Car in Motion

This week students had to design an experiment to test the effects of motion on a toy car. We were able to practice by testing a Foss plane in science lab.

States and Capitals

Every year the students must learn the states of the United States and their capitals. Instead of giving them a map to label they had to use cooperation skills to build their map and then use that to record the states on their black United States map. They had a great time and used some great communication skills and teamwork. Go Owls!   

         

         
         
         

Mountain Plot

Every fiction story has a plot. A plot includes: characters, setting, problem, climax, solution, and conclusion. A great way to remember is to think of a mountain. As the story goes on the character's problem get bigger and worse, to the point where the character has to make a decision. That is when we arrive to the top of the mountain, the most exciting and suspenseful part of the story. Going downhill is where the story starts to wrap up. Here is the visual students are using when reading a story.

 The students today read "Red Kayak" with a partner and created a mountain plot for the story. Looks like it really helped!

 

Place Value

  This week students have been learning about place value all the way up to billions! They had to read, write, compare and order large whole numbers. They used their place value chart and foldable to help them. Next week DECIMALS!

                                     

To write, read and use standard form the students created a foldable as a go-to resource. 

Science Lab - Weight Watching

Students today had to predict the weight of 3 objects: a plastic chip, a wooden block and a steel washer.  They had to put the objects in order from heaviest to lightest. Everyone predicted that the washer was heaviest but there was argument between the wood and the plastic. How could we prove which one was heavier? THE BALANCE BEAM! After clarifying the argument, students made their own prediction on the weight of certain objects and were able to prove or disprove their findings. 




                       
 
Students were able to correctly use a balance beam to accurately measure the objects using the standard unit grams. 

Istation

 This week your child took an Istation Assessment. You may see their results during Open House September 10, 2013.  No matter how well the student did, there is always room for improvement. Istation is a great program that adapts to the student's ability and gets more challenging as the student's abilities improve. I strongly encourage you to use Istation at home if there is internet access. 

To download click here.

 Here are some images of the students using Istation in the classroom.