Mocksville Elementary

Students of the Week: Sophie Treier, Jose Roque-Ibarra, Brady Everhardt, Grayson Forbes, Jarek Stanely, Easton Sanders, Precious Jimerson, Maya Barcenas-Aguayo,  Shayla Debique, Catherin Morales, Emily Castro-Ramirez, Holden Tanis.

Kindergarten students are doing math tubs –  fun learning games children learned to play during a group session but tare allowed to self-select which game they would like to play during math centers. The children have taken ownership of their learning by selecting their game and playing with a buddy quietly during math centers. Some are in centers, others are in a small group with the teacher during math centers/tubs. Students are using the vocabulary they have been taught.  Miss Hendrix’s class jump starts the day with math tubs and a Dr. Jean song called Math Is Fun! In Letterland the children have enjoyed learning about Clever Cat, Annie Apple, Mr. A, Dippy Duck, and Harry Hat Man. These characters make learning phonics fun. The children are beginning to catch on to a few Letterland tricks. One trick in particular is the Slow Speak trick where you say the word slowly stretching it out to hear all the sounds. The kinders are learning to listen for beginning sounds, and are beginning to identify certain print concepts during reading time.  Raz-Kids is popular. One of the thematic units students have been learning is Fall/Autumn. They sang songs, played learning games, and read about Fall. The children were sorting based on the seasons.

Mrs. Callison and Mrs. Davis’ first graders, in science, have been studying living and non-living things.  Students learned about adaptations and participated in a camouflage activity using colored toothpicks. The students read a book titled “What If You Had Animal Teeth.” They learned about the teeth of animals and how they use them to survive. Then they created artwork with them and their new animal teeth. Now, the students are beginning to learn about habitats. They learned what living things must have in their habitats to survive. They participated in a Project Wild activity in which they did a habitat lap sit.

Miss Moore’s second graders have been studying the life cycle of an apple and a pumpkin. Students enjoyed reading The Pumpkin Book an The Seasons of an Apple tree by Gail Gibbons, Picking Apples and Pumpkins, Watch It Grow Pumpkins. Students made their own life cycle book of a pumpkin. They did an art project where they made the four seasons of an apple tree in class. The class finished the unit with an apple and pumpkin snack.

Voices in the Park is what students have been reading in Mrs. Starnes third grade class. It has provided great point of view for students to compare how characters view the story differently. It was fun retelling favorite stories from character perspectives. Students are studying science with their homeroom teacher. Subtraction is the focus in math.

Fourth graders were treated this week with a trip to Mrs. Hanes Cookie Factory in Winston-Salem. Students were excited to see the cookie making process and how a small business operates. Students were given information about the baking process all the way to the shipping of the cookies. Their favorite part may have been the sampling of all six flavors of cookies the factory makes. This field trip correlated with an economic unit.

Mrs. Miles’ fifth graders have been working on several reading skills, and started working on comparing and contrasting stories, superheroes, and sports. In social studies, they have been researching Native American tribes and are building totem poles to represent the tribe. They learned all about decimals in math. They are creating brochures about the ecosystems they have been learning about.

Shady Grove Elementary

Kindergarten sampled apple foods and did activities that went along with this theme. In science, students learned that apples float. In math, they graphed favorite apple colors and did an art project. Curriculum night was a success and parents learned about the daily life of a kindergartner at school.

First graders have been learning about Johnny Appleseed. They learned about how apple trees change during the year, the parts of apples, and how apples grow. They enjoyed tasting green, yellow, and red apples and graphing their favorite. They have been learning map skills.  In math they finished addition strategies and moved onto subtraction strategies. In reading they read about animals, wild and tame.

Second graders have been learning about citizenship. They learned how to be a good citizen in class, school and community. They reviewed character traits of good citizens such as, be respectful, be responsible and help others. They explored the tale of Johnny Appleseed and that he was a good citizen by helping others. They enjoyed sharing second grade curriculum with parents at Curriculum Night on Oct. 1.

Third graders started the year learning about communities in social studies. The students did a great job researching their community and creating a brochure to teach others about people, activities, jobs, and natural resources in their community. They are learning about the skeletal system in science during October. At Curriculum Night on Tuesday, Sept. 29, parents learned about Read to Achieve that is implemented in third grade.

Fifth graders finished an estimation unit and will be tackling division.

In reading they started to write narratives, compare and contrast texts, and learn how to use quotation marks in dialogue. In science they have been writing weekly nature journal diaries, learning about biomes around the world. In social studies they finished a geography unit and started a Native American unit.

Music students have been keeping that steady beat with our “Giant Feet,” clapping the big dog and little dog rhythms of “Bow Wow Wow”  and creating a new superhero, “Noteman” to learn about the sound and symbol systems of music and  how  they relate to math. There has been quite of bit of history happening as students learned about the background of some important patriotic songs, experienced old folk songs, as well as singing and playing  songs about “When I First Came to This Land,” new communities and pioneers.

