January 7 - 11

Happy New Year, and Welcome Back to a Brand New Semester!

We hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday filled with love, friends, and family! We are ready to begin an exciting new year of learning and fun!

Notes for the week...


** Don't forget, we need students to bring in one or two 2-liter soda bottles for our next science unit!  We will be cutting them apart and joining bottles together to create "eco-column" models of a terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem, so they all need to be the same size and shape.

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we'll be practicing our reading fluency and expression by choosing a picture book to read to a kindergartner and 1st grader.  We'll be spending this week practicing independently, with the teacher, and with partners, so that we set a good example to our K and Grade 1 friends, as well as keep them interested in the stories we share with them!

In addition, we will begin using "mentor sentences" from novels we have read to enhance our language skills in identifying parts of speech, revising and editing to make a sentence sound better, and imitating complex sentence structures in our writing.  We will also begin practicing our language skills as scientists as we begin the process of forming questions, hypotheses, and research for our science projects.

I am excited to announce that our "Recess Rules" PSAs have been published, and are ready to be shared with our fellow elementary students as we return to the routines of school!  Click on the links below to see our finished work!

Recess PSA Episode 1
Recess PSA Episode 2
Recess PSA Episode 3
Recess PSA Episode 4
Recess PSA Episode 5
Recess PSA Episode 6

Math

This week in Math class we will be starting into our infamous fractions unit. We have some yummy review activities planned and will be talking about equivalent fractions and adding and subtracting fractions this week.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL K.4

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL L.3
Thursday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL L.2

Science

This week we will begin a new unit in Science about Ecosystems. We'll be
developing our own definition of an ecosystem and designing an experiment
to determine the most important factors for a plant's survival.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have
any questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

December 10-14

Just 1 Week Left Until Winter Break!!!

From Mr. Andrew and Ms. Amy, we send you our warmest wishes for this holiday season and hope you have a wonderful vacation with your family!

Notes for the week...

** If your family chose a child from the Giving Tree in the office to buy shoes and socks for, please send your gift (unwrapped) with the tree attached to Mrs. Agurcia as soon as possible.  If you will be unable to purchase the gift, please return the tree to the office so that we can make other arrangements.  The Christmas Party for Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos will be held at school this Saturday from 9:00am-3:00pm.  We would love to have you join us to help out!!

** Just a reminder, when we return from Winter Break we will need students to bring in 2-liter soda bottles for our next science unit!  We will be cutting them apart and joining bottles together, so they all need to be the same size and shape.

** We will be celebrating the holiday season this Friday, December 14, with a special breakfast and activities.  Please stay tuned to email and Whatsapp for more details!

** This Friday will be an Early Dismissal at 11:45 for all students.  We look forward to seeing everyone on January 7, 2019!

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will finish up The Egypt Game with a graded discussion on Tuesday, followed by an assessment on Thursday. We will also be putting the finising touches on our Public Service Announcement project, and will be joining all of our video segments together to create one final product which we will share with all elementary students when we come back in January!

Math

This week in Math class we will be building a PVC pipe organ similar to what the Blue Man Group plays with in their performances. We will be using our measurement skills with inches and fractions of inches. Parents if possible, can you please send L100 with your child to help with the costs of the materials. Thank you for your support! PVC Pipe Organ Instructions

Homework:
Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL Z.1

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL Z.2
Thursday:One Xtramath.org lesson

Science

This week in Science class we will be carrying out an experiment to better understand which conditions
are best for forming rain clouds. We will also be talking about how to prepare for hurricanes and formulating
emergency plans.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

December 3-7

Just 2 Weeks Left Until Winter Break!!!

Notes for the week...

SONGFEST Thursday, 12/6/2018:

MUSICAL PRESENTATION FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD (Grade N - 1) : 10:30 a.m.

MUSICAL PRESENTATION FOR ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY (Grades 2 and up): 1:20 p.m.

FOOD SALE AND HOLIDAY BAZAAR - 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• FOOD SALE BY THE PDTO (Pebetes:L75, Pupusas: 2 for L50 and Pizza: L25 per slice),
• DESSERTS SALES BY THE COMMUNITY SERVICE CLUB (L25 and L50)
• DRINKS SALE BY THE SENIORS 2019  
• HOLIDAY BAZAAR @ Information Center 

IMPORTANT:

**PARENTS WILL BE ABLE TO EAT LUNCH WITH THEIR STUDENTS FROM 11:40 A.M. TO 1:15 P.M. WE HOPE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO JOIN US!

