Mystery Mock Rocks and More!

We started with 1 mock rock and broke it apart. We found a whole bunch of minerals. We sorted them and put them in water. We poured out the water and put the minerals in a cup. Two days later we found that there were little tiny crystals in the cup. We washed them. The next day we looked at some crystals. The crystals were kosher salt, alum, and a few others. I loved the diffrent colors they are and their smooth texter.

By: Haley

Turkeys in disguise

Catching up!

Wow, have we been working hard around here! Here's a quick update:

Our faves --- We are wrapping up a project focusing on using main idea and details (our last reading strategy) to write about our favorite things. The students spent two days in the computer lab creating Word Clouds with their lists and typing out a quick narrative. They are turning out great! We will be assembling them soon, so watch for pictures!

Currently --- working on plot (in a story this is the problem, important events, and how the story is resolved), pronouns (he, she, it, we, they, etc.), and words that begin with the prefix un-. In science we are finishing our last two weeks of the Earth Materials unit. Next up...Electricity and Magnetism!!! In math we've used many strategies to practice multiplication and build our fact power (ability to recall facts quickly and easily), including arrays, equal groups, sharing equally, skip counting. The students are doing great!!!!!

Lastly, here are some stats on reading put together by one of our practicum students:

• Reading drops significantly after age 8. More than 40% of kids ages 5-8 are high frequency readers, dropping to 20% among kids ages 9-11.
• Children of high frequency reading parents are more likely than other youth to regularly engage in reading for fun.
• Only 21% of parents are high frequency readers.

Why every day?

• Reading is "brain food." The experience of reading activates and exercises many of the areas of the brain.
• Reading improves listening skills.
• It builds vocabulary.
• Practice makes permanent.
• Reading improves academic performance.
• Reading with your child everyday builds lifelong relationships.

So the answer to "Do I have to read???" is simple..."YES, you do have to read (because I will read with you).

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break!!!!!

Miss V's Adventures

Miss V is great student teacher!!

Miss V teaches us Math and Science!

Miss V takes us places.

Miss V left awhile ago.

It is so sad that she left.

Miss V does brain breaks with us and DANCES!

Miss V --- I want her to come back for a substitute teacher!

By: Emily

Friday project #1 = Arrays!

Carson

Gabby

Raegan

Emily

Caedon

Hayden

Abby

Jaci

Max

Alexus

Allissa

Caleb

Haley

Ashlee

Justin

Roman

Kaiden

Arline

Dree

Conner

Owen

Andre

Renata

Things to Bring!

How can you help out our classroom? Bring the following things!!! We are in need of:

1. Glass baby food jars with lids
2. Clear, plastic food containers used by the Hornbachers deli (medium size)
3. FRIDAY'S PROJECT ~~~~~~~ a large quantity of small items, such as checkers, cereal, Lego's, MMs or other candy, batteries, army men, playing cards, band aides, nail polishes, etc. Anything that can be laid out flat to create an array. Be creative!!!!!

Other than supplies for our Friday project, please send the two types of containers listed above as you get them, even through next spring. Once I have enough I'll let you know, so until you hear from me continue to send! As of now we only have 3 baby food jars and 1 plastic container! Oh, and if you wouldn't mind washing them before sending I'd really appreciate it. :)

Happy Wednesday!!!

Many Minerals

Two weeks ago in science we started the scratch test. We were figuring out which one was quartz . Every table had four minerals: quartz, fluorite, gypsum and calcite. Calcite is the first mineral, quartz is the second mineral, gypsum is the third mineral, and flourite is the last mineral. Gypsum could be scratched by the paperclip and the penny, but not my fingernail. Quartz could not be scratched by anything. Calcite couldn't be scratched by my fingernail, but the paperclip and penny could. Flourite could be scratched by the paperclip, but not the penny or fingernail. We finished the scratch test, and now we're on the vinegar test .     
By: Renata                                                                                                                     

Drug Free Ribbons

Red Ribbon week is when you celebrate being drug free.It was so fun this week! We had pj day, dress like a basketball player. We also had hat day. There was this kid named Justin who wore a dinosaur hat. Someone named Conner had a cowboy hat that was huge. It was fun this week.
By Roman

Art

Art is really fun. My favorite is our pumpkin project. I liked when we painted the pumpkins and did the chalk. Art is almost as important as reading and writing because you get to express yourself. Also, you get to have fun.
By: Arline

Adding Adjectives

Our class has been working on adjectives. The steps are:
1. read the story
2. find and underline 4-6 nouns to describe to make your story clearer
3.Think of powwerful  adjectives
4. insert adjectives
5.  reread and make sure your story makes sense!
Those steps make my writing make  sense! Who knew adjectives make a difference!?  
By: Renata

Math Lesson

In class we are learning how to do arrays. It is a lot of fun. I like it because we get to draw arrays on our smart pals. We get to work with a partner. Oh, and one more thing, arrays are turning 2 numbers into rows of dots. You take the first number and put it into that number of rows. The 2nd number is how many in each row.


xxxxx
xxxxx

2x5=10

Halloween (and a little bit of Christmas)

Some of our Halloween fun...

Theme for the afternoon - Spiders! If you haven't read it yet, check out The Spider and the Fly!

Making Oreo spiders - Yum!!!

Playing a spider rounding game!

Oh, and we painted our mini pumpkins to look like bats! Thanks to Miss V!!!!!

And here's the "Christmas" that arrived in our room on Halloween!!! Thanks, AGAIN, to PTA for providing the funding to purchase some AMAZING art supplies. Hmmm...what should we use them for first...