Cornatzer Elementary

Fourth graders  in  Ms. Doss’s math classes students have begun the year  with a review of place value, and brushed up on addition and subtraction skills. They practiced comparing and ordering numbers, estimating answers to math problems and how to check answers for accuracy. They mastered how to draw up plans and strategies to solve word problems and how to formulate equations to solve multi-step problems. Students are having fun solving their “Doggy  Dilemma.” This is an open-ended problem solving  project in which students adopt a dog and then faced with the problem of figuring out what size pen it will need, the square footage, what type of fencing is required and how much it will cost. Students enjoy striving to become a weekly “Homework Hero.” This involves all homework being correct and is rewarded with a picnic bench lunch on Friday.

In Ms. Stiller’s reading and language arts classes students learned the difference between synonyms and antonyms, how to make predictions in a text, and how to compare and contrast. They studied multiple meaning words and how to identify the genre of a text. They had fun writing Fall Similies. Students in the Mountain and Piedmont groups are reading The Kid in the Red Jacket by Barbara Park, while Coastal group students have focused on historical fiction and learned about Thomas Edison and Orville and Wilbur Wright. Fourth graders are writing sentences for homework assignments as they compete to become “Sentences of the Week” winners, and join the Homework Heroes for the Friday picnic bench lunch.

In Mrs. Bradley’s social studies and science classes, students enjoyed learning starting their year-long study of North Carolina. They have been learning about the three regions of the state and comparing them. They looked at the natural resources of the regions and how early people used those resources when they arrived in North Carolina, and where they settled. Students are excited about their first social studies project of the year which is to make  3D map  of the state showing a feature of their choice such as elevation, counties, rivers, crops, farm animals, tourist attractions etc. Fourth graders  have  begun a new unit in which they will learn about rocks and minerals. They participated in the Davie County Soil and Water Conservation Day when they joined with fourth graders from all the county’s elementary schools to learn how they can help protect the county’s natural resources.

Cougars of the Week: Markel Summers, Sophia Heagle, Josh Dequenne, Marshall Whitney, Alexis Feltner  and Barry Fortune.

William R. Davie

Elementary

First grade reading students are continuing to learn about characters, setting, and major events in stories. In math, first grade is digging deeper into addition and subtraction using strategies such as counting on, doubles, near doubles, number lines, and related facts.

Cooleemee Elementary

Fourth graders in Mrs. O’Neal’s class created Venn diagrams to compare and contrast Fudge and Peter from the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Each group was given two plastic circles to make a Venn diagram. They worked together to add details in each circle. Students concluded that Peter and Fudge seemed different but were actually similar characters.

Pinebrook Elementary

Students in Mrs. Harpe’s kindergarten class had  “Letterland Day.” They chose their favorite Letterland character and dressed-up in costumes. Parents and grandparents were invited to see the students and be entertained by the Letterland songs about the characters.  Kindergarten students were later rewarded with a Letterland snack.

In math, Mrs. Harpe’s class continues to practice recognizing numbers 1-10 and the number words. They are counting concrete objects, illustrations, and drawings representing numbers 1-10 along with daily practice of writing of the numerals 1-10. The students practice how to count to compare groups and determine which group is greater than, less than, or whether the groups are equal.

Students in Mrs. Hendrix’s first grade class have been learning about movement. They worked on a booklet called Moovin and Groovin. The children learned about forces including pushes and pulls, gravity, static, and magnetic forces. They did experiments and had a great time learning about movement.  On Friday, Oct. 2 the class enjoyed a field trip to Skateland and a Subway lunch provided by the PTO. The class raised more than $1,000 for a new gym floor.

Second grade classes of Ms. Howard, Mrs. Powers, Mrs. Spade and Mrs. Welch have been working on odd and even, part-part-whole, and solving word problems in math. In reading they have been talking about story elements and character traits. In writing they talked about Fall and all the reasons we love the Fall season.

In science, third grade classes have been studying the life cycle of plants. To gain more insight, students dissected a Peruvian Lily to further develop the concept of seed growth, limiting factors of plant growth, as well as how plants repopulate. In math, students are studying addition patterns and money, which ties in perfectly with our study of sequence in English Language Arts. To support the concept of sequence and the importance of buying what you need, not just what you want, students read “Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday.” This is a great mentor-text for the students because it further supports why it is a good idea to be conscious of the money you spend.

Fourth graders are learning about their state. They completed topography maps of the state and are studying settlement of North Carolina. In math they are learning the properties of addition and multiplication along with the rules of subtraction and division. Mrs. Hartman’s students completed the novel The Landry News and will create their own newspapers.