Mr. G's BLOG

This week was a busy one!

In science the kids enjoyed a hands-on investigation of mysterious powders.  They also learned about the pH scale.  Next week we will be testing for acids and bases.

The Unit 10 math test went really well…the kids definitely know their Algebra!  In Unit 11 we will be moving on to more geometry.  We will begin with a review of geometric solids and then move on to finding the volume of pyramids and cones.

In reading we finished up our read aloud, Swindle.  We also  worked on making inferences. 

Please take note of the upcoming field trips listed to the right.  We have two great trips planned to Ft. Ticonderoga and Shelburne Museum.  Look for more information to come home in a few weeks.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the nice weather!

The afternoons this week got a little warm in our classroom. This week we started our Mysterious Powders Science Unit. The kids seemed pretty interested in what we are covering.

We had our Unit 9  math test this afternoon, I am pretty sure everyone did great. As long as they remembered to put units squared for area and units cubed for volume.

The big discussion this week came while reading an article about “should kids get paid to go to school”!!!! It caused some very interesting  conversations.

This past week our class and Mrs. DiGrande’s class had a lot of fun designing sail powered cars.  Our goal was to design a car that would go at least 18 feet.  All week we planned, sawed, drilled, and glued.  Then on Friday we tested them out.  Most all went the 18 feet, with the exception of a few collisions!  Check out the pictures of all the cool cars!

The sugar rush was not to bad on Valentine’s Day. We had a great time eating our favorite cereals and making Friendship Braclets. It took me a while to figure out the pattern, but I finally got it.

In math this week we started multiply fractions, it seemed to go a whole lot easier than adding and subtracting!!!! We just started to work on multiplying mixed numbers, we will see how that goes.

We are going to take work on a design technology project next week with Ms. DiGrande’s class. Kids are going to build a sail powered car, from the ground up, starting with a set of plans.

I almost have the parent/teacher conference schedule all set.

Have a great weekend.

In S.S. this week we learned about the The Boston Massacre and The Boston Tea Party. We are on the road to war and be looking at The First Continental Congress and the beginning battles at Lexington and Concord.

In writing we had some fun working on a couple of quick-writes. We also worked on a writing piece for our portfolios titled Lights, Camera, Barking. This was an interesting story about training dogs for television and movies.

Math class has been a little rough, subtracting negative numbers has given us a little trouble. Ask your kiddo to play Top-It with Positive and Negative Numbers, all you need is a deck of playing cards.

Mr. Joseph Prather will be joining our class for a few weeks, he is a UVM student. This is his first exposure working with kids  in a classroom.  He is a non-traditional college student – he served our country for 4 years before going to UVM.

Have a great weekend.

We have  begun two new technological initiatives, which you can find located here on the blog. For math computation practice, students can now access the Xtra math website, which will support them in learning their math facts. For additional reading, students can explore the Raz-kids website, which allows them to listen and read to online books at their level. Students will have access to passwords that will allow them to log in to their personal accounts.

Last week students, finished up there Mid-Year Math Assessment. I have most of them scored and will be handing them back to the kids this week.

We are working on the causes of the French and Indian War in S.S. in conjunction with reading The Fighting Ground.

Last week in math we worked on stem and leaf plots and adding fractions with like denominators. On Friday we touched on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, we need to spend a little more time on those before we take our Unit 6 Test. You should have seen your kids Unit 5 test, I sent it home on Wed. (1/5).

In Social Studies, we started looking at the causes of The French and Indian War. We learned a little about Yankee Doodle in the process. Our Literary connection to the time period is a book written by Avi, The Fighting Ground.

Take Out Friday….. Chinese or McD’s this week 1/13 students earned a special take – out lunch. They are very excited.

Last week we finished up our cell unit by learning about osmosis. An egg is just one cell but we don’t need a microscope to look at it. We soaked our eggs in vinegar for two days in order to dissolve the shells. The  eggs then had only their cell membrane holding them together! They were rubbery and translucent and lots of fun to hold.  In order to see diffusion and osmosis in action, we observed what happened to the shell-free eggs when they were placed in substances like molasses, food coloring, and salt.  We discovered that the eggs lost water and shriveled up when placed in molasses.  We learned that this is because water passes through the cell membrane from an area of higher water concentration (egg) to an area of lower water concentration (molasses)  in a process called osmosis.  Ask your child what happened when the egg was put in salt or in water with food coloring.

This week we looked at plant cells under microscopes. Students had fun learning all the different parts of the microscope. We also worked on a puzzle and some other cell games.

The Unit 4 math test went very well. Everyone really tried to do their best.

Ask your kiddos about the “worlds greatest detective!” I am sure they have a favorite character to share.

In writing this week we worked on two pieces for our portfolios, one on Jackie Robinson and the other one on Orphan Trains.

Wow- what a rough couple of weeks. The vacation will help get rid of the “bug” going around.

A couple interesting things that happened in class this week:

Jack recieved a “Hero” pack on Thursday and was very excited!

“Hero Packs serve as a tangible expression of support for Military Families from their communities and OMK Partners. Hero Packs are filled by non-military youth and community organizations with mementos and items designed to help keep military kids connected with their deployed parent. They are a way to hand-deliver a salute to military children and youth for their strength and sacrifices while parents are deployed.”

Mrs Mulac and Ms. Bates also came to class on Thusday and did a great Four Winds Presentation.

Report Cards will be going home today, please sign the report card sleeve and send it back with your child.

We did a lot of wrapping up this past week. In S.S we finished our study of the colonies. Our new read-a -loud Woods Runner  by Gary Paulsen will let us continue learning about the “Frontier” and the causes leading up to the Revolutionary War.

We finished reading Maniac Magee, I think the kids really enjoyed the book. We worked on Admission Tickets today that the kids designed. They had to tell me and show me their favorite part of the story.

In math division is not going so well!!! We will regroup after Thanksgiving and hit those math facts hard.

Have a Great Thanksgiving

I will see most everyone on Monday for conferences, I put everyones times on report cards also.