5th grade TAG Fifth grade students brought home their work from the Epidemic unit. I hope that you sat down when them and had them tell you about the activities, thinking, and learning they were part of during the Epidemic unit. Students have selected their research topics, and this week they wrote guiding questions for their research. In my opinion, this is the hardest step of the research process. They also learned that not everything you read on the Internet is true (gasp!). Check out the bogus website I sent them to so that they could practice taking notes. They were so busy gathering information that few of them took the time to THINK about what they were reading and realize how there was no way it could be true. Save the Pacific Tree Octopus! I want to discuss Wikipedia. When we started out on the research journey, the students all declared boldly that it was a bad, unreliable site. Wikipedia is not perfectly reliable, I agree, but you know what? No single source is reliable. When Wikipedia is randomly checked for factual accuracy, it’s proved to be roughly comparable to print encyclopedias. The good thing about Wikipedia is that it is more likely to be up to date than any given print encyclopedia, because updates to it are done in real time and continuously. Wikipedia is a great starting point to learn anything. This is why I had the students go to Wikipedia first ... to get an idea of questions they wanted to generate for research. There is extensive bibliographic information on Wikipedia that leads students to the "reliable" sources. :-) Let's quit giving Wikipedia a bad wrap !!! | 4th grade TAG Thank you to those of you who sent in supplies for the school in Fiji. They have shipped, and I know the students will appreciate the gifts. The students are busily preparing their TAG Town presentations for parents and guests. This will be held on Thursday, March 1, at 9:00 in Ms. Searcy's classroom. We hope you can join us. The students and I have felt kind of lost now that we finished reading Rocket Boys. This week, however, I think I've sucked them into another good book - Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix. The story is set in the future when families are only allowed to have two children. This is the story of a third child, Luke, and how he discovers that there are other "hidden" children. The truly great thing about this book is that there are SIX sequels to it that will keep them reading for a long time. On Monday, February 12th, I had the opportunity to be at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for the State of NASA address. I was selected to be on NASA's Social Media team to cover the event. In addition to the speech, I was able to visit some truly fabulous locations on site, including the Deep Space Habitat and International Space Station training mock-ups and the 3-D printing facility. Check out my Twitter feed to see great photos from the day. I shared these with the students in an effort to continue to inspire the next generation of explorers. |
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The lottery came to 4th grade TAG Town this week and students learned the odds were NOT in their favor when it came to winning the mega-millions jackpot. They also learned about the benefits of savings and investments and the "joys" of compound interest. We discussed how "taking a chance" is a good thing if the possibility of negative consequences is small. If you are reading this (and your 4th grader is in my class), please ask your child to post at https://flipgrid.com/9481d6. They will earn a PAWS ticket for doing this. I really hope that your child is showing changes in attitudes and behaviors towards spending money as a result of this unit. I've been selected to be a member of the NASA Social Media team to cover the State-of-NASA message to be delivered at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. To the right you will see my schedule for the day. I also recently learned that, after a rigorous application process with a great deal of competition, I was selected to be a JPL-NASA Solar System Ambassador. Check me out on the NASA website !!! (Don't worry, I'm not quitting my day job.) 5th grade students this week analyzed primary documents from the Flu Pandemic of 1918. Check out their collective project HERE.
4th grade students distinguished between wants and needs as they made transportation and home entertainment choices in TAG Town. Students used criteria and a decision-making grid to determine the best choice for them. They're ready to help you the next time you buy a car. So many of my TAG students were in the school play. Congratulations on a job well done. There was something strangely familiar about it. :-)
5th grade news: This week, students were treated to a visit by Ms. Aneesah Akbar-Uqdah from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). She works as a Public Health Analyst and is in West Africa most of the time. She visited with the fifth graders last year, and we were thrilled that she was able to come back to NPES this year. Students learned about Public Health documentation of restaurants this week and were pleasantly surprised to see that most of our Alpharetta restaurants had high ratings. The NPES cafeteria earned a 100 ! You can look up restaurant scores through a free app called "What the Health Georgia" or at this site. We've been tracking the spread of the flu, and I did not share the last update with the students but thought you may be interested in seeing this and sharing with your children. Remember: The most important tool to fight the influenza virus is to wash your hands. 4th grade news:
The fourth graders became experts on money this week. They had a choice of five centers to rotate through and then create a product to show what they had learned. They explored faces on money, large denominations of money that are no longer in circulation, and women on money. Some students told the story of the life of a five dollar bill. Here are few products you may enjoy seeing: Women on Money I am a Five Dollar Bill NEWS FOR EVERYONE: During the week of December 18, I will be holding my annual White Elephant Event in TAG. Do you know the story behind White Elephant Gifts? “White elephant” is an expression used to describe a possession that someone has that they cannot get rid of, something that is not useful or of value to them. The term derives from the story that the kings of Siam were accustomed to make a present of a white elephant to common people who were obnoxious. No one could refuse a gift from the king. The cost of maintaining the elephant would then ruin the person financially because it was so expensive to feed and take care of an elephant. Our modern day “white elephant” gift is much more pleasant. Each TAG class will have a white elephant gift exchange. Each TAG student should bring a wrapped present to TAG class during the week on December 21st. The gift should be something that they have at home that is no longer being used, something that is of no value to them anymore. The “thing” should be in good condition. Funny gifts are always welcome. Please don’t go out and buy anything new. 4TH GRADE NEWS We had a fabulous week in "TAG Town." We discussed the differences between employees and entrepreneurs. The class consensus was that they all wanted to be entrepreneurs, but that maybe they'd have to be employees first in order to get some money to back their entrepreneurial ideas! They received their job assignments this week, along with their first paycheck. There was a lot of discussion about taxes and other deductions! If you feel comfortable, tell your child how much YOU pay in taxes every year (federal and state). In the coming weeks, students will have the opportunity to pay for housing, transportation, and groceries. Students should have brought home and shown you the work from our first unit, Space Exploration, along with a Progress Skills Checklist. Congratulations to our class friend, Shoumik, who did SO well in the School Spelling Bee. 5TH GRADE NEWS: Epidemiologists-in-training this week rotated through stations to learn about DNA, Blood, Vaccinations and Epidemiology. Students "genetically engineered" a dog using strands of DNA, learned about blood typing, and debated whether or not vaccinations should be required by the government. One of the questions that we continually focus on in this unit is, "What rights does the government have when it comes to our personal decisions?" Students were asked to find out what blood type they are - so, if you know, please tell them. I was only able to see my fifth graders this week because of the short week. Our focus was the social studies standard: Describe how life changed in America at the turn of the century. The students worked through a lesson to compare/contrast amusement parks at the turn of the century with amusement/theme parks today. We started with a carousel brainstorm with some interesting prompts. Ask your child how they responded to these questions:
The students continue to enjoy The Mysterious Benedict Society. They are really "playing along" and trying to solve the mysteries right along with the children in the book. Congratulations to Katherine C, first recipient of the Medal of Honor Award in 5th grade, for showing integrity. Looking for something to keep your kids busy this long weekend? Encourage them to enter the PTA Reflections contest. Submission are due October 16th.
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AuthorI started teaching in 1985. Yes, that's a LONG time ago. I started off as an elementary music teacher, but have been teaching gifted students for the past 20 years. I came to Fulton County Schools in 1991 and taught at Mtn Park ES for 24 years before coming to New Prospect ES in 2015. I love being a Panther ! Archives
September 2019
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