Week of March 14-18

Upcoming Dates:
March 22nd: Author visit-Sue Stauffacher
March 25th: Family Fun Night
March 28th: 3rd-5th grade music program
March 28th & 29th: Book Swap
March 30th: Hawaiian/Beach Day

Music program: Students in the program should be at the stage by 6:45.

Author Visit: Students will hear from author Sue Stauffacher next Tuesday from 1:30-2:30.

READING  and Puppets

We will begin reading biographies in class on Monday and the kids have been making a puppet in art in the likeness of their topic. The last day of art class to work on these was Friday. Some students need to finish these at home- some paint, material for clothing, etc. They can also take a little spare class time for this as well, if needed. I had them take them home on Friday to finish and keep there for now because of space in the classroom. I would like them to have their puppet to present on Monday, March 28th along with their information about their biography subject. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.

MATH:

We took the chapter 7 (fractions) test on Friday. The test will come home next week. I like to review the test with each student and didn't have the opportunity on Friday. We continue to work in Chapter 8 (fractional operations). We will take this test Tuesday Mar. 29th.

SCIENCE:
Our forces and motion unit is wrapping up. This week we discussed forces and motion of roller coasters. We read an informational book, and then each student was able to try a site on the computer that allowed them to design a roller coaster keeping in mind the importance of momentum, a lift hill, exit path and hill shape. Their roller coaster had to get a thumbs up rating for safety and fun! After they tried this for awhile, I let them spend a little time playing a roller coaster game on another site.
 Monday we'll be designing our own roller coasters in class. I will be spending plenty of time reviewing for the test (Wednesday March 30th) as this is such along unit.  

WRITING:
We continue to work on a piece of writing focusing on voice, word choice, and point of view. Students  are writing about a situation based off of a book we read. Students were able to choose to write a news report, a talk show interview, another scene like one from the book, or a conversation between 2 characters. They'll present these next week.