Makerfaire was a hit!

Our 3rd and 4th grade students are quite the makers and we had a great time with our makerfaire project.  We would like to share the experience with you below.
We had bakers, artists, builders, scientists, and more!

Welcome to the Faire!

End of the 6 weeks approaches.

Sorry for the hiatus of updates.  We have been communicating through upper school update.  Those will now be posted here, in case you miss the e-mail, along with more fun updates of kids activities in class.

 Friday, January 18th,  is the last day of the 3rd 6 weeks and is an Early Release Day: 12:45 p.m., no extended day.   

 Monday January 21st is a student holiday, MLK Jr. Day, and there will be no school that day.  

Make sure and get any incomplete work or redo's in no later than January 18th.  We will not accept any work after this date.   The beginning of the 4th 6 weeks is Tuesday January 22nd.  

Notes from Mrs. Conover (Math) bconover@braination.net  

All three grades will continue with "Mad Minutes" this week.  This helps to practice math fact fluency.    

3rd 4th and 5th grades all have a project due on Thursday, please remember to wear presentation shirt.  They were all given a review today, to be completed by tomorrow. We will review it tomorrow in preparation of a 6 weeks test on Wednesday. 

Notes from Mrs. Crow (Reading) gcrow@braination.net  

I conferenced with all students today and tomorrow about their grade for the 6 weeks and discussed with them the results of their work this 6 weeks. 

All grades fiction stories are to be published and turned in on January 17th.  This project was assigned in November and has been completed in parts throughout the 6 weeks. We will be creating our own library of authors and students will give book talks Thursday and Friday before books are able to be read by their classmates.  I am excited to see how our little authors are pushing themselves to add details to their writing and can't wait to read the final versions of all the stories we have been discussing. 

No tutoring for 5th grade invitees due to early release this week.  I will not be having reading tutoring for invited students next week.  I am out for training next week. 

Ms. Raiford Science and Social Studies Notes araiford@braination.net  

In science, 3rd grade is reviewing content about soil and slow and fast changes to Earth's surface for a quiz. And they are also going to be introduced to natural resources.  

4th grade is reviewing content on soil, slow changes to Earth's surface, and natural resources for a quiz.  

5th grade is moving forward in science to start talking about weather and climate patterns. 

In social studies, 3rd grade is reviewing levels of government and citizenship. 

 4th grade is reviewing the European influences in Texas and the explorers that came through.  

And 5th grade is continuing the nation as a new country and its historic documents written to govern it.

Word Detectives

 We have become word detectives this week as students looked for multiple ways to study words. Even hard unknown words hold clues through their prefixes and affixes.  This week 4th and 5th grade are using this knowledge to scientifically name their own creations from lab experiments gone wrong to strange newly discovered animals.

Students determined this hard word was the study of secret animals.

What is related to graph?

They turned these word discussions into their own creations. 4th grade created and named a science lab experiment gone wrong and 5th grade discovered and named their own dinosaurs.

The sherbet and taco eating dinosaur
Magnumcrintitus dinosourum  quadsimilia palicia et habet sorditaeetiuts rubrumethabet nonextincti et consumit cibem
I hope I got that all right.  They were very happy it was so long!

Brazilliensis A...

 

Grassilgastro Curvispiniposterio
Lava eating, spiny backed creature

Orcaderm - skinkiller
Elephant toothpaste is a potion that can burn your skin.

How can names show related animals?
Unicospi cerculamacula, pocelias unifaceraptor, and triceraraptor
The one horned dinos are related and the raptors are related differently.

Activate Week - Word Study

This week we are diving into words.

3rd grade is discussing the power of words and starting our word collection as we learn about resources to understand words we may not know.  We will be practicing dictionary and thesaurus skills this week to improve our learning all year.

4th grade will begin their study of Greek and Latin roots.  We learned that 90% of words 3 syllables or longer have these roots and most scientific words use them as well.  We will practice dictionary skills and building words from roots to find many related connections.

5th grade is stepping it up a notch and learning about Greek and Latin roots and the binomial nomenclature (2 named, name calling), a system that is used to scientifically name plants and animals.  They will use this naming system to invent and name their own dinosaur in the coming weeks.

Orientation Week - What is an investigation?

What a whirlwind of a week!  We were very busy making friends and learning expectations this week.

Students were introduced to the investigation process through a variety of problem solving challenges. 

Can you build a tower with marshmallows and spaghetti

Stack cups into a pyramid using only rubber bands and string.  

Putting all the investigation vocabulary together with our first scenario - Acme shoe company wants recyclable shoes.

Our first focus questions!

Each student decides how they want to connect with the scenario and what is important to them.  These kiddos wondered how to make popular styles, if the shoes could be waterproof, would the shoes be durable and safe to wear, or even appeal to the public.  So many connections to learning from one idea.

Students construct their theory - what they think will answer their focus question - and then test their ideas to see if it works.

Going above and beyond - excited to finish the project.

Students were so excited to continue the project beyond the time we had that they brought back their finished model the next day.  It features a popular design, waterproofing on the sole, and its own commercial, presentation ready.

Welcome to AFIA

I am so excited to start a new year!  Meeting new students and seeing how much my old students have grown was amazing.  A brand new set of 4th grade is rolling in for advisory.

This is my 4th year teaching reading here at AFIA and 10th year teaching total.  I just finished my Masters Degree last year and am certified as a Reading Specialist.   I love learning and reading so it is a joy to share this experience with my students.

If you missed orientation, don't worry we will get you caught up!   Orientation Information is just a click away.

If there are any questions please contact the upper school team.

Ms. Crow - gcrow@braination.net
3-5 Reading, 4th Advisory

Mrs. Conover - bconover@braination.net
3-5 Math, 3rd Advisory

Mrs. Luft - mluft@braination.net
3-5 Social Studies/Science, 5th Advisory



Time to get ready for a great year!