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AAP November Newsletter
Students are busy learning and growing at Glen Forest Elementary School! They are immersing themselves in many challenging hands-on, minds-on activities. All fifth-grade classes enjoyed an AAP Experience this past quarter. Classes dug deep into their mentor texts by working on Jacob’s Ladder and discussed what they learned by utilizing the Socratic Seminar method. We are looking forward to our next AAP Experiences.
In our Level IV fifth-grade class, taught by Ms. Neubig, students enjoyed learning about scale factor and combined a variety of scale factors to create their own unique, “Juggles the Clown.” Students got to tap into their artistic side by creating “Mind Maps” based on characters from mentor texts which supported their reading unit on Character Change. They identified character traits and developed their own theories about why and how the character changed.
 Our Level IV 4th grade class, taught by Ms. Lee, has been studying the concept of change through Literature and their math M3 Unit, Factors, Multiples, and Leftovers. The students are using their Portrait of a Graduate Collaborator skills while participating in an afterschool STEM club led by a group of Thomas Jefferson students, STEM Mayhem. Here are some pictures from their second club meeting, where they had to work together in groups to build structures out of spaghetti. Can you believe some of the structures could hold weight without breaking
Our Level IV 3rd grade class, taught by Mrs. Gundlach, has been building their classroom community and using their Portrait of a Graduate Communicator skills to introduce themselves through an “ALL About Me” poster. These posters are on display in the hallway of the 3rd grade trailer. Mrs. Gundlach’s students are also exploring the concept of change through Literature and their math M3 Unit, Moli Stone. This mathematical unit looks at the place value system of the “Land of Treble”, which was base 3 and compared it to our place value system of base 10.
Our second grade students have been growing as readers and writers during the first few months of school. Using AAP language arts curriculum such as Jacob’s Ladder, students have been sequencing important events in the stories, analyzing the cause and effect of these events, and discussing the consequences and implications of characters’ choices. We will continue to build all critical thinking skills as readers during second quarter!
Additionally, second grade students have been beginning to participate in Socratic Seminars. After reading a passage and creating open-ended questions, students discuss the questions whole class and reflect on how the discussion has changed their understanding of the text. Below is a photo of Ms. Huber’s class discussing the implications of Peter and Judy finding the game Jumanji from the picture book of the same name.
Using their knowledge of Positivity Project character strengths, first graders explored the ideas of bravery and determination while reading the book Kitten’s First Full Moon. After putting the events of the story in order, students discussed which character strength helped Kitten to reach her goal and how they can use lessons from the story to achieve their own goals.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS: * Monday, December 9th =Level IV Parent Information Night @ 6:30pm in the Cafeteria
- This meeting is for 2nd-5th Grade Parents interested in referring their students for Level IV Advanced Academic Program (AAP) services on
Happy Thanksgiving! From Your Advanced Academic Resource Teachers: Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. Haynes, and Ms. Ulsh
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