Science Day!

Spanish- Ms. Joanne has been working this week on the alphabet, moths of the year, days of the week, and colors. She taught us some very interesting facts about Spain! Did you know that Spain invented apartments? Ask the kids to tell you the story!

Spelling- We played a fun review game today where the kids hopped their way across the room! They are doing a great job with these words. Recess, friend, and school seem to be the ones that are trickiest! I gave them an (optional) worksheet with fun review with this list. New list on Monday!

Grammar- These kids really know their nouns! The definition of a noun was nothing new to them,but we had a lot of discussion about what nouns are "ideas".  For instance, we talked about how "happiness" is a noun, but "happy" is an adjective.  "Freedom" is a noun, but "free" is not.  It's tricky, but we were able to sort cards of persons, places, things, and ideas into different labeled boxes, discussing each card at the end.  In addition to your at-home grammar assignment for Friday/Monday, I would work talk more about "ideas" as nouns!

Reading- I gave the students a list of Study Guide Questions for Chapters 1-2, and we discussed them. I explained that, although they may want to read more than the assigned chapters, I would rather them focus on the book in bite size chunks. This lets us really break the book apart, studying the author's use of language, vocabulary, what the characters are doing and why, and plot development. They have a vocabulary sheet for chapters 1-2, as well. Feel free to use these as you read!

Math- What a great day in math! We talked about expanded and standard form, as well as place values up to 10,000. Not only did we review concepts, but we worked with place value cards, physically making numbers in both expanded and standard form. Also, the kids “became” a place value. They each wore a sign: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands. They had to work together to put themselves in order. Then, I gave them each number cards. They had to coordinate and name the number that they made! Ask them about it!

Science- We reviewed the scientific method, working as a team to put cards of the steps in order across the floor. In order to do our experiment today, we needed to learn about water's property of cohesion and surface tension. We used our new-found skills of observation, asking a question, hypothesis, experimentation, using variables, recording data, and comparing the results to our hypothesis. Ask the kids how many drops of water fit on a penny-- The answer is surprising!

Social Studies- The kids worked with Mr. Dennis on using their latitude and longitude knowledge. They all seem really interested in map reading! Keep working on using latitude and longitude to determine location... discuss continents and oceans... prime meridian and equator... Make your GPS a lesson! Try Google maps and let the kids zoom up on their house!

Writing- We finished the book “Thank You, Mr. Falkner” today. The story illustrates a young girl's struggle with reading, and how a teacher helped her overcome it. We discussed how we all have strengths and weaknesses that make us unique. For Tuesday, the kids will need to make a list of things that make them unique. Get them thinking!

Don't forget, assignment can be found on the Homework Hideout Page!