Classroom Happenings ~ September 23rd

Good Evening!

Welcome to another week of school!
I have to start with a great big THANK YOU to all the parents who have graciously donated snacks!!! At this rate we will be snacking well through Winter Break! Your generosity is much appreciated!
I'd like to give a a great big THANK YOU for the three refrigerator boxes which arrived in the classroom last week. If you haven't heard, we are going to attempt to construct our version of a space station! Students have been designing plans and brainstorming ideas on what our version of the ISS should look like! I have a feeling this will be an ongoing project taking many weeks. Wish us luck!
Another great big THANK YOU goes to Andrea for coming in and helping students start our 'Space Mural' Thursday afternoon. It is always helpful to have an extra set of hands helping out in the classroom. Speaking of volunteers, many of you have been asking about it! On curriculum night I will have a sign up sheet for all interested parents!
Finally, another great big THANK YOU goes to Tom for coming in and doing a solstice presentation today. He took the kids on the playground and did a wonderful job of explaining how the tether ball pole and the sun helped the second best mathematician of all time, Eratosthenes, discover the approximate circumference of the earth, 2300 years ago!

Happenings by Subject:

Reading ~ This week we completed our district reading and vocabulary testing. Students have also been engaged in self-selected reading material. I am impressed with the challenging reading materials most students are self selecting.

Writing ~ Using a multitude of non-fiction space literature we found fascinating space facts this week. These facts will be used to enhance our expository writing experience next week. Students are also working on legends to match the constellations they are painting in art block. Finally, students learned about 'great grabbers'. These are hooks authors use to pull readers into their stories. Students are encouraged to recognize great grabbers when they read, and to use great grabbers in their original compositions.

Social Studies ~ Melissa has been doing a wonderful job of giving students the opportunity to explore the world through geography. Students are in the process of creating a huge global map using an 'old fashion' overhead machine to project outlines of the continents for tracing onto butcher paper. We are excited to hang our world map up soon!

Science ~ We continue to explore the final frontier of space! This week students viewed quick videos explaining how the ISS (International Space Station) was constructed while orbiting the earth at 17,500 miles per hour!! Students also learned astronauts orbiting the earth look like they have swollen faces because their body fluids shift to the top part of the body while in orbit. It is a similar feeling to hanging upside down for an extended period of time. Students also viewed the shuttle docking onto the space station and learned about the airlock door opening to allow shuttle astronauts onto the ISS.

Art ~ Student sculptures are nearly complete. Many have been painted. We hope to have these on display for curriculum night next week!

Math ~ We continue to explore arrays. This week students created 'Area Bots' on graph paper. Students are building on the concept of arrays by calculating the dimensions of the robots, and using the calculations to find the total area of their robot. We are also working on memorizing the doubles. (3x3,4x4,5x5,6x6,7x7,8x8,9x9)

HOMEWORK ~Due September 28th

Reading Log ~ Click here to download a reading log! :)

Writing ~ 4th graders need to compose 4 great grabbers to put into their portfolios
5th graders need to compose 7 great grabbers to put into their portfolios
***Please encourage students to choose grabbers of stories they would be interested in continuing at a later date in the school year.

Special Science Projects Due September 28th ~ Click here to download a copy of the assignment!

Math ~ No homework this week

Have a wonderful week!
~Ms. DuBois