March

Yahoo! We took our Dakota STEP tests this week! Students were to show what they know in the areas of math and reading. 5th grade had an additional science test as well. We enjoyed snacks sponsored by our PTO. We did work a little bit on our social studies blue unit, but we will have to finish that up next week!
 * Week 4-3**

WEEK 4-2 Our Week In Review MATH: **Puzzle 25 equals a test puzzle in our books! Students worked for a "blue," because Frau Schlechter buys the soda pop for the next test if the whole class earns a blue!**

C-ARTS: Our snow day postponed our look at "Japenese Traditions" and the rest of our unit. Students should be done with their March book. 4th grade is reading __Charlotte's Web__, 5th - __Children of the West__, and 6th grade - **//Bonanza Girl//**.


 * SOCIAL STUDIES: We are in the midst of our units: 4th- Review the NE, 5th- Post-Reconstruction to the 1900's for our USA, 6th - Egyptians in Chapter Two. Researching is taking place for our corner biographies!**

SCIENCE: Our snow day mixed us up this week for science and s.s. too. We did manage to do our grow-a-bean lab, along with reviewing science concepts with on-line science. We found activities that helped us revisit those science ideas we saw in our science puzzles thus far, this year!

WEEK 4-1 Our Week In Review MATH: **Puzzle 24 yielded some unfinished math presentations that we will have to finish up with next week. We constructed "leprachaun traps," so that took up part of our individual math lesson time. However, we had great class discussions about decimal tenths, where we played a game called "Score One." We also played a game that reviewed our geometry terms. Next week, we have our "Pop Quiz" in math!**

C-ARTS: The Tasmanian Devil story was the focus of this week's treasure hunt. Vocabulary Lesson 14 was due as well. Spelling words were used in either a story or poem of choice for our spelling/writing project. We colored by part of speech and reviewed the sentence diagrams we completed last week. Students should be in the last half of their March book. 4th grade is reading __Charlotte's Web__, 5th - __Children of the West__, and 6th grade - **//Bonanza Girl//**.


 * SOCIAL STUDIES: We are beginning new units: 4th- Review the NE, 5th- Post-Reconstruction to the 1900's for our USA, 6th - Egyptians in Chapter Two. We have a new assessment game that we participate in. Students get to show what they know about the unit of study we are in. They get three chances to earn a 90% or better. In this way, we use what is normally a test... as a learning tool. It is fun to see how much we learn from beginning to end. We will chart our progress with line graphs, beginning next week!**

SCIENCE: Science found us finishing up with Morgan's "Crush a Can" experiment to launch our week. We all took our Assessment 6 in our various science levels. We did not get to our "Solve-A-Problem" due to Mr. Pahl's visit. He was considered our science lab time this week! ha ha He shared the movie: //**The Buttercream Gang**//. It was a tremendous film for our youth to see. It made me want to take a look at myself to see if I could be part of the Buttercream Gang. Hopefully, this movie had the same effect on the students. :)

WEEK 3-9 MATH: **Puzzle 22 and 23 were conquered. Perpendicular vs. parallel lines, making change, mixed numbers, elapsed time, and decimal topics were tackled by 4th and 5th grade. Parts of a circle, reading data, input/output machine, and PEMDAS were part of focus in 6th grade.**

C-ARTS: We learned about the Tasmanian Devil with our new story. Vocabulary Lesson 14 was assigned at the different levels. Spelling words were alphabetized, defined, and analyzed for synonyms and antonyms. This week students could write a 6-Hat Paper on the Tasmanian Devil, which will be required next week, if they finish their C-Arts unit and are done reading their March book of the month.


 * SOCIAL STUDIES: We are finishing up our current units: 4th- The West, 5th- Reconstruction After The Civil War, 6th - leaving the Greeks to go visit the Egyptians again. For the beginning of 4th quarter, we will be starting another cycle!**

SCIENCE: We celebrated with a Science Fair! Our class baked bread, made fire extinguishers, circuit board projects that can be very noisy, set up a brine shrimp hatchery, examined a model car, and discussed what differences in not only open and closed circuits, but also parallel and series circuits. Carbon dioxide came up a lot in our discussions today; I wonder why? Students can you tell us. Also, please tell us, which type of circuit we want our Christmas lights to have! ;)