What electrical appliance or form of technology could you not live without?
Why?
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Happy December!
November sure did fly by fast. We have been busy, busy, busy! We've written friendly letters, set goals for our reading, increased our reading stamina to about 35 minutes on a daily basis, are learning the distributive property in math class, learning about The Three Fires in Social Studies, and started a new unit in Science called "Energy Transfer".
We have made some "shocking" discoveries through experimentation, like how to create a static shock, what materials work well to create static electricity and how long a balloon can stay attracted to various places in the classroom. We are beginning to learn about current electricity as well. Students get to explore and experiment how to light a light bulb using a battery, one wire and a mini light bulb. They have to use trial and error to figure out not just one way to get the light bulb to light, but 3 ways it can light and a few ways that it won't light and then figure out what makes a light bulb light-how do the materials have to be connected to each other to get the light bulb to light.
We have been reading some Patricia Polacco books and thinking about story parts and creating story maps. One book we read was called, Thunder Cake, so naturally, we are making a Thunder Cake to eat too! I'll add a link under ELA with the recipe!
We are trying to increase our vocabulary too. We look for longer, interesting words in our reading, try to use longer, more interesting words in our writing, and try to use them when we talk. Students pull out their Spelling Booklets all the time to ask how to spell an interesting word to use. I am loving this! At my own house, with my own family, when someone uses a wonderful word we always say "Oh, that's a two point word for sure!" Sometimes the words are very impressive. My kid's friends also try to get in on the action and when they think they say a really great word they'll ask me if it's point worthy. If it's not, they keep trying! So, I started to do that in class too. It's fun to hear and see all the fabulous words the kids come up with!
Check out the "shocking" pictures below!
We have made some "shocking" discoveries through experimentation, like how to create a static shock, what materials work well to create static electricity and how long a balloon can stay attracted to various places in the classroom. We are beginning to learn about current electricity as well. Students get to explore and experiment how to light a light bulb using a battery, one wire and a mini light bulb. They have to use trial and error to figure out not just one way to get the light bulb to light, but 3 ways it can light and a few ways that it won't light and then figure out what makes a light bulb light-how do the materials have to be connected to each other to get the light bulb to light.
We have been reading some Patricia Polacco books and thinking about story parts and creating story maps. One book we read was called, Thunder Cake, so naturally, we are making a Thunder Cake to eat too! I'll add a link under ELA with the recipe!
We are trying to increase our vocabulary too. We look for longer, interesting words in our reading, try to use longer, more interesting words in our writing, and try to use them when we talk. Students pull out their Spelling Booklets all the time to ask how to spell an interesting word to use. I am loving this! At my own house, with my own family, when someone uses a wonderful word we always say "Oh, that's a two point word for sure!" Sometimes the words are very impressive. My kid's friends also try to get in on the action and when they think they say a really great word they'll ask me if it's point worthy. If it's not, they keep trying! So, I started to do that in class too. It's fun to hear and see all the fabulous words the kids come up with!
Check out the "shocking" pictures below!
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