A Send-Off for the Monkeys!

Grammar- Grammar class began with a review of direct and indirect objects, adjectives, and adverbs.  Everyone seems to be doing a great job of following along with the at home video lessons.  For those who have been absent, please be sure to go back and view past videos and complete the lessons in the workbook.  It will make a difference as we add more and more concepts to the mix!  Next, the class learned about simple and complete subjects and predicates.  They have worked with simple subjects for weeks now, but the idea of a complete subject was new to a lot of the class.  We will be working on this more at home and in class next week!

Writing- After their daily reflection journal entry, Ms. Bev discussed expository writing today.  She brought in many books today on the Civil War, as well as a sign-out sheet.  If anyone would like to "check out" a book for their research paper, they can sign it out with Ms. Bev or myself.  Ms. Bev broke down the steps of writing a research paper.  At home, the class will be researching causes of the civil war.  They can use books or websites to gather their information, but must a) not copy it word for word and b) site their sources!  They will be bringing in five facts in rough draft form on Tuesday.

Math- In the 3A class, Ms. Jennifer taught concepts of division.  They have been working on multiplication and division both in class and at home.  Today, they worked together on a division sheet.  In the 4A class today, Ms. Jennifer taught about greatest common factors and least common denominators.  They worked problems on the board, discussing the process.  They have been working to find equivalent fractions for a while now.  Much of the class is used to topics that are a review from previous years.  This is the first concept that is new for most of them.  As the year progresses (and years progress), they will have more and more new material!  Hopefully, they are able to recognize that everyone is working hard, studying hard, and crunching those brains to learn new things.  Math may come easier to some than for others, but new material can be difficult for everyone!  After their lesson, Ms. Jennifer brought in a math memory/matching game for them to play.

Science-  In order to demonstrate mixtures and solutions, Ms. Gail lead the class through a cupcake recipe!  They each had a job to do.  Some cracked the eggs, some measured out ingredients, some were in charge of mixing.  They reviewed the different types of solutions and completed a worksheet in small groups.  Ms. Gail commented that they were really doing a wonderful job with the worksheet and concepts, showing me that it was pulled from a 5th-7th grade curriculum.  Great job, kids!  The class decorated their October Owl Cupcakes and ate one after lunch!

Literature- The class finished "Summer of the Monkeys" today!  They completed the book and discussed the book's theme.  They will be taking a review test over the book at home.  The students then created their own monkey projects, in celebration of a job well done!  They used construction paper for the background and the leaves on the trees, and made monkeys out of peanuts.  Like the bridge activity after finishing "The Bridge to Terabithia", this gave them a great hands-on activity as they reflected on the recently finished book.

Social Studies-  Social Studies class began with a short skit.  The setting was a parlor of a hotel in Montgomery, Alabama in March of 1861.  It illustrated the conflict between the North and the South, through characters Mary Chestnut, Clara Jansen, Varina Davis, Anne Scott, and Charles Lewis Scott.  After the skit, the class took the information learned from their at home reading, "The Human Face of War" and completed questions in small groups. 

Agriculture-  We began our unit on goats today.  Over the next few weeks, the class is going to take a close look at the origins of domesticated goats, myths and misconceptions about them, definitions pertaining to goats, goat anatomy, breeds, uses, breeding, kidding, raising, diseases and treatments, and all sorts of other topics about goats!  The class will be putting together a packet of the information that they learn, and will be doing some research at home using great online sources.  Today, we learned some basic terms: buck (not "billy goat"!), doe, wether, kid, yearling, and buckling.  The class gave some great misconceptions that people have about goats.  Often, in stories, male goats play grumpy, gruff characters.  Actually, male goats are incredibly affectionate (most of the time they are more affectionate than does!), but unfortunately, they are very stinky!