Week of August 18–We Hit the Ground Running
Even though the Olympics are almost over, the APEX students have enjoyed talking about the sports and athletes who are competing in Beijing. Just like Michael Phelps and the other athletes, it’s important for us to stay focused on our goals and put our best effort into our schoolwork (sounds like a good philosophy for all of us!) The fifth grade students are especially aware of the importance of working hard all year in order to be ready for middle school next year. There are some great academic opportunities available to sixth graders, and we talked about what the fifth grade students need to do in order to qualify for those classes.
The APEX classes also started on Language Arts computer projects. The fourth graders are applying what they learned about Appleworks last spring to create a Presentation document to teach a new vocabulary word. The fifth graders are excited to learn to use iMovie to plan, videotape, and edit a short movie that will teach vocabulary.
In addition to our big projects and weekly activities, APEX classes include analogies, math problem solving, “101 Things Everyone Should Know about Science” for fourth grade and Science puzzles for fifth grade. Our warm up activities led to discussions about hurricanes and tropical storms and a review of the branches of government.
As the presidential election heats up, please save newspaper and magazine articles about both candidates. Each student will compile a notebook about the election, and any information/photos/political cartoons would be helpful.
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