “total,” “altogether,” and “combined.”

9.       Students should be able to perform one and two step subtraction word problems with words like “How many more?” “How many less/fewer?” “How much cheaper?” and “What is the difference?” (For example: John has 98 apples and Jane has 70. How many more apples does John have than Jane?)

10.   Students should be able to perform two step word problems where one step is addition and the other is subtraction. (For example, Taylor bought a bike for $250 and a football for $175 less. How much dud she spend altogether? ) WARNING: This is another concept that even very good students may find tricky.

Science Test Study Guide and Week 6 Blog Post

Dear Parents,


I hope you are all well and that you and a relaxing weekend. We are already more than half way through the first quarter. This week will be a normal one, with no special events or changes in schedule.

We do have a science test on graphs coming up on Thursday. Most of the students have done well with all the graphing we've taught so far, but I have included a short study guide on graphs beneath my signature line on this post.

This week in math we will have a short review of column addition on Monday. Several students have asked me questions about column addition that will be more efficient to answer in front of the whole class, so we are having an extra class on it. That way everyone will be on the same page. We will do more word problems on Tuesday, and then we will spend the rest of the week working on column subtraction and borrowing. We will have a math test next week on addition and subtraction.

I mentioned in a recent email that the fourth grade team was considering sending graded work home to students on Mondays instead of Fridays. That change has now become official. From now on, we will send your students home with manila folders of graded work every Monday. We still ask that you sign and date them to acknowledge that you have received the graded work and that you send them back with the you students on Tuesday. We will start calling the folders "Monday folders" in order to reflect the change.

I would also like to take a few moments this week to discuss the purpose of the missing assignment bin as there has been some confusion in that regard. Some day, much sooner than you may realize, your students will not have the option to replace a lost homework sheet, a missing homework sheet, a homework sheet turned in without a name. Certainly in sixth grade, but possibly even as early as fifth grade, teachers will not reprint assignments or give extra copies to students. Right now, many students are used to getting teachers to reprint extra copies of assignments they have lost, which reduces their sense of responsibility for the assignments. The missing assignment bin is intended to be a bridge that will help students develop responsibility for their work while still offering them a chance to fix their mistakes when they occasionally lose assignments.

 I have had a number of students approach me and ask me if I can give them the assignments or help them find the assignments in the bin. The answer, as graciously as possible, is no. The students need to go through the bins and find the assignment themselves in order to take responsibility for their work. So far, most students who have made the effort to look have successfully located their missing assignments and handed them in. A lot of students have come in with notes about the assignments they are missing, which helps them remember what they need to find. I am also trying to make it easier for them to find assignments by numbering or titling all assignments. I hope this clears up any confusion regarding the missing assignment bin.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,


Rebecca Wycklendt

Science Study Guide on Graphs

1. A line graph is used to track one thing that changes over time. (For example, one might use a line graph to track the profits of a business over the course of a year, or the weather conditions of a city over the course of a season.)

2. A bar graph is used to compare several things at the same time. (Bar graphs are often used to compare how different opinions on a general subject, such as favorite snacks, movies, etc.)

3. Students should memorize the above descriptions of line and bar graphs and be able to apply them to decide whether to draw a line graph or a bar graph for a given data set.

4. The sides of a graph are called "axes" (singular axis).

5. All graphs should have a title that explains what they represent, and the axes should be clearly labelled so that we know what the numbers on them mean. (Inches? Weeks? Degrees of temperature?)

6. Students should be able to answer questions about the information presented on graphs. Particularly with line graphs, students should know that a line pointing up and to the right indicates an increase, while a line pointing down and to the left indicates a decrease.

7. Students should be able to draw line and bar graphs based on given sets of data. Particularly with line graphs, students should know that they have to connect the points on their line graph with a line and that the line they draw always starts from zero.

Week 5

Dear Parents,


I hope you all had a relaxing Labor Day weekend with your families! Personally, I was a bit disappointed by the hot weather, but I spent a lot of time playing with my dog and catching up with my friends.

This week there are no tests in math and science, but we do have a few other things happening. On Wednesday, we have our MAP standardized testing. This means that students will have a slightly different schedule during the day, and time will be taken from science and writing to accommodate the testing. However, they will be released at their normal early release day time.

Deficiency notices will be sent out at the end of this week to parents of students with a D+ or lower in any class. In a few cases, a student may receive a deficiency as a result of recently failing a test or neglecting to turn in a few recent assignments. In this case, the deficiency can be as much of a surprise to teachers as it is to parents. However, most students who receive deficiencies are students who have been struggling significantly throughout the quarter. If that is the case, you will most likely have been contacted about their struggles before now, so it should not be a surprise.

 I know this can be a tough time of the quarter for parent and students, but the deficiency system is intended to provide an opportunity for struggling students to improve their performance before the end of the quarter.We are here to work with you to help your students improve! If you are concerned about your student, especially if they have received a deficiency, we will be happy to set up a meeting to discuss how we can help your students. We will also have several afternoons at the beginning of second quarter set aside strictly for parent-teacher conferences,

One more important thing occurring this week: we have our very first seminar in literature class! Seminars are at the heart of a Great Hearts education: they are an opportunity for students to to discuss their ideas about what they have read with each other. The students get to work as a team to discuss what the book they have read means, and they get to do so with minimal direct input from their teacher. The teacher's role is to ask interesting questions; the students do their best to answer the questions using examples from the book they have read and building on each other's ideas. During a seminar, the students speak to each other, not the teacher, and they learn from each other, not directly from the teacher.

The seminar will have more weight than an ordinary class or assignment in the student's grades, for which reason we have been preparing them for a few days. They have been sent home with worksheets asking them to think about what makes someone a good king in "Prince Caspian" and also what role belief plays in the actions and decisions of the characters of "Prince Caspian." They will be allowed to take any notes they make about the story on these papers into the seminar with them.

As a parent, the best thing you can do is simply discuss the story with your student. Ask them about the story, the characters, parts they like, which characters were good or bad, etc. You don't have to discuss the specific seminar questions with them; just get them talking and thinking about the story.


As for grades, we are not expecting the students to be geniuses or mini literature professors; what we most want to see in seminar is students who are working as a team, responding to each other's points and not interrupting each other. These matters of classroom etiquette will set them up for long term success with the seminar method.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,


Miss Wycklendt