January

WEEK 3-3 MATH: **Initially**, we made polyominoes. Polyominoes are something we are exploring; I think they may be like the computer game "Tetras" that kids can play on the computer. We also explored equivalent fractions by playing a pizza game!


 * Then**, Lesson 17 was due by last recess with lots of discussion about edges vs. faces on our polyhedrons (many-faced shapes), when we can or cannot use the commutative (flip-flop) property, and how to prove a number is composite and not prime!


 * After that**, we shared what we learned and our new ideas during math presentations! We had all students earn a variety of math bonus points, as they discussed different names of polygons, found the edges on polyhedrons, and how to figure out combinations.

COMMUNICATION ARTS: **To begin with**, we listened aloud to our stories. We found Mr. Klumpp strangely adoring his mops and hating the mucus mess in Mr. Flask's classroom. Ask your student about the special mop's hair-do... Next, we found out that Maniac Magee succeeded in not only teaching his"old whiskered friend" how to read, but he also has shown him how to love.


 * Moving along**, we tackled a GIANT reading test for our January book assignments. This is a new project, one that I have been trying to launch since September. I have not looked at the tests yet, but hopefully students have learned they need to get these books read before the end of the month.

Students who did not have their book read or who did not ask questions seem to struggle with the test. Some students need to use their time more wisely during D.E.A.R. time. And we have to give our books a chance on the weekend. They are crying to be read!

Also, I read the book along with them this month and was available for clarifying ideas. I also took the test with them to see if my questions were fair.


 * To end the day**, we did not have D.A.R.E., so we took care of some loose ends and revamped our word wall math project design. Students will have to have at least one completed math word wall project done plus two keyboarding lessons BEFORE they are allowed to play approved educational computer games.

SOCIAL STUDIES: **First off**, we sent off our thank you letters to our school board. We discussed out giant reading tests, which turned out to not be as horrible as the students thought. These tests helped us to discuss our book projects and the ideas we were to learn from this reading activity. (**Next month**, we will read nonfiction books and hope to create powerpoints. **March** will find us back reading a chapter book with a test at the end of the month.)


 * Secondly**, we finished our maps of the 13 Original Colonies. Wyle finished his NM postcard and the other students worked on theirs. SD is our next spot to visit for postcard research!


 * Next,** we tackled our last social studies short book for our current unit. We worked on a setting pyramid, which was new to us. We plan to use this project each week in the future to help us communicate what we learned in our social studies.


 * To conclude the day**, our social studies projects were not completed today, so they will be finished tomorrow. We studied for the counties quiz that we will have next week.

SCIENCE: Mrs. Schlechter was home sick **today**. **However**, the substitute teacher, Nancy Hanka, left good reports about the students. They seemed to have accomplished much. **Upon her return**, Mrs. Schlechter found social studies projects and well-written letters with details about this day's events. My brilliant students participated in a mucus lab and found some interesting science concepts at our science websites on the computer. These youngsters **also** earned a soda pop a piece for using transitions in the letters that they wrote in Mrs. Schlechter's absence. Coolio!

WEEK 3-2 MATH: We remembered Martin Luther King, Jr. today. Spinning and racing! Oh, blue won! Does it matter that blue had more parts on the spinner? We finished up our spinners activity for probability. You guessed it, blue had the advantage. Students displayed their data outside of our classroom door. Check out their graphs!

Amidst much moaning and groaning, our students completed puzzle 15, which was also a math "pop quiz." The results of the this assessment are in: Frau Schlechter has to buy the students' pops for their next math "pop quiz." Yay! All the students kept their A's this week in math.

COMMUNICATION ARTS: Tuesdays are our busiest day of the week. First, we heard a memorable analogy: learning how to read is like riding a horse... if you get bucked off, you just get back on... until you are in command! :) We then learned how to make fake snot or boogers in our science read aloud. ha ha Read aloud is a favorite activity.

We discussed the importance of this Tuesday: the Inauguration of our 44th President and how our book __Maniac Magee__ and yesterday's holiday tied into each other.

We did not dissect sentences this week, because we brainstormed our thank you letters to honor our school board. (Recognition for them was last week, but it is a giant machine when we move to write in our classroom. It takes time to launch! ha ha) From a glance, the students did a great job incorporating our discussion into their writing. We will be editing this instead of a spelling story as we move into next week.

Last of all, we wrapped up a reading unit and turned in our treasure hunt projects. It has been interesting trying to coordinate three different levels, so I have changed a few things to give us more time to discuss our unit's story and read it aloud. Time would not allow this before. We will still have treasure hunt projects. Students still need to be reading for their reading logs. January's book is almost due... I have questions for the students to answer!

SOCIAL STUDIES: Tuesday spilled over into "Worldly Wednesday with Social Studies." To begin with, we sat at Mrs. Schlechter's computer and listened to President Obama's Inaugural Address. (Ah, for access to a Smartboard for moments like this...) Then, we had to take our postponed spelling test. We had to correct our reading tests and spelling tests. We then read aloud our new story "Stormalong." __Ask your student what hyperbole, tall tale, and Stormalong all have in common__. ha ha

For social studies, we did manage to take our counties/world cities quiz. (It was hard to back into this saddle, but we made it.) We also started another postcard project about New Mexico and are studying about the SW Region of our USA. Mr. Pahl came for a visit and shared about 1963 and its historical Birmingham, AL event. This was considered our s.s. lesson for this week. We will return to our regularly scheduled program next week. ;)

SCIENCE: Before we could delve into science, we had to fit in our writing assessment test for this month. The prompt asked students to write about their best or worst day in school. The students in Hermosa and Fairburn are practicing with writing assessments for the real ones we will see eventually!