** THE CAFETERIA WILL CLOSE AT 10:30 A.M. (AFTER SNACK). OUR COMMUNITY IS INVITED TO BUY LUNCH FROM THE DPTO, OR STUDENTS MAY BRING THEIR OWN LUNCH BOXES WITH THEIR MEALS FROM HOME.

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will continue with The Egypt Game. We have continued to utilize what we've learned about "sketchnoting" so far to create more effective summaries, including drawing icons that represent important elements in the chapter and using different handwritten "fonts" to make certain ideas stand out.

In Writing, we will continue recording our Recess Safety Public Service Announcements, and then will move on to editing our videos using the platform WeVideo (see pictures of the whole process below)!  We will also be studying more irregular verbs and their proper uses. There will be a quiz on Friday.

Math

We will be wrapping up our division unit this week. We will be looking at division with two digit divisors and also with decimals. On Friday we will have a short quiz covering what we have studied. Although we will not be studying division directly after this quarter this is a skill we will come back to repeatedly as we study fractions, algebra, and other subjects. Please be sure to encourage your child to continue to practice their XtraMath exercises each day if they have not completed them yet.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL K.1

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL S.1
Thursday:One Xtramath.org lesson

Science

We will continue studying the water cycle this week in Science class. We will be learning about groundwater and also creating simple models of the water cycle.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

November 26-30

Just 3 Weeks Left Until Christmas Break!!!

Notes for the week...

** The Student Environmental Council will be meeting this Tuesday
morning at 7:15 in the Information Center. Luciana Nunez and Ninel Cevallos will be representing our class and will be showing the recycling and cleanup posters we have created for the cafeteria which will go up later this week.

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will continue our next Guided Reading novel, The Egypt Game. We have been utilizing what we've learned about "sketchnoting" so far to create more effective summaries, including drawing icons that represent important elements in the chapter and using different handwritten "fonts" to make certain ideas stand out.

In Writing, we will continue to make progress on our Recess Safety Public Service Announcements by using storyboarding to plan out what scenes to shoot.  Then the recording will begin!

Math

This week we will continue to practice division. We will be working principally with the standard algorithm, although we will refer back to other division and multiplication strategies which help us understand this operation.

If your child has not completed their multiplication XtraMath yet, please be certain that they are working on this each day. These foundational skills will be paramount to their success in middle and high school. Our Math homework this week will help the students review the skills we practiced with multiplying decimals. Later in the week we will touch on this theme with division.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL I.4
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL I.7
Thursday:One Xtramath.org lesson

Science

Our recycling and cleanup posters will be going up this week in the cafeteria! Luciana and Ninel will be presenting them to the other Environmental Ambassadors in the Student Environmental Council and to Mr. Davis and Ms. Cristiana.

We will begin a new Science unit this week about water! We will have several activities and a simple experiment as we review evaporation and condensation. We will also be talking about the difference between salt water and fresh water, and where they can be found on Earth.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

November 19-21

Notes for the week...

** This week will be a short week. We will not have class on Thursday and Friday, November 22nd and 23rd.

**Wednesday we will be celebrating Thanksgiving as a class. We will be eating lunch together at 12:30 pm. We have made plans to purchase our lunch with the school cafeteria, however, we would love any additional contributions to the celebration, especially pies or other desserts! :) Parents, please feel free to come celebrate with us!

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will continue our next Guided Reading novel, The Egypt Game. We'll also be adding more skills to our "Sketchnoting" repertoire to help us take notes in a more brain-friendly way.  In Writing, we will continue to work on our scripts for our Public Service Announcements, and we will learn how to use "storyboarding" to plan the visual aspects of our videos.

Math
This week we will begin studying division in class. We will look at several concrete and pictorial strategies for understanding division and how these concepts transfer to the standard algorithm, most notably the Octopus Model and Montessori Manipulatives.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL D.6
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL D.3

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson

Science

Last week we finished up our unit on Ancient Egypt. We will use our short week to complete posters we are creating to promote recycling and waste reduction in the school. We will finish our posters this week and them have them laminated so that we can put them up in the cafeteria.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

November 12-16

Welcome back to another week of learning and fun in Grade 5! 

Notes for the week...

** We would like to send out a huge thank-you to parents who were able to join us last Thursday for our 5th Grade Speech Exhibition!  We are so proud of our students, who conquered their nerves and delivered their presentations expertly!  

