Science Rules!

Science has been voted the favorite class subject by a majority. It probably has something to do with the AWESOME hands on experiments that we conduct. Here are a few photos from the past two weeks!

 Layering the Ocean Zones

 Planning a trip around the world by boat.

 Researching our ocean animals.

 Salinity and density experiment

 Which color water was the most dense? Blue, because it had the most salt!

 We tried out the new iPads in math this week.

Photos!

This is my second blog post today... just for pictures! For more class information and updates see my post from earlier called: Half Way There.

In October, we experimented with rocks. What do they look like? How do they feel? What do they smell like when they're wet? (this was the favorite)

They recorded their observations.

Some of the rocks were pretty stinky!!

They also made their own minerals (with clay) to build one big rock with a partner.

They condensed the minerals using heat and pressure to form unique rocks.

 Many of us wore orange and made posters to stand up against bullying in October.

 We also had CRAZY hair day :-)

...and TWIN day!

Some boys coordinated to all wear Jerseys to be quintuplets!

More twins!

Half Way There

Thank you to everyone who sent back blog permission slips! I am excited to post some of the photos I have taken over the past semester. It's hard to believe we are already half way through the school year! Just as a reminder, progress reports will be sent home in this week's Thursday folders.

On Tuesday, we will be having our chapter 4 math test. All students now have online access to math games directly correlated with our math program. They should have brought home an instruction sheet on how to get to these games at home. I asked them to try to play at least one game (if possible) to help prepare for the test! Here are the directions:

Go to Thinkcentral.com, log in to Wisconsin, Glendale-River Hills School District, and Glen Hills, put in your username and password from your assignment notebook. Click on My Library and go to MegaMath. Here are the games that match chapter 4 concepts:

Ice Station Exploration

        Arctic Algebra

                Level F

Numberopolis

        Carnival Stories

                Level R

Country Countdown

        White Water Graphing

                Level E

Ice Station Exploration

        Arctic Algebra

                Level L & S

The Number Games

        Buggy Bargains

                Level P

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


Ms. Cavanaugh

Updates

Hello Everyone,

Our class will be swimming in Phy. Ed. next week 1/21-1/24, so please remember to send swimming suits to school. Also, there is no school on Monday, January 20th.

There is no homework this weekend except to read for 25 minutes. Some students may also want to go over past homework assignments from chapter 4 and make corrections to the multi-step word problems that were incorrect. This would be good practice for the upcoming chapter 4 test on Tuesday, January 28th. The word problems in this chapter are very complex, and take a lot of thought. Good strategies to use for these are:


1. Read the problem once, read it again, and underline important information.
2. Read the question at the end of the problem... what are they asking you to find out?
3. Decide whether you need to multiply, divide, add, subtract, and in what order.
4. Reread the problem and make sure that your answer makes sense.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Cavanaugh

Welcome Back!

It has been quite a long time since we have had a full week of school! Thankfully we will not be required to make up the two "cold days" that we had on Monday and Tuesday. Here are a couple of updates for this month...

The students just took the Scholastic Reading Inventory for January this week. Most students scores increased a significant amount, which is great news! Next Friday we will be taking the Scholastic Math Inventory.

January is a science month. We have started to learn about the Earth's oceans. Soon, the students will be writing a research paper about an ocean animal of their choice. This is a great way to tie science into writing.

Today we had a new student, Arwa, join our class. She is from Saudi Arabia. Welcome Arwa!

We have also started a keyboarding rotation during study hall. It is difficult to fit in typing class into the day, so it would be a great idea for the kids to practice home row typing at home. Here is a great website with typing games: http://www.funtotype.com/