Investigation Stations

This week, letters for Investigation Stations will be given to NTAG Students.

Below is a copy of what you should get from your child.

NTAG Investigation Stations

An After School Enrichment Opportunity

The Newton Community School District NTAG Department is pleased to announce NTAG Investigation Stations.  This is an after school program that will meet once a week beginning in January 12th.   At Investigation Stations, students will have an opportunity to participate in an interest-area station and learn something new.  Students will be able to choose a new station each week. This program is open to NTAG students throughout the district, grades 4 through 6, so it will be a great opportunity to interact with similar-ability peers while taking part in unique learning opportunities.

NTAG Investigation Stations will be held at Aurora Heights Elementary in the gym. It will be held from 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. on Mondays.  A snack will be provided upon arrival to Aurora Heights.  

Investigation Stations will be offered the following dates:

Monday, January 12th Monday, February 9th

Monday, January 19th Monday, February 16th (if we have school this day)

Monday, February 2nd   Monday, March 2nd

The school district will offer busing from Woodrow Wilson to Aurora Heights.  It will be the parents’ responsibility to pick up students by 5:00 from Aurora Heights. Please pick them up using the bus lane on the north end of the building.

Please review the dates, and fill out the attached permission slip if your child is interested in participating in NTAG Investigation Stations.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact one of the NTAG teachers.

The permission slip must be returned by Wednesday, January 8th.

Sincerely,

Cori Latcham & Sara Van Manen

Woodrow Wilson Aurora Heights

792-7311 792-7324

Thomas Jefferson Berg Elementary

792-2498 792-7742

latchamc@newton.k12.ia.us vanmanens@newton.k12.ia.us

NTAG Investigation Stations Permission Slip

I give ___________________________________ (student’s name) permission to participate in NTAG Investigation Stations offered at Aurora Heights Elementary.  My child will be participating in Investigation Stations on the following dates (please check all that the student will be attending):

_______Monday, January 12th _______Monday, February 9th

_______Monday, January 19th   _______Monday, February 16 th

_______Monday February 2nd   _______Monday, March 2nd  

Please mark the following statements that apply to your child:

 _________ My child will be riding the bus provided from Woodrow Wilson to Aurora Heights

__________I will be taking my child to Aurora Heights

***Students who attend Aurora Heights will be dismissed at the late bell, and will go straight down to the gym and assist our volunteers with setting up and have a snack.

__________I understand I must have my child picked up at Aurora Heights

no later than 5:00 p.m.

_____________________ ______________________________

Parent’s Printed Name Parent’s Signature

Phone Number(s) Parent can be reached at in case of an emergency:

____________________ _________________ _________________

Phone Number/Person Phone Number/Person Phone Number/Person

**In case you need to contact us, you may call the Aurora Heights office by 4:00 p.m.  792-7324  after 4:00, you will not be able to reach us.

Lego Architecture

Lego Architecture

5th Grade students have been working on constructing Lego Architecture structures such as Fallingwater, The White House, and The Empire State Building.  I purchased these architecture structures through the Lego Education site.

Follow the link below if you are interested in seeing some of these Lego Architecture structures.

Lego Education

Thinking Games

If we have a few minutes left before class is over, students enjoy playing thinking games from my classroom.  Here are a few of their favorites:

  Word Around is a fast-paced game that students have to be able to spot the word 'hidden' in the color that is being played.

Perplexus
 Perplexus comes in 4 versions: Junior, Original, Twist, and Epic.  It is a hand-eye coordination game that requires you to keep a ball in a series of mazes.  Addicting and fun!

Mancala
 I have 4-player mancala, which is an ancient strategy game.  Simple rules, but lots of strategy!

Yikers
A strategy magnet game

Quoridor
Quoridor is a strategy game to be the first one to make it to your opponent's base.


A great resource to check out is www.mindware.com


I purchase most of my games through Mattingly's in Newton on the west side of the square.  If they don't have what you are looking for, they can order most of the games that Mindware sells.  

Letters About Literature

6th Grade Reading students have been thinking about the authors and novels that have made an impression on them as readers and in life.  Students are going to be entering the writing contest, Letters About Literature.  We will be working on the craft of writing, and creating imagery while describing situations, emotions, etc.