**Congratulations again to our Environmental Ambassadors, Luciana and Ninel! This week these young ladies will be leading the school's charge to improve recycling. You can expect to see them helping the rest of elementary with their recycling at lunch time. They will also be training the rest of 5th grade so that all of us can become better at this process. Great job girls! 

** This Friday, November 16, is an Early Dismissal Day to allow for Staff Professional Development.  Students will be dismissed at 11:45.

** HOLIDAY BASKETS CONTRIBUTION - Please help us share with our maintenance, support, office and security staff by sending your family contribution of L 150  before Friday, November 16. Please place your contribution in a sealed envelope with your family name, and send it to school or give it to one of your homeroom teachers. These proceeds will be used to buy the staples for the Holiday Baskets that will be given out before the Holiday Break.

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will continue our next Guided Reading novel, The Egypt Game. We'll be learning the basics of "sketchnoting," to make our notes more visual. See the video below for a brief description.

We will also begin our next Language Arts project -- creating, recording, and editing a Public Service Announcement for students at Discovery School.  We will brainstorm ideas and learn about the process of "storyboarding" in order to plan camera shots.

In addition, we will continue to analyze and practice the use of irregular verbs in the past and past participle forms.

Math
We will review multi-digit multiplication strategies this week as well as how to solve problems involving decimals from the tenth to the thousandths. We will have a short quiz on these skills. We will also begin our division unit at the end of the week.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL D.6
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL D.3

Social Studies

We will learn just a little more about the mummification process this week with a fun little experiment involving aguacates! We will also spend time reviewing for our final test on Ancient Egypt at the end of the week.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew

Week of November 5-9

Welcome back to another week of learning and fun in Grade 5! 

Notes for the week...

** All families of 5th-grade students are invited to join us at 8:30 am, this Thursday, November 8, in the Sala de Reuniones / Meeting Room, for our 2nd Annual "TED Talks: Discovery School" Exposition. Our fifth graders have been preparing for this for the last month!  Students will be presenting ways to make the world a better place, inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. If you haven't had a chance to respond to the email invitation or haven't received it, please let Ms. Amy know!

** FUNDACION ABRIGO is a shelter that provides lodging for families from outside Tegucigalpa who bring patients to Hospital Escuela. Discovery School has been a partner in solidarity with Fundacion Abrigo for the past years. In keeping with our support to this noble cause, we are asking for a donation of 1 gallon of disinfectant per family. Please send us your donation per family as soon as possible!  

This week in class...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we will begin our next Guided Reading novel, The Egypt Game. We will also be spending some time practicing our speeches for our "TED Talks: Discovery School" Exposition on Thursday.

In addition, we will continue to practice more irregular verb forms in the past and past participle forms.  There will be a Language Quiz on Friday.

Congratulations to all of our participants in our Language Arts Competitions last Friday! The following first place winners will be representing Discovery School at the ABSH Language Arts Festival in February.  Second place winners will step in for first place winners in case they are unable to attend the February competition.

Spelling Bee:  1st place - Ninel Cevallos,
2nd place - Felipe Bertrand

Speech: 1st place - Luciana Nuñez,
2nd place - Mia Ortiz

Ortografía: 1st place - Marielle Ávila,
2nd place - Gabriel Paz

Oratoria: 1st place - Valentín Mejía
2nd place - Daniela Aguirre

Math
This week in Math class we will be finishing up studying multiplication. We will be looking at how to solve multiplication problems involving decimals. Although we will no longer be studying multiplication directly, we will continue to use these skills throughout the school year. Parents, please continue to encourage your child to practice their XtraMath activities each day. We can see the results in how fluent the students are with their basic operations.

Homework:

Monday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL I.2
Tuesday: One Xtramath.org lesson, Math IXL I.3

Wednesday:One Xtramath.org lesson, MobyMax Multiplying Decimals
Thursday: One Xtramath.org lesson

Social Studies

This week in Social Studies class we will be preparing for our journey into the After Life. Students will be creating a Book of the Dead which details several of the "cheats" an Ancient Egyptian needed to pass the assessor gods in the underworld and also will create several objects of things an Ancient Egyptian may have wanted to bring with them in the After Life. We will have a short quiz in which the students need to measure their worthiness before Anubis.

Thank you for all of your support, parents! Please feel free to email us if you have any

questions.

Ms. Amy and Mr. Andrew