Weekly Update 9/26/18

This week in Mr. Hills class we met our second grade buddies, Mr. Hamby's class. They were very nice. We also started an integers board game project which is very fun. In Mr. Browns class we made a film of do's and don'ts in the lunchroom. We read a few short stories and started social studies.  This week is a PE week and in PE we are playing recess games. Overall, we had a very good week.           By Frances

What Both Classes Did With They're Buddies: 

 As you might know from your children our class has had buddies for 2 weeks. Every Wednesday our 5^th grade class has met up with Ms. Lee’s 3^rd grade class. The first week we read some books with our buddies.  By Michael

Math 

I did not want to be assigned to math for the blog but here I am, blogging about something that I am bad at.  This week we did things about integers, absolute values and fractions and decimals (again ☹). I have heard that people do not like when I type random thing to make it math the word requirement, so I am going to not. Instead, I will just write more things that make sense just like most of this weeks blog.  By Nathan

Science
Week 3 was a lot like Weeks 1 and 2. We continued working on East Ferris and West Ferris. We have started to figure out the problem with East Ferris. They are using a shared reservoir. (Not West Ferris is coming over and taking their water OR the monster in the cave is eating their water.) We have started to learn about biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. Thanx for reading my blog and see you next Week! 8-| By; Alden 

Update 9/19/18

During the first two weeks of school we made our charter and chose our class mascots.  Mr. Browns class chose the orcas, and Mr. Hills class chose the fancy bananas. For our charters, Mr. Hill's class chose safe, bananas, creative, optimistic, nerdy and respected. Mr. Browns class chose safe, motivated, creative, pleasant and joyful. This year Cascadia has one new PE teacher, Mrs. Hanford, and a new art teacher, Ms. Bush. In art we made torn paper collages and in PE we played treasure hunt and fitness tag. We also are going to meet our buddy classes which for Mr. Hills class is Mr. Hamby's class and Mr. Browns buddy class is Mrs. Lees class.

LIBRARY 

This Wednesday, sept 19th 2018 we took a 45-minute break first thing in the morning to go to library. in those 45 minutes we made videos of what and what not to do during library. Rules were like no fighting over books where Lucas and jack fought over and ripped a book, ben and Michael through books into the work turn in bin and then showed how to properly put books in the work turn in bin. Jace and Leta showed why not to run in halls and many other people did other skits, that is one of the many things we did this week.     by Jace

Language Arts

In language arts, we are talking about our charter. We made skits to represent the 6 words on it. Such as bananas, nerdy, safe, optimistic, respected, and creative. It was a blast we all had fun! We also used our reading response journal to write down notes from our books!     by Paige

Science

Weeks 1 and 2 have been a blast in science. First, we did the British fill-in of the water cycle. On the back side there was a crossword. (That was British too.) Then we played the “Water Cycle Game.” Where in Mr. Hill’s class, the line was about a 1 hour wait. However, after that we wrote a story about our water molecule life. After that we started our main question. Why does West Ferris have more water than East Ferris. Mr. Hill’s “friend” is the SAD mayor of East Ferris.   by Alden

Math

This week in math we worked on brushed up on integers, absolute value. I don’t really know what we did exactly but I do know that worked out of our book and did the actual work in our spirals . I need to make this 200 words.     by Nathan

Dates to Remember:
October 4th is Picture Day
October 9th at 5:30 is curriculum night!

Weekly Update 9/12/18

Good afternoon Brown and Hill families!

We have successfully completed the first six days of school! Mr. Hill and I have been loving getting to each and every student, and we are more and more excited each day for what the year has in store for us.

Both homerooms have began constructing a classroom charter--one that outlines the types of emotions students would like to experience within their learning environment. Mr. Hill's room has agreed upon Creative, Respected, Nerdy, Optimistic, Safe, and Bananas. Suitably, they have voted and agreed upon The Fancy Bananas for a class mascot. Mr. Brown's homeroom has agreed to strive towards being Safe, Included, Motivated, Joyful, Pleasant, and Creative in class. They have not voted on a mascot yet, but do they ever have a list to choose from (all student nominations).

In addition to setting up routines and procedures, Mr. Brown's students have began to learn about the different components of social studies, including Geography, Economics, and History. Additionally, they engaged in a webquest designed around researching history using online tools. Finally, students completed their first Friday letter, in which students write to their teacher about an array of topics on most Fridays.

In Mr. Hill's class, students took their first chapter pre-test in math, covered the expectations for using technology in school, as well as learned how to take Cornell notes in science. 

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us, and don't forget to get volunteer paperwork in ASAP!

Thank you and sincerely,

Nathan and Josh

Instramental Music Information

                                                                                                                                                                                                             September, 2018

Dear Families of 4^th and 5^th graders at Cascadia,

It is time to kick off instrumental music for a new school year!  Mrs. Knighton is still at Cascadia, and we welcome Ms Anna Baughman as our other instrumental music teacher this year.  Instrumental music is a wonderful opportunity (and great fun!) but also a significant commitment.  So, please pay careful attention to the details below.

Structure of the Program: The Instrumental Music Program provides group instruction in violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone once a week during the regular school day, for both beginners and more advanced students.  Students leave their regular classroom for instrumental music in groups based on their instruments, following a schedule developed after registration is complete.  While students do need to make up class work missed during instrumental music, the teachers are fully involved with the situation and are supportive of instrumental music.  We have never had students develop academic problems as a result of participation.

