Antelope Canyon Elementary Events

6th Grade Happenings

Dear Parents,
We are so happy to have your awesome 6th graders back into the classroom! We’ve been busy learning many new things, and catching up with friends! Some of the topics and skills we have covered so far this year are:

Math: Geometry and Ratios and Proportions

Science: Ecosystems & Populations

Writing: Narrative Writing

Of course it hasn’t been all work, there’s been some play such as Music, learning the Thriller dance, and numerous STEM activities like coding and Robotics!

Some upcoming topics to look forward to will include more Ratios and Proportions as well as Dividing Fractions, Planetary Science, Argumentative writing, and plenty of little morsels of fun in between!

At the beginning of this school year, fifth-grade has been super excited to jump into our brand-new science curriculum. Over the last two months, we've been doing hands-on experiments in every class. In Miss Andy's class, they've been learning about Living Systems and actually have jars of worms creating their own compost in their class! Ew! In Mrs. Thacker's class, they've been learning all about mixtures, solutions, and the differences between physical and chemical reactions. The last experiment that they did required the kids to compare the density of four different liquids in order to layer them in a vial. In Mrs. Palmer's class, the students have been learning all about soil, rocks, and landforms. They've had a lot of fun (and ended up quite dirty) making cliff-like landforms out of clay and sand, and causing floods in stream table models. Students were also able to add different types of rocks to vinegar to get a better understanding of acid rain. As the kids have had more of an opportunity to experiment this year, we've noticed more of an excitement each day for science!

In September, each class was able to learn how to code using Sphero-robots. The kids could actually make the robots turn in certain directions, change colors, and speed! The kids had a blast working in small groups and learning how to put their robots through mazes.

5th Grade

Halloween was definitely different this year, but still a blast! The kids loved trying to guess what the teachers were going to be dressed as, and we think surprised them pretty well! We all loved watching the sixth-graders put on Michael Jackson's Thriller, and look forward to doing that every year now as a school tradition. In addition to all the amazing class parties (thanks for all the donations parents), Antelope Canyon did The Monster Mash as an entire school. Students were also able to experience The Leonardo virtually, which was pretty cool. All-in-all, it was a great day!

Throughout November and December, we are looking forward to switching our science units with the other classes and continuing on with the experiments. We are excited to learn more about different instruments in Mrs. Elliot's music class, as well as use newly acquired math skills to solve problems in our amazing STEM Lab. Above all, we are most looking forward to teaching your kids during the holidays, and feel that learning more about each other's traditions will enable us to appreciate our similarities and honor our differences.

Thank you so much for your willingness to support your child's fifth-grade teachers!

4th Grade

Reading
We have been hard at work here in 4th grade! Our students are doing amazing at summarizing informational and narrative texts. Together with our students we created a set of criteria to help them be successful at writing summaries. Our students can now analyze a summary they have written and determine what makes their summary great and what the next steps are to achieve mastery. We have also been practicing what it looks like when giving and receiving positive and constructive feedback. To introduce how to give feedback, we had our students draw a fish and then they worked with a partner to identify things that they had done well and areas where they could improve their drawing. The students created multiple drafts of their fish based on the feedback they received. After students were confident in giving feedback, we took this skill and applied it to our summaries. We will continue to write summaries all year long, and are proud of the resilience your students have shown!

Math
We have been working hard at beginning to develop strategies for solving multi-digit multiplication. We have focused on the meaning of multiplication as groups of groups and have discovered that there is a relationship between addition and multiplication. Not only are your students beginning to multiply 2 digits by 1 digit, but they can explain how and why it works. We are so proud of how hard your students are working to justify and explain their thinking mathematically. We are learning to try hard things and to grow from our mistakes!

Third grade has started off with a bang! We are so happy to be the teachers of a great group of third graders! Students are already learning and growing so much.
Math
In October our wonderful third graders started to learn about multiplying. Students can solve the 2, 5, 10, 9, 3, and 4 multiplication facts using the equal group model, repeated addition, skip counting, and arrays. As a 3rd grade we have learned some nifty rhymes and songs to help us remember our facts. You should ask any of us to sing and share one of our songs with you! We have even started to learn about division and how to solve division problems with repeated subtraction, an equal group model, and on a number line.
Reading
In the month of October for reading we have been learning about different stories main idea and how to identify the most important point or idea of a nonfiction story. We used supporting details to help determine the main idea.
Writing
As a class we learned the different elements of a spooky story and had a chance to plan and write our own spooky stories. It was fun planning and creating our own spin and we can't wait to share these stories with you.
Social Studies
For social studies we learned the differences between rights and responsibilities. As a class we are learning to be good class, school, and community citizens.

Last month was filled with a lot of firsts, laughs, and learning. We can't wait to see what next month will bring!

4th Grade