Archive for May, 2012

Class activities for Wednesday, May 23

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Spelling: Students completed a spelling test today.

Cursive: No new cursive assignments for the remainder of the year.

Reading: Groups completed their Literature Circles plays today.

Writing: Students worked on the Find It, Decide It project to research a decision. Here is more about this project, due Friday, June 1.

Math: Students learned about how to change fractions into decimals. Homework is to finish Journal P13-4 and P13-5.

Science: None today due to a play called, Shipwrecked!

Social Studies: We viewed a play set in the 1800s in Thunder Bay. A family was shipwrecked while bring a load of Christmas trees from the Upper Peninsula.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 3
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 31

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

Notes:

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Class activities for Tuesday, May 22

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: No new cursive assignments for the remainder of the year.

Reading: None today.

Writing: Students worked on the Find It, Decide It project to research a decision. Here is more about this project, due Friday, June 1.

Math: Students practiced multiplying fractions by whole numbers. Homework is to finish Journal P13-2 and P13-3.

Science: We played a game to simulate a food chain. Water fleas were eaten by sunfish, and the sunfish were eaten by herons. Each time, the energy of the prey went to the predator. Sometimes, toxins moved up the food chain and killed the host. Students also completed a MiniQuiz about food chains.

Social Studies: None today due to our math skills time.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 10
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 28

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

Notes:

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Class activities for Monday, May 21

Monday, May 21st, 2012

Spelling: We practiced writing the base words for irregular verbs. This will be the skill tested on next and last spelling test.

Cursive: No new cursive assignments for the remainder of the year.

Reading: None today.

Writing: Students started working on our last writing project of the year, called the Find It, Decide It project. Students work with a partner to research a decision. Here is more about this project, due Friday, June 1.

Math: Students were introduced to multiplying fractions by whole numbers. Homework is to finish Journal P13-1. We didn’t have much time for practicing this in class, so I asked students to try this out by looking at Journal R13-1 and the math book for additional help. We’ll talk more about this in class tomorrow, but here are some additional helps:

  1. The skill for tonight’s homework is to break fractions apart and use multiplication as a shortcut.
  2. Start by breaking apart a fraction into unit fractions with a numerator of 1. 2/3 = 1/3 + 1/3. 4/7 = 1/7 + 1/7 + 1/7 + 1/7.
  3. 5/8 can be broken into 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8. That is 5 fractions of 1/8. Using multiplication, that would be 5 x 1/8, since it is 5 fractions of 1/8.
  4. More examples: 3/4 = 3 x 1/4
  5. 2/6 = 2 x 1/6
  6. 4/5 = 4 x 1/5

Science: None today.

Social Studies: We reviewed the Preamble of the Constitution and learned that the purpose of our government is to do these things:

  • Make a better country
  • Make things fair
  • Keep things peaceful
  • Protect our country
  • Look after the well-being of everyone
  • Keep freedom for all Americans and future Americas

Homework is to finish the Preamable chart started in class.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 18
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 18

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

Notes:

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Owl Pellet Dissection 2012

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Visit picasaweb.google.com/mrhowd for full-sized images and videos.

KPICASA_GALLERY(DissectingOwlPellets2012)

Class activities for Friday, May 18

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Spelling: Students finished making their Words to Learn lists from words missed on the last spelling test.

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

Reading: Another group performed their Literature Circles play today.

Writing: We practiced making line breaks in poems so that the reader can better see the ideas of the poem. Students also continued to work their poetry. Homework: a collection of poems will be due into portfolios on Monday, May 21.

Math: None today due to STAR Friday.

Science: Students dissected owl pellets to gather evidence about food chains and what animals the owls ate as an energy source.

Social Studies: We talked the importance of laws and rules, and how power should be balanced in a government to prevent unfair laws and practices.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 2
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 17

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

Notes:

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.