February 2017

Dear Parents,

      We enjoyed meeting many of our new parents at the Orientation meeting! If you weren’t able to attend the meeting and would like the PowerPoint presentation, please let us know. We’ll be happy to send it to you.

       Our 1^st grade Target students have had a great start! We have been working on building a Target community which includes recognizing individual strengths and weaknesses, listening to the input of others and taking shared responsibility for group activities. They are doing such an amazing job with our STEM activities. I think we have some future engineers in this group!

       Speaking of future engineers, our fifth graders are working very hard on Inventure! Inventure is an annual STEM competition sponsored by Georgia Tech. We are entering the planning and creating phase of the engineering design process. Be on the lookout for information about our local competition on February 15^th, where you will have the opportunity to see your child’s project on display!

       Tuesdays have been very dramatic! Our 4^th grade students have embraced the ‘Reinventing Shakespeare: Problem Based Learning’ unit. They showcased their individual strengths during the Shakespeare Tic-Tac-Toe project. Thanks for your support in helping ensure the projects were completed and turned in on time. We have been honing our divergent thinking skills through Tableaux. A Tableaux is a group of models or motionless figures representing a scene. Shakespeare was a master at the mannequin challenge!            

      2^nd and 3^rd grade students are about to begin our cubism unit. Part of the cubism unit involves practicing visual-spatial skills through solving the Rubik’s cube.  If you happen to have a Rubik’s cube lying around, we would love to borrow it!

       Genius Hour presentations for will be due the weeks of April 17^th, 24^th and May 8^th. Letters and calendars for Genius Hour will be going home for 3^rd and 4^th grades soon. 1^st and 2^nd graders will be doing Genius Hour Jr. Their letters will go home at a later date.  

      As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

                     Thanks for your support,
                             Mrs. Parsons and Mrs. Sanders

     

ALP Parent Newletter

Please click the link below to see the ALP parent newsletter.

Target Parent Newsletter

                                                                  January 2017
Dear Parents,
    We are excited to have new friends joining our Target classes! Due to the snow days, we will need to re-schedule our new parent meeting. We will send home information about the new date shortly. Please attend if you are able. We’ll have some information about our program curriculum, routines and expectations to share with you. For now, new students need to bring 2 pocket folders and a composition book. 
    We’re also excited to have our old friends back after a long break. We are looking forward to continuing the fun and learning with our spring units.
     5^th grade will continue with Inventure, focusing on the latter stages of the engineering design process. We’re excited to put our plans into action! Please be on the lookout for information about our local competition and needed supplies for prototypes.
     4^th graders will be Reinventing Shakespeare! This unit is an interactive introduction to Shakespeare - his work, his times, and his continuing impact. It is also an exploration of the 21^st Century 4 C’s – Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity.  Students will actively engage in Shakespeare’s works and creative responses to his work. They will read, write, discuss, recite, perform, and create.
      It’s getting chilly on Fridays! 3^rd grade students will be completing a STEM mini unit called The Great Arctic Circle Challenge. Each team will be completing weekly STEM challenges to help a stranded arctic exploration team get back to safety.
      1^st and 2^nd grader graders are Sailing the STEM-y Seas with our pirate-themed STEM mini-unit. Weekly challenges include building a floating pirate ship and creating water-proof treasure chests. STEM can be challenging, but our youngest Target students have shown that they are very capable!
     After our STEM mini-units, 2^nd and 3^rd graders will be exploring our new problem-based learning unit, Cubism. We will study art (mosaics) and art history (Cubism), while incorporating math-based lessons about perimeter and area.  
      1^st graders will be working through our introductory Target unit, with a focus on convergent and critical thinking and primary algebra. We will also be completing additional STEM mini-units as an extension.
   2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th graders will receive information on Genius Hour expectations soon.
   As always, please feel free to contact us with questions or concerns.
              Welcome back!
                  Mrs. Parsons and Mrs. Sanders

                                                         November 2016

Dear Parents, 

     Sadly, our fall units are drawing to a close! We have had so much fun with all of our grade levels. 1st graders have done a wonderful job learning to become "Target thinkers" with Leonardo Da Vinci! They had the opportunity to complete STEAM activities and develop critical thinking skills based on the work of one of the world's most famous innovators. We are so proud of them! Second and third graders have had a blast with our STEAM Sleuths Unit. After learning about the Crime Scene Investigation process, we learned how to collect fingerprints, analyze DNA and use deductive reasoning to narrow down our list of suspects. We’re SO CLOSE to figuring out whodunit! Our 4th grade survivors have honed their survival and critical thinking skills with "Survival: Wit Meet Wilderness". The students really enjoyed our Rescue Rover STEAM activity in which we designed a device to rescue a (stuffed) dog from a sewer drain (trash can). We’re looking forward to our ‘Day in the Woods’ at Red Top Mountain on November 9^th. Fifth graders have been learning about the Engineering design process and famous inventions. They will soon begin developing their own inventions! INVENTURE here we come!

