McD's Cafe is Back!

So long, Charlie! Team Enterprise presented their final thoughts on Charlie Bone.
They shared which character and endowment they most admired from Charlie Bone. Each student shared how they would use the power if they had it. Later, we moved into new cafe groups, and anxiously received the new book we will be reading, The Westing Game! Mrs. McIlvaine shared the first chapter and encouraged us to keep a running list of the many characters from this mystery. We cannot wait to devour this book!



Room 202 only had Math today. We started Chapter 3 with Factors, Multiples, and Divisibility. Mrs. Haddox gave us a Trick Sheet to help us remember how to remember what numbers are divisible by other numbers. We will be having a quiz on Divisibility next week.

In Wellness, we finished our Family Chapter and turned in our posters. Students shared advice to help a family in a move. We also discussed ways in which our family can be strong.

Homework:
Science Vocabulary Quiz Tomorrow: Room 204
Math: Worksheet 3-1 front and back: Room 202
Wellness: Page 360, 3-20 and #23 Essay, Graded Homework: Room 202
Language Arts: Spelling Test Tomorrow
Read The Westing Game, Pages 1-31

Knowledge is Power!

Our team continues to exercise our brains, and we're getting stronger. This morning, we worked on reviewing our first Math benchmark tests. We worked through the test item by item, justifying each answer through discussion and work on the board. It was a great review and we wrote all over our tests with hints and clues that would help us to remember procedures for solutions. Finally, we carefully examined our open-ended items and discussed what it would take to earn the total four points for a desired answer. In short, we cleared away any cobwebs, and helped to reinforce concepts we've studied.

We reviewed our comma rules and continued to apply them in Language Arts. New vocabulary words are becoming much more familiar and we enjoyed our story The Day of the Turtle by Michael Morpurgo. We enjoyed looking for the many examples of imagery that were used.

Today was our learning station day, as well. We visited various stations, working in cooperative groups to sharpen our skills. It was a very productive day!

Homework:
Social Studies - Work on KidBlog assignment that is due at the end of the day on Friday.
Language Arts - Review your story and spelling words. Quizzes on Friday.
Science - Study! Test tomorrow.
PARENTS!! STUDENTS INTERESTED IN A SPECIAL WRITING CONTEST SPONSORED BY THE ELKS RECEIVED A FORM DESCRIBING THE CONTEST AND RULES TODAY.

Can You Picture This?

Our class continued to practice the skill of visualizing today. We applied the skill to our list of vocabulary words. We worked in pairs to define, as well as create and list symbols and related words for each new vocabulary term. Our images will help us when we begin reading about the sea turtle in the story.

Commas were the topic in Grammar/Writing today. We reviewed commas used in a series, as well as commas applied in direct address. Commas create a meaningful pause that help to make the sentence clear. We will be practice using commas correctly throughout the week.

Group 204 visited Mrs. Shuman in the Library today. It's always fun to pick out new books. Our team is working toward meeting our AR goals for the nine week period. Everyone would like to participate in the AR reward at the end of the month. We are encouraging each other to always have an AR with us so that we can reach our goals!

Math classes reviewed the PSSA rubric that will be used for their responses. We learned how to set up a T-Bar to show and explain our work. These practice prompts will greatly help us prepare for the PSSA test in March. Room 204 received a prompt to complete at home. Remember that when you explain your work, tell why...not how!

Science classes finished their presentations on energy. What a wonderful job we all did! Mrs. Haddox cannot believe all the information and even animation that was included in our Power Point! We will review the information from the chapter and have our test on Thursday. Students should review the quizzes that the groups passed out.

Homework:
Language Arts - Vocabulary practice on p. 82 in practice book. Grammar p. 42.
Social Studies - Continue working on Alexander the Great Kid Blog project. It is due this Friday.
Math - Open-ended PSSA prompt (204)
Science - worksheet (202 only; Test Thursday on Energy

Jumping into a New Year!

Team Enterprise came ready to begin the New Year today! We were excited to share stories about our break, and we jumped into our new lessons.

In Language Arts, we learned about the ways an author uses imagery and sensory details to help readers create mental images. Mrs. Mac shared stories of one of her favorite authors, Stephen King. Mr. King uses vivid sensory details in his writing. To practice the skill, Mrs. Mac read a short story filled with imagery while we sketched our mental images. We later identified the specific words and phrases that produced those images. Throughout the week, we will work on this skill in our reading and writing.

Alexander the Great is the topic of our new Kid Blog! We visited the lab today to complete research on Alexander the Great.

In Science, we were very anxious to present our Energy Teaching Presentations. We did a wonderful job of explaining our section and giving examples comparing and contrasting the different types of energy. Mrs. Haddox was extremely impressed with our Power Point Slide Presentations and the images we used in our explanations.
Tomorrow, in 202, we will continue.

Homework:
Language Arts - Share Family Times and complete trace plus two assignment for spelling.
Social Studies - Continue working on your Kid Blog assignment which is due after lab time on Friday.
Science- 204- Finish the quiz from Section E 60-61 Presentation

Oops! Just one more!

Get a Voki now!

Last Blog for 2010!

Math classes took their full Chapter 2 test and Science classes continued to work on their teaching presentations. We will present our sections when we return.

We are sad to see 2010 come to an end! We all wish Miss Cataldo the best of luck and hope to see her again in the future. We will all miss her!

Because we have a movie tomorrow and a dodge ball tournament on Thursday, this will be the last blog.

Miss Cataldo, Mrs. McIlvaine, and Mrs. Haddox wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year!

Team Enterprise looks forward to welcoming Mrs. McIlvaine back after the break! We missed you!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas Week! It is finally here!
Monday and Tuesday we will be having regular classes. Wednesday morning we will have Christmas Learning Centers and a Christmas Movie. Thursday we will have a dodge ball tournament and an early dismissal.

Math classes reviewed and started their Chapter 2 Test. Tomorrow we will check them in class.

Science classes are finishing their teaching demonstrations in their groups so that we can present tomorrow.

In Social Studies we had the "Geography Bee" preliminary rounds. We will finish the remaining rounds tomorrow. Winners will compete against the other homerooms to find NSIS's "Geography Bee Champ!"

Language Arts classes worked on an independent assignment today for "Midnight for Charlie Bone." Students were to accurately draw a picture of their favorite endowed character by using details from the story. Also, students are to write a paragraph that includes a topic sentence, what character they chose and what his/her endowment is, and how it was used in the novel. Also, students must state WHY they liked this endowment the best and HOW they would use this special power if they possessed it. These are due tomorrow!

Homework:

Language Arts: Charlie Bone assignment due tomorrow!