Finally, we had a soda pop and took a science test (assessment 5). Students are quizzed on items that we have discussed in previous lessons and even ideas that we have discussed outside of our __Puzzlewise Science__. The students have to use research and skimming skills to complete these puzzles. They also have to write and explain their ideas about science experiments posed in each lesson. I am impressed with this curriculum and how well it targets our standards.

Moving on, we successfully completed two labs this week. (There were no corner biography projects due, so we had more time.) We completed one called the "Your Inside Story" and we will observe a mixture we created in our digestoramas on Monday! We did some sound boogie with slinkies as well and talk about how sound travels. Next week, we are going to make "boogers" and review how much mucus we actually swallow each day. Ask your student about the amount! ha ha :)

WEEK 3-1 MATH: We did puzzle 14 and worked with probability/data analysis from our "yellow box."

Puzzles for lesson 14 included problems about converting ounces into pounds, algebra expressions, prime factorization, greatest common factor and probability!

Yellow box games included flipping pennies, so we could determine if the probability for heads or tails was "equally likely." We used different spinners to figure out if the chances for each color team were equally likely or if there was a greater chance of winning for one color team. Students recorded their data findings and analyzed the results! :) It was awesome possum.

COMMUNICATION ARTS: We are reading aloud from __Maniac Magee__ and __Mucus Attack__. Maniac Magee has a hero in this story who is making a difference in the lives of people on the East End and West End. **Ask your student about how this hero and what it has to do with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!** The other read aloud book is helping us learn what is fact and what is fiction in a realistic fiction book! :)

We dissected sentences and diagrammed the subject, verb, direct object, and a new fancy thing called an "objective complement." Basically, this is just something that describes further about the direct object... and I think we can even call them appositives, or nouns that describe the nouns/pronouns that came before them!

Students struggled a little at getting in their final drafts for their spelling story project, but we managed to finish them up by Thursday. Our 6-Hat Paper is due for week 3-2 on our social studies unit of study. 4th grade is writing about the Midwest, 5th is writing about the Revolutionary War, and 6th is writing about Ancient India.

We are in the final stages of another Treasure Hunt on our chosen story, which will be graded next week.

We are also in the middle of our monthly book assignment. 4th grade is reading __James and the Giant Peach__, 5th grade is reading __Susannah and the Purple Mongoose Mystery__, and 6th grade is immersed in __My Side of the Mountain__. The students are responsible for reading this book, and we will discuss some highlights. However, they will answer questions over the book on what they learned independently to earn their grade on this project. They have to answer 50% of the questions correctly for a C-Level project, 70% correctly for a B-Level project, and 90% correctly for an A-Level project. We will have a new book assigned for each month.

SOCIAL STUDIES: This week found us in our blue short books and completing our project for these assignment. 4th grade read __The Gateway Arch__, 5th grade read __Valley Forge__, and 6th grade read section II for Ancient India.

We also worked on another corner biography project, with Daniel Wesson (of Smith and Wesson), Queen Elizabeth II, Julius Caesar, and Cleopatra represented in our research! :)

We continue to create a map of our thirteen original colonies...

SCIENCE: Our puzzles took us into the world of bees and their ecosystems, smelly feet being an ecosystem, and energy-related words.

We discussed why humans needs bees and plants in our environment, how trees make a difference when we plant them in places like our city parks, and how the affects of sodium content in dog food makes a dog drink more water (or not).

We finished up our corner biographies that were started in social studies WEEK 2-9 MATH: We did puzzle 13 and gave math presentations/demonstrations on estimating with possible ratios as comparison and also using a bar graph of data to solve real life problems. We learned that a man named Descartes is famous for this quote: "I think, therefore I am."

COMMUNICATION ARTS: We have begun a journal activity where we had to write about something we are grateful for at school. It is an exercise to focus on the positive! We then wrote our opinion about whether or not our president should have a pet in the White House. We did lesson 13 in our spelling books and then, 4th and 5th read their 13th story in their reading anthology (reading book). 6th grade is reading a novel of choice and all students are working on treasure hunt projects for their stories. Treasure Hunts require students to look for the main elements in the story like main character, setting, plot, theme, and additional literary elements such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, etc. Once spelling units are done, we are to create a story using our spelling words. We are also working on a 6-Hat Paper based on a social studies topic. We are also creating a theme bumper sticker for a read aloud storybook entitled **__Chicken Sunday__** by Patricia Polacco. Cursive Club is now incorporated into our spelling unit and no longer takes place after lunch. We also have Cursive Club requirements inherent in some our assignments. As always, I encourage students to use their cursive, but cursive is only mandatory in certain assignments. Keyboarding expectations: complete two lessons a week and then one is allowed to go to tjschlechter.wikispaces.com to access educational links.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We are visiting the American Midwest, the Revolutionary War era, and Ancient India. Students have a procedure to follow, which involves answering questions about their books with complete sentences. Then, they have an additional writing project that helps them communicate what they learned from their nonfiction reading assignment. We are in the middle of creating a cool map about the 13 Original Colonies. We met as a committee to decide what our map should look like for color design. We will also continue to create corner biographies about people we encounter in our studies!

SCIENCE: We all worked on puzzle 9 in our **Science** **Puzzlewise.** 4th grade worked with "Water in Disguise," 5th grade worked with "Erosion," and 6th grade completed "Behavior, Inherited and Learned." We had terrific class discussions about how to define the words solid, liquid, and gas; how to identify the differences between weathering and erosion and about the different plate tectonics that make up our earth's crust; and interesting details about Pavlov's experiment with salivating dog trials and discussing concepts about genetics.

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