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Archive for April, 2006

Class activities for Tuesday, April 4

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006

Reading: Today was the final work day for Literature Circles projects. Students will present their projects tomorrow.

Language Arts: Our mini-lesson today focused on using fresh language in our writing. Fresh language is writing in a way that is new, different, unusual, unique-something that makes us sit up and take notice. Fresh language often comes in the form of interesting details and description (gray-wrapped rocks, lazy lapping waves).

Students should be near the end of drafting their new piece of writing. The next piece is due April 13.

Spelling: Today, we used letter cards to form words, paying attention to how individual letters are used to create sounds.

The Level Four Core Word list is an option for continued practice.

Math: Math was forgone today in lieu of a double-dose of science. We’ll get a double-dose of math tomorrow, which will include the chapter 5 math test.

Science: We looked at how pitch and volume was used in the symphony composition, Peter and the Wolf, by listening to clips of audio from the production.

We also reviewed and collected the response sheet homework from last night. We played a review game to practice for the test coming Thursday over sound.

Social Studies: We had a group debriefing session today about our Three Fires Jigsaw project. Teachers from three of the subtopics led a class discussion of the important points of their lessons.

Visit the Social Studies resources page for more information, and stop in to the Social Studies Jigsaw blog archives for a peek at what students worked on for this project.

Notes:

Conferences are April 10-12. Reserve your appointment at the office windows.
HELP WANTED: Mr. Keilitz is looking for parents willing to help with Field Day, which is at the end of May. If you are willing to help, please fill out the form here. Thanks!
Mackinaw Fundraising Update: our class has raised $2,078, which is 77% of our goal. We have $622 remaining to reach our goal of $2,700.
Interested in going to Mackinaw? We still have three chaperone spots available for the trip. Fill out the form here if you would like to go.

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Class activities for Monday, April 3

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

Reading: Today was a work day for Literature Circles projects. Students will also work tomorrow, and present their projects on Wednesday. We also read a book entitled, Scarecrow, by Cynthia Rylant, as an example of including details in our writing.

Language Arts: Our mini-lesson today was about including a balance of general (gentle, happy, sad) and specific details (ten-foot sunflowers, crimson sky) in our writing. These details help the reader to picture the story and understand what the writer is trying to say.

Students should be in the middle of drafting their new piece of writing. The next piece is due April 13.

Spelling: We looked at how er can be a suffix that means “one who”, as in writer or painter, or can mean “more”, as in stronger or faster. We also noticed that er can also be part of the base word, as in remember or letter. The Level Four Core Word list is an option for continued practice.

Math: Twenty-three students in class have mastered their multiplication facts. Today, those students started working on division facts. We also reviewed for the chapter 5 math test, which will be tomorrow.

Science: We reviewed the mini-experiments from Thursday and understood that increased tesion creates high pitches, and decreased tension creates lower pitches. Homework is to complete the Good Vibrations response sheet. A science test is coming Thursday over sound.

Social Studies: We continued our cooperative learning Jigsaw project about the Three Fires people of Michigan. See Tuesday’s post for more information about the Jigsaw strategy.

Today, students taught their mini-lessons to their teams. Tomorrow, teachers will help lead a class discussion about the main ideas of each subtopic.

Visit the Social Studies resources page for more information, and stop in to the Social Studies Jigsaw blog archives for a peek at what students are working on.

Notes:

Conferences are April 10-12. Reserve your appointment at the office windows.
HELP WANTED: Mr. Keilitz is looking for parents willing to help with Field Day, which is at the end of May. If you are willing to help, please fill out the form here. Thanks!
Mackinaw Fundraising Update: our class has raised $2,078, which is 77% of our goal. We have $622 remaining to reach our goal of $2,700.
Interested in going to Mackinaw? We still have three chaperone spots available for the trip. Fill out the form here if you would like to go.

Posted in Class activities | 5 Comments »

Hot Heads (Internet task for week of 4/3/06)

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

Is it getting hot in here? Well, many scientists think so. They think the earth is getting warmer, and humans are blame because of all the fuels we burn and the pollution we create. But not everyone agrees that humans causing the earth to get hotter, or even if the earth is getting hotter.

This week, take a look at global warming. This is a controversial subject, and many people argue about it.

First, watch these commercials. Make sure to click on all four ads.

What is going to happen to the earth, according to these commercials?

Visit the Time for Kids Global Warming page.

What is global warming
What supposedly causes it
How does it affect the earth?

Also visit the US Environmental Protection Agency Global Warming page for kids

How can we make a difference? How can we help to stop global warming?

Some scientists don’t agree that global warming is really even happening, or that humans are causing it. Do an experiment to see if Grand Blanc seems to be warming up.

Go to Weather Underground. Look at the maximum and minimum temperature records. Was the maximum record more recent than the minimum record? If it is, then maybe Grand Blanc is getting hotter. If the maximum record is older, then maybe Grand Blanc isn’t getting hotter.
Now click next day at the top right of the Weather Underground page, and keep looking at all the days in April, and even May.

Are most heat records new, or old?

Go Further

Try out these extras:

Global Warming word search
Have you seen those carbon footprint commercials from BP? Calculate your carbon footprint.
Visit Yahoo! News for video, audio and more articles
Not everyone agrees on Global Warming. Visit here to see what opponents (people who disagree) are saying.

Posted in Class activities | 9 Comments »