January 13, 2011
Dear Parents,
We have a lot going on here at school. Here’s an update.
Becky Ippolito is a student teacher from Northeastern Illinois University who will be in our classroom until May 2. She brings a natural ability to work with the students and I’ve asked her to write a few things about herself and her experience:
Hello! I am very grateful to be completing my student teaching here at Greeley in Mr. Peterson’s class. As mentioned before, I am a student at Northeastern Illinois University completing a master degree program in elementary education. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas and have a bachelor degree in science. Upon completion of my masters program I will have obtained endorsements (certifications) in science, math, language arts and middle school. Over the next several months I look forward to learning a lot and professionally growing in Mr. Peterson’s class!
In science we started a very exciting unit on Nutrition. Our first experiment had us put 15 different foods to a “fat test.” Everything from mayonnaise to walnuts were placed in a 2-inch diameter circle and allowed to sit for two days on brown paper. At the end of the two days (Friday) we will look at the results and see if the fat has soaked outside the circle. As of this writing, the fat from the mayonnaise has almost completely covered the brown paper, about 4” x 4”, a little gross, but educational. J
In math we have finished the decimals unit and are working on a unit called “Big Numbers, Estimation and Computation.” We started lesson one yesterday on multiplying 2-digit numbers that end in zeros, such as 30 * 50. We also moved up to 400 * 40. I don’t anticipate this unit taking as long as the decimals unit.
In social studies we continue to work on our family/ancestral history. The students have done some simple research about their country thus far with more to come. In two weeks the students will participate in a mock Ellis Island journey in the auditorium. It’s an amazing experience that really helps them see what it must have been like to try and enter America during the early 1900’s. They are all put into made up families who must together come up with a historically accurate family story about their journey to America. They will be questioned at “Ellis Island” and if their story is not accurate or believable, relative to that time period, they will not be allowed to enter America.
Warmly,
Mr. Peterson