If you are interested in learning more about Letters About Literature, or to see samples of past winners' writing, go to the following links:

Library of Congress

Iowa Center for the Book

4th Grade Updates

4th Grade

As we roll into a new month, I wanted to let you know where we are heading in NTAG.  For reading, we are finishing up the mythology unit and The Lightning Thief activities.  We will have a focus on writing, specifically examining how animals used in stories can affect how the story is written or the outcome of the story.  This will be done in conjunction with students' reading curriculum and activities in their homeroom as well.  We will also be reading various Tall Tales, and learning about the similarities and differences between tall tales, myths, folk tales, and legends.

In math, we are continuing to pretest each unit before it is taught.  The pretests have questions from each lesson in the unit, so students may flex in and out of math enrichment depending on the level of mastery for the day's lesson.  By doing this, we are ensuring that students are being enriched when they already know the day's teaching, and are receiving instruction on concepts they are less familiar with.  Unit 4 in math has to do with decimals, so we will be working on an enrichment lesson from Ed Zacarro's Challenge Math book using decimals in real-world problem-solving situations.

During 21st Century Skill time, we are working on our research skills, by working on "History Mysteries."  We are working on mystery inventions currently.  Students received 10 riddles about mystery inventions that have helped shape America.  They have to pick out key words and clues and use their research skills to solve what the mystery invention is.

As we finish an activity, we have been writing reflections using growth mindset questions, based on Carol Dweck's book Mindset.  Their reflections have been an invaluable piece of learning for them!

As always, if you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me!

21st Century Classrooms

I have been at an education conference the past two days, and this video 21st Century Education resonated with me.  Often times in my class, you don't see me talking at the students, but rather with them, and asking them to research, learn, and create on their own.  You see, the person who is asking the questions is doing the learning, so I ask students to create their own learning questions to guide their study.  Through conversations we have and feedback, hopefully their learning grows, and they become motivated to seek out new information.

CONFERENCE NOTES

Parent-Teacher Conference notes are being sent home beginning today.  Please take the time to fill them out, and return them, regardless if you choose to have a conference with Mrs. Van Manen or not.

Thank you so much!

Engineering A Rocket Capable of Carrying a Payload

Here are some pictures of 6th graders engineering a rocket that is capable of carrying food to a country in need of humanitarian aid.  They are developing a prototype of their rocket.  They are thinking about aerodynamics, trajectory, and how can it safely land.

Launch Day!

Here are pictures from 6th and 4th Grade test launch!

Blast Off!

Rockets Away!

Students have had a 'blast' learning about rockets to help deliver food to an island that has recently experienced a natural disaster.  

Some new vocabulary:

aerospace engineering

trajectory

propulsion system

aerodynamics

5th Grade Wiki

5th Grade Small Group Reading is participating in an online wiki for their newest novel, The Mysterious Benedict Society.

Below is a link to the wiki:
5th Grade Wiki

All students have a log in name and password.  Parents are also invited to participate in the discussion.  Your child has a note with the user name and password ALL parents should use.  Please just write your name (or your child's name) in the comment.

Thanks for participating!

Upcoming STEM Opportunity

The week of September 22-25, Kara and Marisue from the Iowa State Extension Office will be coming to the NTAG classroom and teaching students about rockets.  This is part of the National 4H Science Day.  Last year, Kara and Marisue assisted with Investigation Stations, and did STEM activities in the NTAG classroom with students.  This will be a fun, educational, and hands-on activity for students!

In case you were wondering, STEM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

Cool Learning Opportunities!

Check out these upcoming events!

Jasper County Conservation

Iowa State University OppTAG

Science Center of Iowa Girls in Science

Belin Blank Center at the University of Iowa

Parent-Teacher Communication Sheets

Parents and Students,

Do not forget to fill out the Parent-Teacher Communication sheet that was handed out last week!  They are due back by Thursday, September 4.

Thank you!

~Mrs. Van Manen

Welcome to the 2014-2015 School Year!

I am excited to embark on a new school year!  The NTAG program is constantly evolving to make programming better and more efficient.  This year, we are working through The Cluster Grouping Handbook by Susan Weinbrenner and Teaching Gifted Kids in Today's Classroom, also by Weinbrenner to best meet the instructional needs of high-ability students.  Many classroom teachers are pretesting math units before they teach the unit, and students who receive a 90% or higher on the pretest are offered alternate activities.  NTAG Group time is going to be focused on 21st Century Skills, which include problem solving, technology, collaboration, critical thinking, etc.  

Check out the link below to learn more about Weinbrenner's work!

http://www.freespirit.com/gifted-education-professional-development/cluster-grouping-handbook-schoolwide-model-how-to-challenge-gifted-students-and-improve-achievement-for-all-susan-winebrenner-dina-brulles/