Roland Park Elementary/Middle School

If you have registration questions, need to register your child, or need placement testing for your elementary student, please contact Melanie Carter to schedule an appointment.  Ms. Carter can be reached at mscarter@bcps.k12.md.us or 410-396-6420.

Attached is the last Goldenrod for the school year.

GR_Issue16

If you missed the Incoming Kindergarten Social, here is some helpful information for next year.

Kindergarten_Information.pdf

Parent and professional photographer John Dean has shared some photos he took at this year’s May Mart. You can see them by following this link:

http://www.johndeanphoto.com/Maymart/content/index.html

Save the date!

All Fall 2010 incoming kindergarteners and their families are invited to a social at the school on Thursday, May 20th from 5:30-7:30pm.

The kids will get a chance to see the classrooms, meet some of the teachers, and play on the playground.

If you’d like to help with this event, please contact Elizabeth Reichelt at ereichelt@comcast.net

Attached is the latest issue of The Goldenrod.

GR_Issue14

Registration has opened for the 2010 Summer Learning Program.  This program is available for incoming K – 6th grade students and runs from June 28, 2010 to July 23, 2010.  This program is free to Baltimore City students and the registration deadline is June 1, 2010.  Registration forms are available in the Elementary Office.  If you have any questions, please call Susan Scott at 410-396-6455.

Roland Park Middle School National Junior Honor Society

Application materials available from the 7th Grade House Office and are due no later than May 14th 2010 at 4:30pm.

See attached PDF to read about membership requirements.

NJHS 2010 Announcement

This year all students in grades kindergarten through five will receive two full weeks of enrichment. All students have already received the first week and we are currently in the midst of the second round. When I work with a class, I collaborate with the regular classroom teacher to see what the needs and interests of the class are at that time. We then decide what the enrichment unit will cover. During most units, students are working with multiple content areas at a time gaining real world experience. Below, you will find what various grades have worked on in enrichment so far this year:

Kindergarten: Unit 1- Astounding Attributes- In this unit, students used communicative and perceptive reasoning skills to think like a scientist. This unit introduced attribute strategies that strengthen observation, description, and sorting skills. For a culminating activity, students made “Attribute Houses” which were displayed in the main lobby of Roland Park. Unit 2- Engineering Quest- In this unit, students used inquisitiveness and persistence, targeted achievement behaviors, to think like an engineer. Students made blueprints and designed and tested structures.

First Grade: Unit 1: The Fourth Little Pig- In this unit, students demonstrated resourceful and creative behaviors to think like an architect. They used math and science skills to design, build, and test the strength of a house for the Fourth Pig. Students used the writing process to create their own stories of The Fourth Little Pig. Unit 2: Wiggly Worms- Currently in progress.

Second Grade: Unit 1: Upside-Down Fairy Tales- In this unit, students explored point of view and story structure in the fairy tale genre through guided reading, creative writing, and drama. The literacy skills covered were character perspective, setting, plot, problem, events, and resolution. Students used the drama technique “tableau” to express their fairy tale writing. Unit 2: Ph.D. Doctor of Sciences- In this unit, students learned about different fields of science such as oceanography, entomology, paleontology, astronomy, zoology, chemistry, and physics. Students made predictions, completed experiments, and collected data. At the end of the unit, each student earned their “Ph.D.” in each particular field they studied.

Third and Fourth Grade: Unit 1: Crime Scene Investigations- In this unit, students used deductive reasoning skills to uncover crimes, by working as detectives and forensic scientists. During this unit, students studied fingerprinting, chromatography, disaggregating data, and analyzing DNA. Students had to make predictions and draw conclusions as well as interview witnesses and complete paperwork for each case. Math and science skills were the focus of this unit. Unit 2: (Fourth Grade Only) Mapping Maryland- In this unit, students studied the topography of Maryland. Activities included making an artistic collage of different metamorphic rock found in the region, creating a book of Maryland’s most cherished treasures, and making topographic maps of Maryland out of salt dough and paint. Unit 2: (Third Grade Only) Design Challenge- In this unit, students use physics and Newton’s First Law of Motion to study engineering. Students design, build, and test vehicles that must travel a certain distance in a straight line for a certain amount of time. Each day of the unit, a new challenge is presented to the design team and they have to work together to make modifications to their design in order to complete that particular challenge. This unit focuses on motion and design.

Fifth Grade: Unit 1: Project Write!- In this unit, students used the Lucy Calkins Writing Series to develop their narrative writing skills. Students learned to “write with a reader’s eye” and develop their writing from “watermelon writing” to “seed writing” by understanding details that writers need to express. The drama techniques “tableau” and “improvisation” were also used in this unit. Unit 2: The Jamestown Adventure- In this unit, students studied the voyage to Jamestown, what was needed to establish the settlement, key contributors to the establishment of Jamestown, and what happened after Jamestown was settled. During this unit, students also created a colonial newspaper.

There are still some classes that have not been seen for their second week of enrichment. However, by the end of the year all students will have received two full weeks of enrichment!

In addition to the whole-group instruction, rotational pull-out groups are seen weekly, based on certain topics and instructional needs.  Topics thus far have included: astronomy, journalism, advertising, business, statistics, and inventions. I am also planning collaboratively with teachers and teams to help them enrich their own instruction.

Thank you!

~Ms. Barnes