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Have an amazing summer, everyone!

Enjoy these fun pictures of the third graders “building Chicago.”

First, the Noun!

The Third and Fourth Grade play was a delight of adventure and humor! For many of us, the plays-on-words were the most fun!  It is remarkable how well the students have learned to open themselves physically to the audience, project their voices, and move through the stage space so confidently–and there is always great singing going on at Quest!  Wolf howls and a “round of a-paws” go out to Mrs. Armentrout and Mrs. Hasty!

Now, the Verb!

On Thursday, the Wolves and Tree Frogs, with an amazing group of enthusiastic parents, got to play together on our train ride to the city, on our long and laughter-filled walk to the boat, and on the Wendella Architecture Tour (where we again “wowed” the tour guide with knowledge about Chicago and thoughtful questions).

This coming week, we will be continuing special projects:

Compiling our own personalized Tasty Summer Treats book lists,

Presenting the remainder of our Chicago building research,

Creating Lego versions of our buildings as one, big third-grade group,

Splicing together “rolls of film” responses to our class novel, Journey,

Editing and sharing our stories of The Journey of the Vine,

Exploring lines of symmetry and negative numbers,

Working on our scrapbooks,

Making compliment posters for classmates,

Signing yearbooks, and Enjoying time together to celebrate and reminisce.

Quick Notes:

Our students’ IXL accounts continue throughout the summer. The fourth grade language arts and math skill levels provide a great resource for revisiting and extending this year’s learning.

Each student has created a list of books he/she is excited to read over the summer months.

Friday is our last day. We will have an assembly, an all-school field day, and special time together as a class. School dismisses at 12:00. (No lunch)

Our Photo Link

Up, Up, and Away!

Just as in Jack and the Beanstalk, the Wolves have climbed together, supported each other, laughed and shared experiences, and come to the end of the year magically strengthened and transformed as a result of the journey.

Thank you all for your support of our wonderful students and Quest Academy!

 

 

Chicago Trip

Be sure to check your child’s Friday folder for important trip information for our field trip on Thursday. We can’t wait to see our buildings in real life! Ask your child about the importance of the elevator and steel frame construction in Chicago architecture.

MAP Testing is Completed

MAP is finished. Enjoy looking at the scores, but–from those of us who spend every day with your learner–take these three one-hour assessments with a grain of salt if the numbers seem glitchy. MAP is designed to measure “work sheet” type learning, and it assesses skills out of context. It does not leave room for creative thought, personal response, or imaginative ideas. It is unquestionably boring–solitary and silent.

It gives us an interesting quantitative piece for those students who “love tests” or have the maturity to trudge through and stay focused “because we said so.” it should not be viewed as particularly relevant if you know your child only brings his/her “A-game” to challenges that build over weeks, involve active learning with peers, and discovery/sharing of new ideas. (I’m pretty sure that’s why you chose Quest!)

Mrs. Gruzinsky and I get to be the “flies on the wall” as the tests proceed–and there are very few cognitive sparks flying for our third-graders. Fifteen minutes after each test was done, our class was abuzz with Chicago research and Blue Box books, solving analogies, and comparing “photographs” drawn of our class novel, Journey (see above). Our lovely kiddos were so glad to be back to real learning–and they looked (and sounded!) like our Wolves and Tree Frogs again!  It’s good experience for our students to try out these tests. Let’s just love the fact that they are third-graders–and learn better when the content, the process, and the products are the right fit for them!

Selling Our Books!

Students have begun sharing their Blue Box Books with classmates. Two amazing games and an imaginative “felt” board had us all intrigued. We look forward to more next week!

Scrapbooks!

What a great excuse to make a mess and be creative! It was interesting to see how students chose to group their pictures and begin their first pages. It gives us a great trip back in time!

Meet This Week’s Very Important Wolf:

Please meet our Very Important Wolf, William. He was born in Shanghai, China. His favorite color is black. His favorite place to go is Disney World, and his favorite food is pasta. He enjoys Geronimo Stilton, Rampage, and playing tennis.