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It has been a great year at Pinnacle Prep! We are excited about the upcoming spring production. The Tigers will perform a fun spoof on the Goldilocks story in their play, Goldilocks on Trial. It will be our opening show before the Black Panthers and Owls’ production of The Giver. Play dates (for both shows) are scheduled for May 21st and 22nd at 6:30 p.m. The show will end at approximately 8:00 p.m.
*Everyone will be performing on both days.
Pre-K & Kindergarten
April has come and gone quickly. I was excited to see the progress your students have made. I see progress in both motor and memory skills for each child. We really enjoyed learning about rockets and space. We learned the rainbow’s name, Roy G. Biv as a mnemonic to remember the colors of the rainbow in order. In each new section I’m really working to pair the material with a song, like our Roy G. Biv song, to stimulate multiple areas of your child’s brain. Our songs come with movement because studies have shone that melody and movement not only stimulate your child’s interest and enjoyment, they also stimulate multiple areas of the brain and motor coordination. Feel free to ask them to teach you some of their songs and the movements that go with them. The first hour of each day fills me with such joy since it’s an opportunity for their personalities to really shine.
In my second class I have some students who have really taken off and are reading and some who have grown in their developmental reading skills. The best way for you to support their reading and reading readiness at home is to read to then each night. If there are what we refer to as CVC words, consonant vowel consonant words {dig, fit, cot…} in the stories. as your child to sound them out. You can ask them prediction and comprehension questions as you read to them. It’s amazing the number of questions you can ask about an 8-10 page book.
Play is extremely important at this stage in their lives. So many skills develop through play. When it’s not raining, please go to the park or kick a ball in the yard. Many are also old enough for organized athletic activities that build everything from communication to motor skills.
Looking forward to finishing the year strong!
Kindergarten
The blooming flowers are a reflection on how much the students are learning and retaining. It is so exciting to see this happen. The students are enjoying the joys of discovery in their language. We have learned about the wonderful language in poetry, and we have kept working on our comprehension during our reading time. Our craft time has taken a turn! We started out in space and went on to focusing on to plants and flowers that are plentiful in our environment. Kids are learning with hands-on work in cutting, pasting, painting, writing, and using the number line.
We are focusing on the number zero and all the infinite ideas in grouping and counting. We have practiced this with hopscotch. Please continue to read at home because the kids are understanding beginning, middle and end of a story. Try playing a game with them by letting them tell you the end (conclusion) of the book you’re reading. The possibilities are endless in these years of discovery.
Lower English
We are almost at the end of another great year at Pinnacle Prep School!
We have been working on a variety of review items such as spelling, grammar, and handwriting. Every morning, students work on D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language) or pre-cursive handwriting. For the remainder of the year, we will be learning about root words and prefixes and suffixes. These include: pre, non, sub, ing, ed, and er. Students are still enjoying our “making words” lessons and our “mini sight word” books. They look forward to the books every Thursday! Also, third grade is continuing to practice cursive.
Also, we are reading short stories every day in class as well as dissecting poems. With every story, the students are also learning vocabulary and how to look up definitions in a dictionary and in the provided glossary. Some of the themed poems for this month will include camping and the circus. You can find these poems, and other activities, in their journals. The students are writing every day in their journals for D.O.L., story responses, spelling, and other word lists and charts. The students did a great their butterfly and rainbow assignments; we have learned a lot about nature. Future assignments include a continuing study of poetry, animal research with note taking, and important members of our community. Students have been practicing acrostic poems all year; we are going to learn how to write a cinquain and a diamante. For every writing assignment, the students go through the writing process (pre-writing, rough copy, edit/revise and final copy). Every child receives one on one attention during the editing phase as well as mini lessons throughout the week.
