Dear UE/MS Parents,
We look forward to celebrating our many blessings at the upcoming Thanksgiving Feast on Wednesday, November 14. Thank you for supporting our efforts each and every day that we are entrusted with the education of your child. The second progress report will be sent home on November 16.
Literature: The fourth and fifth level students will study the life of William Shakespeare and Elizabethan Times, including read and perform Midsummer Night’s Dream at the end of the grading period. This will provide a segue into the study of The History of the English Language. Specific fourth level language skills include: edit writing, read and write dialogue, summarize text, find main idea and story elements. Fifth level language skills include: identify genres, write with details, write persuasively, respond to literature, and make inferences.
Math: The fourth level concepts include: number sense, decimals, measurement, graphing, fractions, perimeter, area and geometric transformations. Fifth level concepts include: number sense, long division, equivalent fractions, explore volume, geometry wrap-up and introduction to algebra. Each student will research a math concept question to present at the Math Fair on December 7. Students will propose a Question: example: Why is Algebra an important math concept? Hypothesis: It is important because…Test: Provide a demonstration of its applicability. Record results on presentation board. Conclude. Algebra is important because it can be used by…to determine…It is likened to the Scientific method since observation is another important element. Students may need to conduct several tests to reach a valid conclusion.
Literature: The sixth and seventh level students will also study the life of William Shakespeare and Elizabethan Times. They will read and perform Romeo & Juliet at the end of the grading period. Language lessons include: literature response, use of descriptive language, understand themes, analyze characters, evaluate oral presentations, read informational text, write sonnets and discuss use of poetry for dialogue.
Geography/History: Students will discuss the Elizabethan Age historically, how Elizabethans, including Shakespeare, saw the world. Students will study The History of the English Language beginning with its evolution over 8,000 years ago in the general area to the north of the Black Sea when a group of languages called Indo-European emerged, i.e., French, Latin & Germanic. Each student will research at least one language for The History of the English Language timeline which will include: Latin, Greek, Finnish, German, Italian, Hindi, or French and other contributors to our present vocabulary. While English is still growing, science and technology have added thousands of new words. Hopefully, this should inspire your child to participate in the Spelling Bee at Montessori Academy. We are thankful for our good spellers and believe he or she can compete with the “best of the best!”
Sincerely,
Mrs. Helena Hess, Director
From Mrs. Elisabeth Gay -
As we enter the 3rd grading term, it is hard to believe that we are one third of the way through this school year! The holidays provide us with opportunities to gather with friends and family while we count our blessings and celebrate our beliefs. The students are well settled into the routine of school and we will be matching the busy holiday pace as we move forward in our curriculum.
Math: 4th level students will be focused on mastering all dynamic operations with four digit (and greater) whole numbers (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing) including long division. They will continue to practice multi-step word problems using different operations. They will also continue their work with fractions: using GCF for reducing fractions, finding equivalent fractions, converting improper fractions to mixed numbers, converting fractions to decimals and vice versa, adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators and using LCM for finding common denominators to solve problems with fractions with unlike denominators. They are adding and subtracting decimals. Some are exploring the concept of extracting square root and the squaring of binomials and trinomials.
Math: 5th level students will continue their work with pre-algebra skills. They have completed their work with applying formulas they derived to logical progression of arrays and are currently working on deriving formulas to solve problems with multiple variables. They will continue to develop logic and reasoning skills with a variety of logic problems. They will continue to master operations with fractions and decimals including multiplication and division of fractions and decimals by whole numbers and by fraction and decimal numbers. They will practice with converting fractions to decimals and vice versa. They will also practice operations with mixed numbers. They will continue to explore the properties of the different operations and apply those to problems with and without variables. We will review divisibility rules. They have completed their work with prime factorization and will be applying their understanding of exponents derived from that work. Look for some of these exciting results at the math fair as each student shares with you a favorite math concept in detail.
Of course 4th and 5th level students will continue the study of Geometry through the fabulous equivalence and yellow area materials as they explore and derive the formulas for the area of different polygons including: triangles, parallelograms, rhombi, etc…
Language/Writing: 4th level students will begin developing the skill of taking notes and organizing information into outlines for report writing. They will be practicing writing complete and organized paragraphs with main ideas, supporting details and strong conclusions. In Grammar they will be working to master correct punctuation including end punctuation, commas, apostrophes, colons, and quotation marks. They will also be working on understanding invisible subjects, direct address, prepositional phrases as adverbs and adjectives and helping verbs.
Language/Writing: 5th level students will be refining their report writing skills by adding detail and complexity to their writing. They will review punctuation rules for commas, apostrophes, colons, semicolons, quotation marks, including correct punctuation in dialog writing. They will be reviewing possessive nouns, possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns, transitive and intransitive verbs. They will also be studying participles, gerunds, infinitives, and clauses: independent and subordinate.
Reading: All students will be reading a historical fiction novel which corresponds to the time period we will be studying in history: The American Revolution. These will be based on individual reading comprehension levels, not grade levels. The novel groups will discuss plot, characterization, main idea, summarizing, sequencing, drawing conclusions, and inferencing. The same reading comprehension skills will continue to be reinforced by shorter reading comprehension activities that target these skills.
History/Geography: All 4th and 5th level students will be studying the time period during and after the American Revolution. They will develop an understanding of the timeline of events which led to the Revolution, the different perspectives of the different groups of people involved and the results of each event. They will explore the idea of the creation of a free nation, governed by the people, for the people. They will explore the roles of citizens in a democracy and challenges the early Americans faced.
We will also have a traveling trunk, Cherokee in Tennessee: their Life, Culture and Removal from the Tennessee State Museum on campus containing articles for the students to explore.
Health: All 4th and 5th level students will begin our unit on Exercise. The students will be exploring the concepts of exercise on all body systems. They will research personal activity levels and the results of an exercise lifestyle or a lack thereof.
From Dr. Herman Jackson:
Science: Fourth level science students will begin studying the Animal and the Plant Kingdom using the Albanesi phylum classification materials. They will use the BrainPop software program to help classify vertebrates and invertebrates. They will dissect frogs and use the Explore Learning software to conduct experiments dealing with cell structure, photosynthesis, plant growth, osmosis, the greenhouse effect, and the Archimedes Principle. Temperature studies using vernier sensors will be continued.
Science and Middle School Science: Fifth, sixth, and seventh level science students will continue using the physics workshop laboratory equipment to learn about acceleration and velocity as it relates to mass and incline angle. They will complete lever and pulley studies as well as determine the acceleration due to gravity. Students will predict and measure the acceleration of a car traveling down a ramp using different angles. Students will use the Explore Learning software to conduct experiments dealing with cell structure, photosynthesis, plant growth, osmosis, the greenhouse effect, and the Archimedes Principle, Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law, Fan Cart Physics, pH Analysis, and Free Fall Tower. Physical science relationships will be studied using vernier sensors.
Mathematics: Middle school math students will be studying linear and quadratic functions using the Geometer Sketchpad and Explore Learning. Introductory algebraic concepts will be introduced. The Geometer Sketchpad helps students investigate mathematical models, objects, figures, and graphs. With sketchpad, students are provided a visual way to explore and understand abstract concepts in pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and science. Motion explorations dealing with velocity, speed, and acceleration will be used to graph relationships between time and distance and time and acceleration. Students will be completing their math fair project for an early December presentation.
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