January 23, 2011

We were very fortunate last week to have two people from DeLoitte (an accounting and consulting firm) come in to our classroom for Junior Achievement. They spoke with the students about businesses, the different resources needed, and how prices are set and profits are made. The students had a lot of fun, and this was a great chance to review what they'd learned about the economy.

Earlier this week, students conducted one of my favorite experiments: the density mystery. To figure out who stole a CD, they need to identify a mystery powder by creating a density column, and dropping in and observing flour, baking soda, and sugar to find their densities. Pictures of the excitement are below.



At conferences, I discussed ways to work on the definitions for our vocabulary words with many of you. The link of games for each unit is below:

Sadlier-Oxford Vocab Games

This week, students have an English test on Wednesday and a social studies test on Thursday. Our science test will be Monday, January 31st. Don't forget the historical fiction/castles project! Those are due on February 2nd.

January 10, 2011

We've been getting lots of mail lately! The postcard project has been very successful so far. We've gotten postcards from all five regions and 20 states so far, and they're still pouring in! We also got two exciting letters today. In November, the students wrote a letter to an author of a book that they felt a connection with. Today, two of the students received replies to their letters, from Judy Blume and Kate DiCamillo. It was nice to have their letters acknowledged in this way.

Last week, I assigned the students the setting project for a historical fiction novel. They can choose to recreate the setting of either The Whipping Boy, the book they read on their own, or the book they just began reading in guided reading groups. The projects are due on Wednesday, February 2, so they can be displayed as part of Catholic Schools Week. If they are researching castles, below are some links that may be helpful:

Castles for Kids
National Geographic: Ghosts in the Castle

Last year's projects were wonderful (as I'm sure this year's will be as well-I've been very impressed with the quality of work turned in by many of the students). If you'd like to see last year's castles for inspiration, just click on the slideshow from January 7, 2010 posted in this blog.

In social studies, students are going to begin to be tested on the location of the states. At the beginning of the week, they will receive a blank map to use as their study guide, and we will fill in the states they need to memorize (usually five at a time). On Friday, they will use another blank map to fill in the names of the states. Spelling does not count as long as I can recognize the name, but they may not use the abbreviations. The students filled in the first five today, so our first test will be this Friday, January 14th.