Latest Happenings

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to Curriculum Night. It was good evening and the students had a great time sharing their jokes!

On Monday, I will be sending out Scholastic Book orders. Included in the book orders will be an additional paper that shows how to order online. You click on the website from here and the code you will be asked to enter: GPY4P. I have put the due date October 23rd. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Last week, we finished our study of the Native Americans and we have moved towards the explorers such as Christopher Columbus. This is always an exciting time because this portion of our history is always a fascinating one. Students learn about many brave explorers but this bravery often cost a price to others. This also means in the next week, we will begin participating in our colonization simulation. We will do an introductory survey and begin discussing how the simulation works. Tomorrow, we will view a movie the movie "Who Really Discovered America?" This was a two hour movie on the History Channel in which they discuss other possible explorers who who landed in the Americas first.

In math, students went outside to see how fast they could throw a ball. We gathered a set of data to use to study minimum, maximum, mode, median, range, and mean (average). Each child threw a ball three times. Today, we discussed all the ways we could use this data. Students wanted to find out information such as who threw the fastest and least fastest, which pitch was the classroom's fastest pitch, and the average speed for the group and individuals. They discussed how they could represent this data such as bar graphs and pie graphs. I'm very excited about this study. It's going to be fascinating seeing the different ways information can be represented.

I will write again soon with more details into our other studies.

Thanks,

Scott

Recess!

Recess is always an interesting time. While some students play with frisbees or soccer balls, these students like to mine for charcoal or nurse injured lizards (I wish I had pictures of these things). They also use this time to practice their recorders or build what look like giant bird's nests. Actually, this is not supposed to be a bird's nest but a Native American fort. Since there is no wood available, the next best thing - pine straw. All week, kids have been making Native American villages near the trees behind the stage. It's fun watching them play!

Classroom Update

Last week we started to move into more science. We are currently studying plants and animals and how they are classified. Students have learned there are many ways all living things can be classified, but there is a set list of classifications all animals and plants fall under. For instance, animals are either vertebrates or invertebrates; plants are flowering or non-flowering. Using this set of classifications, we are classifying various animals and plants and attempting to come up with a way to organize and graph them.

In social studies, we should be wrapping up our study of Native Americans in the next week. So far we have gathered information on the various regions of Native Americans using a graphic organizer we created as a class. This information will be used to compare and contrast the different regions.

We have been playing a fun math game called Math Dice. Student have to come up with different names for the a certain number. For instance, if the target number is 8, they have to come up with an equation, using certain numbers they have rolled with the dice, that equals 8. They can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. Students are also creating original pieces of art using their knowledge of geometry. They are using their compasses and protractors to create geometric art. You will be able to view these pieces of art curing Curricular Conversations.

We have also just wrapped up some writing using homophones (e.g., chute / shoot). Students were asked to create jokes using their understanding of homophones. We will share our book of jokes with you during Curricular Conversations. We should also have copies of their joke book available that evening.

Next week is Curricular Conversations. We look forward to seeing you then!