Rain, Rain....GO AWAY!!

The rain has made everything beautifully green, but because of the mushy ground, our Field Day is has been rescheduled for June 6th. We're hoping that the sun comes out soon to dry the play areas.


In McD's Cafe, we reflected on the things we have read and learned this year. Each person who visited our cafe, shared the importance of reading and how reading has affected them. We discussed memorable quotes written by various authors, and Mrs. McIlvaine shared quotes people have written on the topic of reading. We then tried our hand at writing memorable quotes that reflect our love of reading. Our words will be compiled into a slide show, soon to be seen on our blog!

We finished our Concession Stands! Today we "visited" our neighbor's stand and calculated their math problems. The problems included sales tax, sale price, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Mrs. Haddox was so impressed! Tomorrow she will include the remainder of the pictures!

Homework:
Language Arts - Study your spelling words and review your story, The Gold Coin. Quizzes will be on Monday.
Social Studies - Study your study guide. There will be a quiz next Tuesday (open note).
Science - Study Science. Open note test.
Wellness - pg. 107, 1-3

Every Author Has a Purpose

Today, we practiced the skill of discovering an author's purpose for writing. We reviewed four common purposes: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, and to express. There are many pieces of evidence an author gives us to determine this purpose, and today we applied the skill to a short story called The Tortoise in the Tree.

New words were introduced, including distressed, impatience, insistent, recovery, and stunned. We predicted what part of the plot they each may be part of. This afternoon, we will read the Folk Tale and find out how the words are used. We're sure that there will be a lesson to learn.

We spent time this afternoon finishing our D.A.R.E. essays. Sergeant Cross will be stopping by to collect them on Friday. We also spent time finishing our concession stands. Tomorrow we will be stopping by and "shopping."

Science classes today learned about the three types of chemical reactions. We also discussed the way that some covalent bonds can be molecules. Using organic chemistry, students discussed how elements react to one another.



Homework:
Math: Concession Stand due Wednesday

The Countdown Begins!

We would like to apologize for being unable to blog on Friday. Our blog site was down for some reason.

This is a busy time at school. When you look at our calendar, you will see the many special events marked for each week. They are events we've all been looking forward to. One event coming this Friday is Field Day! We will be getting our shirts, purchased by the P.F.O. this week.

The talent show was a huge success! Everyone did such a great job! Due to the lighting and our distance from the stage, we will not be posting pictures or video of the show. Hopefully, all of our parents were able to stop in for this show! Congratulations to all who were a part of it!

Today in Language Arts, we took our spelling and story quizzes for The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We also worked hard to complete our D.A.R.E. essays. Sergeant Cross is collecting the writings this Friday. We hope to submit them by tomorrow. One winning essay will be picked per class.

Math classes are working hard on their concession stands! I wish we could truly build and run them. The students have created fabulous ideas for stores and restaurants. Tomorrow they will be due at the end of class. On Wednesday, we will "visit" each one and complete the problems that were given.

Homework:

Language Arts - Share new 'Family Times' paper. Review new spelling list.
Math- Concession stands due tomorrow at the end of class.

Hollis Woods!

This afternoon, both classes submitted their final projects, Book Jacket Reports, for Hollis Woods. The books were collected and we were able to enjoy a movie based on the book. We all enjoyed seeing the movie, and Abby shared popcorn and a drink for her birthday. It was the perfect treat. Thanks, Abby!

Math classes started on their concession stands! They are looking good!

Homework:

Language Arts: Spelling and story quizzes for The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World will be given tomorrow. Study.
Science: Covalent and Ionic Bond Worksheet

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were truly amazing structures. Only one of the structures still stands today! We enjoyed learning about why and how they were built in our story today. Above, you will see The Colossus of Rhodes.

Math classes peer revised their concession stand problems searching for mathematical errors. We are ready to create our stands tomorrow!

During our center time today, we worked on a review of Geometry and Algebra, as well as a text structure activity and spelling review.

Homework:
Language Arts - Your book jacket assignment is due tomorrow. Spelling and story quizzes will be on Friday.
Social Studies - Quiz tomorrow. Study Ch. 2, Lesson 2.
Wellness (202): 107, 1-3

Bonding Time!

Science classes are bonding! Ionic and Covalent Bonding, that is! Continuing in science today, we explored how some elements form compounds. Using diagrams, we learned how some electrons can equally share electrons or take them away.

Math classes continued in their creation of their concession stands. We are creating problems based on our items. Today we worked on the bonus question! Tomorrow we will start "building" the stand. Stay tuned for pictures!


Today we built background knowledge and gained a better understanding of our vocabulary for The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This story also fits in with the topics we've been discussing in Social Studies about the Ancient Egyptian Empires. We saw a film clip in class today about great Egyptians. We are amazed at the structures they we able to build by hand. The interesting work of archaeologists was also depicted in the film. Bits of history are pieced together through their findings!

Our D.A.R.E. essays are coming along fine! We spend a portion of our Writing class working on our paragraphs. Some of us have begun typing our drafts.

Homework:
Science: Covalent and Ionic Worksheet; Periodic Table Lab Sheet (graded)
Language Arts: The Book Jacket assignment for Pictures of Hollis Woods is due on Thursday (5/12/11). Complete spelling practice sheet (both sides) for tomorrow.
Social Studies: Quiz on Thursday for lesson 2. Please study your guides and lesson.

AR Reward!

It was a beautiful day for our AR Reward! The students enjoyed some free time outside. However, we only had a disappointing 5 people from Team Enterprise receive the award today! Even though the school year is winding down, you should still be reading. Remember to bring your AR book to school! Congratulations to Abby, Kate, Keegan, Conrad, and Kayla!


Science classes are learning about the way elements bond. We are understanding what a chemical change is and how it occurs. Mrs. Haddox also talked about Organic Chemistry a bit!

Math classes are creating their concession stands today. We have some very creative names! By working together in small groups, we are helping each other create and solve problems based on our items.

In Language Arts this week, we are studying text structure or the way an author organizes writing for various genres. Our new story, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is non-fiction, so we studied an example of non-fiction text organization today. The short article, Engineering the Land, was set up using section headings, as most of our text books are.

Our new spelling list is a group of words with double consonants. Some have more than one set of double consonants! We will have to apply ourselves this week.

Our study of early kingdoms and empires of Africa continued today. We learned what caused kingdoms to begin and grow, as well as the types of items that were traded. Some were obviously valuable in our eyes, such as gold, while others were surprising; salt. Our study and review will continue tomorrow.

Homework:
Science: Page E 33 questions; lab on Periodic Table due Wednesday
Language Arts: Share new Family Times. Complete both sides of your spelling practice sheet for Wednesday. Your book jacket is due this Thursday.