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Spelling: None today due to extra time with social studies.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Students practiced plays to share their Literature Circles magazines with the class.

Writing: Students continued to use Bubbl.us to plan their I-Search presentation. The students also started their presentation using Google Docs (docs.mrhowd.com).

View our I-Search 2010 Research website. Here are more details about the I-Search project. Our general timeline :

1. Week 1: Collect research
2. Week 2: Select research, plan presentation, start draft of presentation
3. Week 3: Finalize presentation, present at our I-Search Conference

Math: None today due to receiving a shipment of plants and animals, which we needed to put in a vivarium and an aquarium.

Science: We set up an aquarium with goldfish, a crayfish, some snails and some Elodea plants. Our vivarium contains millipedes and Bess beetles.

Social Studies: We discussed the differences of economic systems:

• Market economy = controlled mostly by businesses and consumers
• Command economy = controlled mostly by the government
• Traditional economy = controlled by family traditions. People usually enter their family businesses.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 9

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

• Our Mackinac Trip is Friday, May 14. Get more information here. There are currently 2 chaperone spots available. Chaperone deposits are due by April 30.
• Find more information about Summer School, including dates and payment options.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: None today due to extra time with writing.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles. Students also completed a Reading Mad Minute and informational reading test.

Writing: Students used Bubbl.us to create a web and plan their I-Search presentation. Homework is to finish their Bubbl.us web so that everyone can begin their presentation tomorrow.

View our I-Search 2010 Research website. Here are more details about the I-Search project. Our general timeline :

1. Week 1: Collect research
2. Week 2: Select research, plan presentation, start draft of presentation
3. Week 3: Finalize presentation, present at our I-Search Conference

Math: We reviewed the lattice method of multiplication. Homework is to complete Journal pp. 136.

Science: We went on a Life Hunt in the courtyard, looking for animal and plant life.

Social Studies: We learned that people have to make choices when they don’t have enough resources to supply their wants. We also started learning about the economy of the US, which is a market economy.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 5
• Orange magnets: 1
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 7

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

• Our Mackinac Trip is Friday, May 14. Get more information here. There are currently 2 chaperone spots available. Chaperone deposits are due by April 30.
• Find more information about Summer School, including dates and payment options.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: Today was the Unit 9 spelling and skill test.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a reading  day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on making inferences as a reading strategy.

Writing: Students continued to collect research for their I-Search projects. View our I-Search 2010 Research website. Here are more details about the I-Search project. Our general timeline :

1. Week 1: Collect research
2. Week 2: Select research, plan presentation, start draft of presentation
3. Week 3: Finalize presentation, present at our I-Search Conference

Math: Students practiced the lattice method of multiplication. Homework is to complete Journal pp. 131-133.

Science: We checked our plants experiments set up to test if plants need the following to live:

• water
• sunlight
• soil/nutrients
• air/oxygen/carbon dioxide
• heat

Here are our Day 0 and Day 3 plant images:

Social Studies: We reviewed scarcity (not enough) and thought about the choices people have to make when they have unlimited wants, but only limited resources.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 1

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

• Our Mackinac Trip is Friday, May 14. Get more information here. There are currently 4 chaperone spots available. Chaperone deposits are due by April 30.
• Find more information about Summer School, including dates and payment options.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: We reviewed irregular verbs (was/am, brought/bring, ground/grind, thought/think, read/read). This will be the skill tested on Monday’s spelling test.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on visualizing as a reading strategy.

Writing: We took a break today to install a new internet browser to use for our I-Search project over the next two weeks. Students installed and set up their own Google Chrome browser. The students will now be using Google Chrome as their default browser for these reasons:

• It’s faster than other browsers;
• It doesn’t crash as much;
• Extensions can be installed quickly;
• It’s the safest browser there is (hackers didn’t even attempt to hack Google Chrome despite a $10,000 prize).

Google Chrome is free to install. Learn more about why you should have Google Chrome on your computer.

Next week, students will continue to collect research for their I-Search projects. View our I-Search 2010 Research website. Here are more details about the I-Search project. Our general timeline :

1. Week 1: Collect research
2. Week 2: Select research, plan presentation, start draft of presentation
3. Week 3: Finalize presentation, present at our I-Search Conference

Math: We reviewed the Partial Products method of multiplication and students completed a MiniQuiz. Students also learned the lattice method of multiplication.

Science: We set up experiments to test if plants need the following to live:

• water
• sunlight
• soil/nutrients
• air/oxygen/carbon dioxide
• heat

Here are our initial plant images:

Social Studies: None on Fridays.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 9

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

• Find more information about Summer School, including dates and payment options.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.

Spelling: We reviewed words that contain apostrophes, and their homophones that don’t use apostrophes (there’s/theirs, let’s/lets, who’s/whose).

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on making connections as a reading strategy.

Writing: Students continued to collect research for their I-Search projects. View our I-Search 2010 Research website. Here are more details about the I-Search project. Our general timeline :

1. Week 1: Collect research
2. Week 2: Select research, plan presentation, start draft of presentation
3. Week 3: Finalize presentation, present at our I-Search Conference

Math: Students used the Partial Products method of multiplication to solve number stories. Here’s a video tutorial. Homework is to complete Journal pp. 128-130, started in class.

Science: We predicted what plants might need to live:

• water
• sunlight
• soil/nutrients
• air/oxygen/carbon dioxide
• heat
• food

Then we went outside and dug up plants along the Gibson Drain. We will use these plants in order to test our plant need predictions.

Social Studies: We completed a chart of economic activities (unlimited wants and limited resources leads to scarcity, which means people have to make choices, and that leads to an opportunity cost).

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 0
• Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 7

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

• Find more information about Summer School, including dates and payment options.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at SnapGrades.

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 5th grade.