AAP Newsletter November

This newsletter will share how students at Forestdale have been engaging with the Advanced Academics Curriculum. We have a full-time AAP program for 3rd and 4th graders, but AAP is happening everywhere at Forestdale. Here is what we were up to in October and exciting events for November.

Referrals for full-time AAP services are due to Ms. Spengler by December 15th. Here is a link to the referral form. You can only refer students in grades 2-6. 
 

Primary Grades

Students in second grade engaged in a Socratic Seminar discussion. In a Socratic Seminar students share their ideas about a story without raising their hands. Students take turns sharing and listening to one another. It was so impressive to hear second graders say, “I disagree with that idea and think about it differently. Here is why…” 

Third Grade

Third graders integrated science into their language arts learning. They read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate and then they read about the real life Ivan, the gorilla who lived in a mall. After reading articles, students reflected on the value of zoos and engaged in a Socratic Seminar about whether or not zoos should exist.

Students in Mrs. Criss’s class are using Grammar Island to learn about the systems of language and grammar. They have learned about many parts of speech and are so proud of their new language discoveries! 

Even on Halloween, they are thinking critically! Students in Mrs. Criss’s class read about candy and then used the DeBono’s Thinking hats to consider candy with a whole new perspective. 

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders integrated AAP into their poetry unit. They collaborated on many Jacob’s Ladders for poetry and wrote their own poems personifying summer. Listen to some of their writing:

• Rain and thunder burst out of me
• The trees turn green as I walk by
• I burn your skin red with my heat
• I exile the ice from the land
• I rain the tears of joy

Students in Ms. Jensen’s class have begun meeting with their book clubs. They independently decide on their assigned reading and then facilitate their discussion. It is all student-led! 

In social studies students will be engaging in a Document Based Question, or DBQ. This is part of the AAP essential curriculum in social studies where students are asked to think like an historian. They will analyze several documents and then answer the question: “Why did so many Jamestown colonists die from 1607-1611?” Ask your child what they are discovering. 

Fifth Grade

Students in the fifth grade will learn about the concept of systems. Systems is a big concept that can be connected to all content areas. Every system has elements, inputs, outputs, boundaries and interactions. Students are making connections to how the earth and each civilization is a system. Ask them what systems they use at home and school?

In social studies, fifth graders will be engaging in a DBQ about Hammurabi’s Code. They will be examining whether they think the code of laws was just and writing persuasive essays.
 

Sixth Grade

Sixth graders who meet with Ms. Spengler read a series of poems called “Where I am From” in the William & Mary Autobiographies unit and then wrote their own versions of the poem. They thought about how they are part of their family’s history and also unique. The last line of every poem was, “I am my past, rushing into my future”.