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Happy New Year! We hope that you had a relaxing winter break and that 2020 is off to a wonderful start for you and your family.
All classes Kindergarten through 5th grade have been using “Jacob’s Ladder”, which is an Advanced Academic Reading Comprehension program from the Center of Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary. The reading passages engage students to move from lower order to higher order thinking skills. In Kindergarten, they have been analyzing the poem, “Caterpillar”. They began by learning to sequence the story from beginning to end. Next, they will think about the cause and effect of the changes in the caterpillar and finally, the consequences and implications of these changes.
Throughout the school year, students at Glen Forest have been engaging in PBLs, Project-Based Learning activities. In 1st grade, students used their knowledge of different types of motion-back and forth, circular, and straight to create a Rube Goldberg machine. Students worked in teams, creating a machine that used at least 2 materials to move a marble into a cube. During their design process, students used their creativity to find unique ways to move the marble into the cup and refined their machines through trial and error.
In their PBL, 2nd grade students acted as meteorologists, creating visual displays to educate others about extreme storms and provide information on how to prepare for these events. Students presented their finish products to their classmates. Ask your child to share about what to do to prepare for a tornado or blizzard!
The 3rd graders used their creativity in creating floats and puppets for their Annual “Balloons over Broadway” parade, which took place here at Glen Forest on the last school day before Thanksgiving break. Each of the students used their Portrait of a Graduate attributes of Collaborator and Communicator as they planned, created, and showcased their finished products.
The 3rd graders have been studying Ancient Egypt in social studies. Using the Document Based Questioning (DBQ) unit of “How Did the Nile Shape Ancient Egypt?”, students have been analyzing primary and secondary documents to prepare an answer to this question. Ask your 3rd grader to convince you how the Nile shaped Ancient Egypt.
In 4th grade, the students have been studying Jamestown in their Virginia Studies unit. They are using the Document Based Questioning (DBQ) unit of “Early Jamestown: Why did So Many Colonists Die?” The students have been busy analyzing primary and secondary document to answer the question. Ask your 4th grader to explain to you about “brackish” water.
Fifth grade is jumping into Fantasy this month! Students have been immersed in an author study on author/illustrator, Chris Van Allsburg. Students have enjoyed exploring his books and identifying the various elements of fantasy writing. We will continue our author study with a Jacob’s Ladder and Socratic Seminar centered around two of his most famous books; Jumanji and Two Bad Ants.
In the Level IV classroom, Ms. Neubig’s class is focused on fantasy writing. To inspire our fantasy writing students selected an illustration of their choice from Van Allsburg’s, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, to create a short fantasy story and worked on a hashtag to encapsulate the message/meaning of the illustration. Ms. Neubig’s class also enjoyed exploring Salvador Dali’s, Persistence of Memory portrait during a Socratic Seminar. Students were actively engaged in a collaborative discussion centered around this surrealist painting filled with symbolism and imagery which evoked many thoughtful questions and explored various perspectives/interpretations.
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