   

     We're looking forward to having some new Target friends in January. Our testing window will begin the week before Thanksgiving break. 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th grade parents of students who would like additional information about the testing process can come to our parent testing meeting in the Media Center at 8:30 am on Tuesday December 6^th.

                          Thanks for your support, 

                                        Mrs. Parsons & Mrs. Sanders

Tuesday, October 4^th, 2016

 

October

 

Dear Parents,

 

   We’ve had lots of laughter and learning in our classrooms this month!

 

    1^st graders are developing their divergent thing skills in Leonardo DaVinci: The Ultimate Renaissance Man. We have been completing weekly STEAM activities that Leonardo would certainly be impressed with! Our flying machines (parachutes and paper airplanes) were a big success! Next week, we’ll be constructing bridges from pasta.

 

     2^nd graders have been working hard to develop convergent thinking skills. They are becoming very adept at brainteasers! They’ve also been developing algebraic thinking skills through the primary algebra program. We have some very talented future mathematicians!

 

     2^nd and 3^rd graders have been working hard to find the missing Coco and Mr. Bones! They’ve been studying fingerprints and DNA evidence in preparation for the crime scene. We’re looking forward to a guest speaker from the Cobb CSI unit next week.

 

   4^th graders have what it takes to survive! We’re enjoying our new unit Survival: Wit meets Wilderness. We’ve been reading ‘A Week in the Woods’ and learning what it takes to survive the wildness – both physically and mentally.  We have been working through various STEAM activities (creating compasses and simple shelters) to develop critical thinking skills.  We’re looking forward to our field trip on November 9^th. Please return the field trip forms as soon as possible.

 

    5^th graders have been practicing their engineering skills and learning about the engineer design process (EDP). They have done an excellent job of collaborating and using evaluative thinking to create products. We’re looking forward to diving into the Inventure program with Georgia Tech very soon!

 

    All grade levels will be participating in the famous Target Buck Bash during conference week! Please send in old toys (or new dollar store toys) for our auction items.

   

    We are also in need of paper towel and toilet paper rolls. We’re offering a buck for each one donated!

 

    As a reminder, students will be receiving progress reports for the 1^st nine weeks on an as-needed basis.

 

           Thanks for your support,

 

                              Mrs. Parsons and Mrs. Sanders

                                                                    MathFest!

For tour third year, Walton High School Math Team will be holding Elementary MathFest, a mathematics tournament for 4^th and 5^th grade students only. This year we will be holding both a Fall tournament and a Spring tournament. The Fall tournament will be held on October 29, 2016 from 9:00 am to 11:30 am at Walton High School. The cost of the tournament is $20. Please visit our website at www.waltonmathteam.com for more information and to register your student.

             
                                                               September 2016
Dear Parents,
    We’ve had a great start to Target! We enjoyed seeing new faces and old friends at our parent meeting. If you missed it, we will hold another orientation meeting mid-year for new or existing Target parents.
    Please be sure to check your child's tally each week. We often include assignment info or reminders and requests. You may want to check your child's tally as soon as your child gets home from their Target day to avoid those night-before surprises. =)
     Our first graders are being introduced to one of the most notable geniuses in history – Leonardo da Vinci! Students are discovering the work, times and continuing impact of the ultimate Renaissance man. They will read, write, discuss, observe, draw, analyze and create as they learn how to be successful Target students!
     Second and third grade students began the year with a mini-STEAM unit called ‘STEAM Carnival’. We learned how force and motion can be applied to create roller coasters and carnival games. We also hosted the STEAM Carnival where we had the opportunity to share our games and designs with others.
     Following our STEAM mini-unit, we’ll begin our mystery unit, STEAM Sleuths. Our class mascots (Mr. Bones and Coco the Gorilla) have been stolen from our classrooms! Students will determine ‘whodunit’ using critical and evaluative thinking skills. We will learn about the science of crime scene investigation as well as the art of good detective work.
   Our 4^th and 5^th Graders enjoyed visiting Yellowstone National Park in our mini STEAM Unit: Survivor Yellowstone: Energy, Ecosystems and Eruptions!  Ranger Sanders and Ranger Parsons guided the students on a park adventure that kept everyone engaged.  They especially found the making and demo of our geysers exciting. We finished our park adventure with a “campfire” and s’mores while sharing cowboy stories and reflections.
   For our Fall semester unit, 4^th graders will be using evaluative, critical, and affective thinking skills in a unit called Survivor- Where wit meets wilderness!   We will explore what it takes to endure the wilderness through STEAM activities, a novel study, and an exciting outdoors field trip.  We will strengthen our critical thinking skills as we find our way through problem based learning lessons as well as recognize how important courage is in all facets of our lives.
  We’re very excited about the upcoming opportunity for 5^th graders in our InVenture unit. We’ll be partnering with Georgia Tech to participate in a program that allows younger students to participate in the InVenture prize competition. Students will work to design a unique product or invention, prototype and tri-board. They will then “pitch” their idea to a panel of judges in a series of competitions, beginning with our local school competition. We are excited to open the world of innovation to our fifth graders!
    As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
                       Thanks for your support,

                                        Mrs. Parsons and Mrs. Sanders