Announcements
Back to School Night: Wednesday 7 PM Princeton Junior School
Welcome Back Picnic: Saturday , September 16 - 2 PM
Enrichment Clubs begin MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18
Holiday - ROSH HASHANAH September 21
AnnouncementsField Trip: Wednesday 8 am - 330 pm Museum of Math - West 26th street New York NY Back to School Night: Wednesday 7 PM Princeton Junior School Welcome Back Picnic: Saturday , September 16 - 2 PM Enrichment Clubs begin MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18 Holiday - ROSH HASHANAH September 21 SummaryOur first weeks in school are largely about pre-assessment and setting up routines, procedures, and expectations. In reading workshop, we are remembering what it means to be a proficient reader and good partner. In writing workshop, we are studying memoir for some reflections and introspection ahead of goal-setting conferences. Our first IB unit, "We Change as We Grow" is an examination of various rites of passage, privileges, pitfalls and perils of early adolescence and beyond - the goal is to make better, smarter choices in the days, months, and years to come.
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Important Dates:Wednesday, May 3 BRAVO Concert at Princeton U auditorium, 1030 depart No SMART LUNCHES students should pack their lunch and snack to bring Friday, May 5 Founders Day (Grandparents/Special Friends Welcome) Schedule for grade V: Grades 2-5 8:30 Commons 8:45-9:30 Classroom 9:30-10:00 Maypole Saturday, May 6 PJSPA International May Fair 11:00 am - 3 P.M SummativesStudents are currently presenting their products, ads, and what they learned in this unit to the class. All summatives will be posted on this blog and outside of the classroom within a few days. They did amazing work! Excellent warm up for the exhibition ConferencesStudent-led conferences will be held Thu 5/18 and Fri 5/19 from 1230-4. Signup will go out this week. EXHIBITIONExhibition has begun! So far, students have had some provocations and initial impressions of the task ahead. This week, students will begin to identify issues that matter to them and refine their passions to a single choice. Then, students will write lines of inquiry for their Exhibition while mentors and outside experts are identified and assigned. There will be a meeting for families to discuss the process and how to best support each scholar - invitation will be sent via email. CONGRATULATIONS to Polaris HayesPOLARIS HAYES is one of the Winners of the Math Kangaroo 2017. This prestigious competition is international in scope! Her result follows on the heels of a recent second place in JEI math contest on March 25. Amazing job Polaris!!!
Week in Review, Announcements, Upcoming work
Hello friends and families! Hope everyone had a lovely, long weekend. Last week was a short one, but we accomplished a lot. We rolled up our sleeves and did some fantasy investing. We also incorporated research into our persuasive writing and began to discuss sourcing and proper citation. We also received the planning documents for our Summative Assessment for this unit - a product design, market research, and ad campaign project.
This week, we will be finishing all the above. We will be looking at our stock market picks in terms of percentage change. We will also go over proper letter writing and MLA citation some more. We'd like to give a shout to Praslin and Polaris who showed some wonderful initiative putting words, graphic design, and sculpture together for a multimedia art presentation. Here are the codes so that you can hear them, too! A lot has been going on since Spring Break! Our 5th graders have made their decisions for next year. We had a Fun Run to raise money for the school. We also had an Open Mic on Monday! Video link is above! {note - Video link is oriented horizontally for some reason... I am consulting my "experts" and taking it down until I resolve this on youtube. however, high quality working copies are available on request]
In our math integration, the students are learning about supply and demand and how they influence price. As a case study, students are tracking $2000.00 worth of equities they "purchased" over the course of this week. Concepts include a four-quadrant coordinate plane, converting percentages, and absolute value. Students also are researching their companies via financial websites. In reading and writing workshop, we continue to refine our persuasive writing. We are also learning to find reputable sources to support our assertions and will be learning to properly cite those sources (MLA style citations and bibliography) this week in preparation for the Exhibition which begins in.. less than two weeks!! Students will receive their summative assignments for this unit tomorrow. We will have an Exhibition presentation (general information and expectations) and aprents will receive a copy of the slideshow and other documents next week. Electromagnetism is winding down...Students are finishing their practical application of electromagnetism and circuitry. They have built DC motors and will make "Bristlebots" to take home. They also will write up a lab report in class that examines the difference in performance if voltage and magnetic field strength are varied. New Unit: Consumer Choices set to beginThis unit examines the effect of marketing and advertising, DDT is a case study, examining how ads and then scientific research changed the public's perception of this substance over time. Persuasive writing and (basic) geometric proofs will be explored in math and language inquiry.
Tempus fugitPolaris asked today which unit our next one will be. She and others were astonished that our next unit will be our penultimate unit. Time indeed does fly. This week we had several unwanted incursions of microbes. Despite sickness and absence, we accomplished a good deal. Math topic included GCF and some operations with fractions. Our algebra students are working on factoring as well - GCFs and perfect squares from trinomials. In our unit, we began to explore magnetism and the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Students created a simple electromagnet and are looking forward to homopolar and DC motors, mirroring the early work of Faraday. As an LA connection, we composed villanelles and pantoums about electromagnetism to be read/performed for the K1 class at some point next week. It was also Isaac's birthday - Happy Birthday, Isaac! AnnouncementsTomorrow night is the PJS soiree at 6pm! February 4. It is also Mrs. Clark's birthday!
Next Saturday, Feb 11th, is our pancake breakfast from 9-11 am. Advance tickets are $5 adult $3 children. Tickets at the door will be $8 adult and $5 children. Contact Mrs. Jarvis at [email protected] for tickets in advance! Monday is Spirit Day - and you can wear Pajamas!!!Enough said! Play practice begins next Wednesday and Thursday!!After school on Wednesday, all students interested in the PJS production of Annie should report to the well at 3PM. Practices will be held each Wednesday and Thursday from 3:15 until 4:30 PM!! PJS Book Fair on Saturday, December 10!!!It is going to be held at Barnes and Nobles, Marketfair. All students are welcome for a full day of fun and learning through literature! Our upcoming weekWe will be delving more deeply into our new unit, Patterns in the Natural World. In math, we are exploring sequences and visual expressions (graphing). Our literature connection is currently the rhythm and rhyme of poems. In LTL, students have been studying Fibonacci sequences and their expression throughout nature and the universe. Note on student blog authorshipStudents have been working on the blog the past few weeks. We have three drafts almost ready to publish. There have been some challenges (absences, sign-in issues, connectivity, etc) but the students themselves have been doing a fine job. We will be devoting more time to this in coming weeks and hopefully become reliable publishers very soon!
Attention: the students are taking over the blog as of this week!This panel is for the benefit of the children (and families) as a forum for their questions about the middle school admissions process and middle school, in general. It will last approximately 1 hour. The first 30 minutes is more for families, with Silvana and the panel. The next hour is for the students.
Tonight, the students are to come up with a couple questions important to them personally. We will compare these questions to the list of general questions we discussed and each student will ask at least one question to the panel from this question pool. Our field trip today was a success, and it was also a lot of fun . Thank you all for helping to facilitate it! |
Mr. Kovacs and the 5th grade students!Archives
September 2017
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