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! Announcements
With the arrival of winter and colds season, students are in dire need of tissues. Any donations of an extra box will be put to good use! Also, we are trying to assemble a collection of gently used headphones. Many of the sites on our Its Learning course include video clips and audio links, which are easier to use when students have individual headphones. Some students have their own at school already; however, we hope to create a set of 15 that can be cleaned and stored in zipper bags for students to use. Happy Holidays!

Around Columbus & Ohio

Stuff to Do and See:
Columbus Childrens Theater: Watch a performance or sign up for a class! Write a story for the Childrens Writing Project! http://www.columbuschildrenstheatre.org COSI Science Education Programs for Families: Camps and workshops year around, not just is the summer! Explore science careers! http://www.cosi.org/families Columbus Museum of Art: Check out the link to Think Outside the Brick. Cool use of Legos! http://www.columbusmuseum.org/exhibitions/ Ohio Wildlife Center: Check out the Wild in Winter one-day camp and the link to Next Generation of Conservation Scientists. http://www.ohiowildlifecenter.org/dnn/ OWL Camp: An amazing summer enrichment experience held at Ohio Wesleyan Univ. Applications are available in December for students currently in grades 6, 7, and 8. Dont delay! More information will come home from school. http://owjl.owu.edu National Advisory list of Student Contests and Activities: Information about many program opportunities for students. http://www.nassp.org/awards-and-recognition/nassp-national-advisory-list Ohio Association of Gifted Children: Information for Parents, including links to essential sites and upcoming classes. http://www.oagc.com/?q=parent SENG: Supporting the Emotional Needs of Gifted http://www.sengifted.org Central Ohio Gifted Support: Discussion groups and sessions for parents. http://www.centralohiogiftedsupport.com The Inverse Power of Praise: How Not to Talk to Your Kids article http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

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3rd Grade: Students have been using their number sense to investigate mental math strategies and discuss problem solving with multiplication. We have investigated area and perimeter using pattern blocks changing our units to represent different shapes. We have also been working on justifying our answers with explanations written in complete sentences. Students have also been practicing basic algebra skills by balancing scales and finding mystery numbers. 4th Grade: Students are working on 4th grade extension targets for Unit 3, including common mathematical properties, especially multiplying with the use of the distributive property (partial products). They also learned mental math strategies to multiply multiples of ten with 2, 3 or 4 digits. For Unit 4, extension targets included measuring with rulers to the nearest 1/8 inch. We continue to practice double digit multiplication and multi-step word problems. 5th Grade: Students have been completing advanced, multi-step problems from the Continental Mathematics League. We are also using our spatial sense to determine how many faces of cubes are showing in various 3D figures. Students have been working on writing complete answers and justifying their thinking with sentences. 5thA and 6th Grade: Happy Thanksgiving! The class determined where the Thanksgiving best buys were using advertisements from local newspapers and discount coupons from Mrs. Wainscott and I. Students did very well on their Integer summative and we continue to investigate extension topics like adding and subtracting integers. 6th Grade ELC: Students are working on Problem Solving strategies and operations with Integers. They are also completing a statistical analysis of real estate in the Columbus area. 7th Grade ELC: We have investigated some topics in logic, including logical notation ad properties. The students have also investigated how frustrating mathematics and science can be by looking at all the mistakes associated with Apollo 13. We have examined math problems that are easily missed and determined what mistakes can be made and what correct solutions are.

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* 3rd Grade: Students learned to find a common theme and draw inferences about characters as they finished their independent reading books. Our Writers Lunch Bunch group is busy writing a story to submit to the Columbus Childrens Theater contest, and Thinkers Lunch Bunch is working on Sudoku and logic puzzles. I am so impressed with the perseverance of students as they tackle challenges! 4th Grade: Students have focused on characterization, finding main ideas and text features with both novels and informational texts. They continue to work independently on assignments in their Its Learning course, including extensions of their classroom work. I encourage parents to view the students IL courses; the children really enjoy their virtual classroom. ! 5th Grade: Narrative writing, resumes and interviews for Biz Town, and a book group that is looking at The Wizard of Oz as a monetary allegory have kept fifth graders busy. Many students have finished the first set of lessons in their Its Learning course called Word Roots, a study of Greek and Latin words that are foundations for our language. We begin the next set of words after Thanksgiving break, and students progress at their own pace through this vocabulary study. 6th/7th Grade: Students in the Extended Core class have read The Book Thief or Enders Game, which has lead to a lively debate about the motion Books offer things that a film cannot. Students will view both films and look for ways the writers craft differs from that of a film producer. Sixth graders are writing for the CCT Playwriting Contest while seventh graders are working on a long-term project for Scholastic called Kids Are Authors.