Expectations of Students in the Program: Students participating in instrumental music are expected to bring their instrument and supplies to school each week on class day, and to practice five (or more) times per week at home.  Students are expected to participate in the mandatory evening concert on April 29 (flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone) or May 1 (violin, viola, cello).  Instrumental music is assessed on the students’ progress reports. Please note that students who are regularly unprepared for class may be removed from the program, since progress cannot take place without instrument in hand.

Who Can Participate?  Instrumental music participation is open to 4th and 5th-grade students of all levels of musical ability.  Advanced groups are added to the schedule based on demand and instructional time available after ensuring that first- and second-year classes can be served. Students with prior instrument experience should sign up during the registration period; they will be contacted for audition!

Instrument Choice: Students may choose to play flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, or cello. 

How to Sign Up: Online registration is now active at the link below!  Please read the information carefully as you go through the sign-up process, and consider watching the instrument demo videos that are linked from the registration website.  Instrument demonstrations will also take place in school on Monday September 10.  Online registration will remain open until Sunday September 16 at 10:00 pm.  If your family does not have internet access, please call Mrs. Knighton at 206-252-0444 x90056 for assistance.

Please note: because of high numbers of participants in instrumental music, and the fact that each year’s schedule is tailored specifically to the students who register, instrument choices may not be changed after the close of the registration period, and late registrations will not be accepted.  Let Mrs. Knighton know, right away, if your child has questions or concerns about this choice.

Online registration is now open!

Online Registration closes: Sunday September 16 at 10:00 pm

http://tinyurl.com/CascadiaInstrumentalMusic2018

Don’t forget to register before the deadline!!

http://tinyurl.com/CascadiaInstrumentalMusic2018

More information on the Reverse Side of the Page!

Instruments and Supplies: It is the policy of Seattle Public Schools to lend instruments to students enrolled in the free and reduced-price lunch program.  All other families are responsible for providing an instrument for their child.  Information about rental/purchase of an instrument will be sent home when your child’s instrument assignment is confirmed in a packet of information after the registration period is complete.  Please do not rent or purchase an instrument until you have received this confirmation packet in kid-mail.

Funding: The district only funds about 15% of what is needed to offer instrumental music; the remaining 85% is covered by the Cascadia PTA!  Please see the attached letter from the PTA about a requested donation per child to offset this cost.  Interested students may participate in instrumental music regardless of ability to contribute.

More Questions?

• For more information on the program, you can reference Mrs. Knighton’s explanatory video at http://tinyurl.com/InstrumentalMusicProgramInfo

(note that an outdated registration link is mentioned at the end of the video.  For this year’s registration you must use the Cascadia link listed above.)

• For more information on instrument choices, you can reference Mrs. Knighton’s video at http://tinyurl.com/InstrumentDemonstration
  
   
• For issues not addressed in the videos, you can reach Mrs. Knighton at ejknighton@seattleschools.org with additional questions.  You can generally expect a response to email within two school days.

We look forward to working with your student in instrumental music this year.  Learning an instrument is an incredible journey, and with your support, we have a great year ahead of us!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth J. Knighton and Anna Baughman

Instrumental Music Teachers

Cascadia Elementary School

Math Practice Resoources

The following is a list of resources that can be used to provide extra math practice for your student.  We encourage families to consider homework very carefully, and to consider alternatives such as math games, cooking/baking, design/engineering/building projects, coding, or other activities that allow for applied mathematics.  Think about how you might help your student initiate and complete a project.

Khan Academy - https://www.khanacademy.org/

A great resource with videos covering just about every topic, even outside of math.  Practice problems are provided along with instructional videos.  Students can create accounts to track their progress and earn badges.

How to use as homework: Check in with your student to see what they would like extra practice with or what they are currently working on in math.  Search and practice in Khan Academy.

Common Core Sheets - http://www.commoncoresheets.com/

Lots of worksheets, many of them customizable!  Some online practice available.  Sorted by math subject.  Answer keys included.

Illustrative Mathematics - https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards

Super cool!  Also kind of tough to navigate, but if you know the standard you're looking to practice, you can head to that standard and use the practice problems. They're generally good examples of problems that illuminate the given standard.

Engage NY - https://www.engageny.org/

New York took advantage of the size of their district and wrote their own curriculum!  It's pretty good and we draw from it to supplement Math In Focus sometimes.  It's somewhat challenging to navigate, but if you scroll down the page, you'll see links to the separate curriculum.

Open Middle - http://www.openmiddle.com

The tagline for this website is "challenging math problems worth solving" and although students may disagree, the questions posed are much more in-depth and thought provoking than simple skill-based problems. There are both worksheets to print as well as individual problems to solve on the computer (with "hint" as an option). You can navigate based on grade level and then Common Core Standard category.

NRICH Math - https://nrich.maths.org/

Challenging/brainteaser style story problems, often posed as "challenges" or sometimes with a scenario attached (for example, "Code Crackers" type problems so that students can think of themselves as secret agents). It's a British website, so the grade levels might not seem familiar, but for any problem there will also either be a US grade level range identified or an age range identified.

Resources from Saint Ann's Math Department -  https://sites.google.com/a/saintannsny.org/recommended-resources/

Math Problem of the Week from St. Ann's -

https://sites.google.com/a/saintannsny.org/problem-of-the-week/

First from St. Ann's, a resource list!  We found this while looking for the math problems of the week (second link).  It's neat because it has print resources and different ideas for practicing math.  We have no vetted all of these resources.