Please be reading at home with your child every night. Students need to be doing a combination of reading aloud to you and reading to themselves. You can have students write a short summary or write about their favorite part after reading to assist with reading comprehension. Please be filling out the reading log that has been going home. If your child is reading their own book at home, please fill out the log indicating the book and how many minutes they read. I have sent home a current, master spelling list. Please study these words at home with your child. They can write them, spell them out loud or use in a sentence. Even writing them in pen or marker makes it fun for the kids. These are words that they should have memorized and be able to spell correctly in their writing. Please send reading logs back to school every Friday.
Also, students have been divided into groups for field trips. Please ask your child what their group name is and don’t forget to look at the calendar to see if your child has any field trips coming up. The students are having a great time on their field trips! Please continue to check the calendar!
Lower Math
Second Grade
Second Graders loved making their own Gallon man. They were also excited to learn their times tables. They are all doing amazing in multiplying numbers till 3×12. We will continue to work on times table. Kids will start learning probability and statistics, in which they will learn to draw tallies and read graphs and answer questions. We will continue to practice the math facts.
Third Graders
Students successfully completed a chapter in Fractions, where they learned to compare and order fractions, and add and subtract fractions. Kids are now working on decimals in which they will learn to convert between and fractions and decimals and vice versa. We will learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals and money. We will continue to practice our math facts.
Fourth Graders
Students successfully completed working on decimals. Kids are now working on angles and their measurements. We will then continue working on reviewing all the chapters learned, practice problem solving strategies, and review math facts.
Upper Math
Fourth Graders will be introduced to concept of Algebra. We will be working on equations and Functions. Students will be learning
how to graph equations. We will continue working on problem solving strategies and applications.
Fifth Graders will be working on Metric Measurement, Area and Volume. Students will work on metric units of length, capacity,
and mass. We will be working on area of squares, rectangles, parallelograms and triangles. Students will be introduced to
concept of Surface area and Volume. We will continue working on problem solving strategies and applications.
Sixth Graders will continue working on Percents. Students will be working on concepts of Sales Tax, discount, Simple Interest and Commission. We will continue working on problem solving
strategies and applications.
Algebra 2 students will be working on Trigonometric Graphs, Identities and Equations. Students will be working on graphing trigonometric ratios. We will be solving various trigonometric equations and verifying trigonometric identities.
Upper English
Happy May! This will be a busy month for my English classes as the students continue with course work while they also rehearse for our upcoming play productions.
Please make sure you’ve marked your calendars for our performances on May 21st and 22nd at 6:30 p.m. (Both plays will be performed each night.) Also, check the Pinnacle Facebook page over the next few weeks for pictures and videos from our rehearsals.
Thank you for your continued support of the arts. We love bringing literature to life!
Science Lab & News
April was packed with science adventure. Several of our students trekked to the Historical Park at Farmers Branch where we learned about early settlements in the DFW area. Students also learned about prairie school life, cultivating crops and the interdependency between pioneer families. As a bonus, the students got to see a wandering bobcat and played some pioneer games.
This month in honor of Earth Day, we explored the special properties of water. Water has several unique properties that not only make it essential to survival but also make life possible in the first place. Connecting water molecules to each other are hydrogen bonds, and these unique bonds are what makes water so special. The hydrogen bonds in water make the molecules cohesive, which means they stick together really well.
The cohesion of water is much stronger than most other liquids, and this is very important. For example, water and nutrients move from tree roots to other parts of the plant with cohesion. Water also has a lot of surface tension because of its hydrogen bonds. If you look very closely at a droplet of water, it almost looks like it’s coated with plastic because it holds together so well. We conducted several experiments to help us see the surface tension of water in action.
We also had fun learning about superhero science. Students learned about the difference between the element krypton and the fictional kryptonite. We created our own fluorescent “kryptonite” crystal structures using a supersaturated borax solution and yellow/green highlighters.
Our hungry caterpillars grew and grew. They finally made their chrysalis’ and transformed into beautiful, energetic painted lady butterflies. By releasing them, we contributed to the health and stability of our schoolyard ecosystem.
Our older students attended the Frontiers of Flight museum. Students experienced a hands-on timeline of our journey to the sky and beyond.
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