I told you they've been working hard...we've finished final drafts...each student has had a revision meeting, and final touches have been added. Now, as I'm SURE you know, it's practice time!! Yesterday and today we presented to the class and we all took turns telling each other how we can improve as we practice over the weekend...that's right...PRACTICE OVER THE WEEKEND...PLEASE!! We have our first run (no costumes or props needed) Monday morning and then on Tuesday its DRESS REHEARSAL DAY...we will be doing two different runs sharing our wax museum with the second grade magnet students and the rest of our third grade friends. Wednesday we'll take a break and then the "real" Wax Museum is THURSDAY at 9am in the cafeteria for...YOU! When you arrive, please go to the office, sign in, and go to the cafeteria. There will be a slide show scrolling that the kids have prepared for you...it will give you an idea of all of the important people you will meet that morning. Our tour is a walking tour...the wax figures will come in around 9:10 am, take their places, an introduction will be given, and then you will move from group to group learning about all of our famous people. The entire tour takes 45 min to one hour...please plan to stay the whole time. The kids are very excited and I think you will be SO impressed with how much they've grown as students and speakers!!
This project has taken quite a bit of our time, but there is life beyond the wax museum...read on...
Language Arts - we have been reading from the Sciencesaurus text about rocks and minerals. We've used sub-headings to help form purpose questions...an excellent study skill...we gathered quite a bit of knowledge and then got to break apart each type of cookie...I mean, rock...and get a better picture (and taste) of what the book was telling us.
Science - all the while we've been continuing to monitor our compost and our worm friends. Quite a few of our worm friends are no longer with us...after observing them, and designing our own experiments for the worms, some just couldn't stand the activity!! While decomposers are making nutritious soil in our compost piles, we've been busy observing rocks and minerals. As a class we know what to look for to help determine whether the object is a rock or mineral...we've discussed the properties of minerals, and Monday we'll be doing tests to determine the hardness of certain minerals.
Math - man, did we fit in a lot of math this week...we finished with line plots and finding averages, we worked with double line graphs and discussed that line graphs are used for showing information OVER TIME, and now...we've moved into decimals...yesterday we had a great lesson...I asked the question, "A decimal number has been rounded to 6, what might the decimal number be?" This question spurred so many answers...we took all of them, wrote them on cards, and then everyone participated in an ordering activity...we then used the hundreds, tens, and ones blocks to create different decimals numbers...all of this while making sure to use the proper terms when reading decimals...NO using the word "POINT"!! The decimal tells us to say "and"...so that when you see 24.792, you say, "twenty-four AND seven hundred ninety-two thousandths." Today we worked with adding and subtracting decimals....and we took a quiz on line plots and line graphs...whew! I told you we got a lot accomplished!
We took the week off of word study...we're headed right back into it with prefixes, suffixes, and root words in the coming weeks. Speaking of the coming weeks...at the end of this post I have listed important dates...please make a note of them.
Last, and on a much more serious note, Logan Cresswell's uncle, Sgt. David Smith, a Marine serving with 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Company Battalion B, based in Frederick, was injured last weekend serving our country in Afghanistan. He died this past Tuesday. Mrs. Fike, our school counselor, came in to talk to our class about Logan's uncle...explaining that he is a hero and a wonderful role model...and discussing how Logan is going to be sad for awhile...he and his uncle were very close. Mrs. Fike and I talked with the kids about not talking to Logan about it unless he wants to talk, and that it is important to just act normal...so that school is a place Logan can come and keep to his routine. I am so proud of your children...they have been compassionate and understanding...they have been absolutely amazing.
I continue to love what I do...and that is because of your kids...they make my job delightful. Have a good weekend and please make note of the below dates...
FEBRUARY
Tuesday, February 2 - Dress Rehearsal - Wax Museum
Thursday, February 4 - Wax Museum for parents - 9am in the cafeteria
Friday, February 5 - Multicultural Fair/last day for coins for Haiti
Friday, February 12 - Valentine's Day Party 1:30-2:30pm
Monday, February 15 - No School - President's Day
Tuesday, February 23 - 2 hour early dismissal
