I feel so good about how prepared your kids are for the MSA's!! They don't have any idea what to expect, and the unknown is kind of scary...but yesterday I shared with them some of the "perks" of MSA week...now they are looking forward to a week with no homework and some extra recess time! Putting the "kid spin" on testing can help ease their minds! Please do your part by making sure your child...
- has a good breakfast
- gets plenty of sleep
- feels good about themselves (as we all know, confidence is over half the battle!)
Thank you to those of you that have gotten the cards/notes to me...if I did not receive yours, please send it Monday am...they will be on the kids' desks when they arrive...thank you!
WOW, did we have a busy week...here's how it all went down...
MATH - this week in math we focused on a different skill each day...we measured things around the room to the nearest 1/4 inch...we discussed how something can be 3 and 1/2 inches and still be measured to the nearest 1/4 inch...since 2/4 is equal to 1/2...this was new territory for most of them...they thought that if it was to the nearest quarter inch, there MUST be a 1/4 inch in the measurement...I think they've got it now! Another day we created paper airplanes, and flew them in the cafeteria. We measure their flight distance using meters, centimeters, and millimeters...this was definitely a highlight of the week...the smiles in the pictures below speak volumes!! We also worked with temperature this week...experimenting with the thermometer both inside and outside, reading temperatures using Celsius and Fahrenheit...and then of course, we did some practice MSA activities so that the kids could get used to the seating arrangements and become accustomed to looking up on the screen to view the stopwatch that tells them how much time they have left to work. We went over all of the practice activities and they scored their own papers so they could see errors and how to write better answers.
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LANGUAGE ARTS - this week we finished the persuasive essays...they are fantastic!! What an amazing group of writers I have...they were told about a week and 1/2 ago that the administration was considering taking away recess in order to gain back some instructional time. They were to form an opinion about whether or not they felt recess should stay or go. They used a hand-made graphic organizer to put together their supporting reasons for their opinion and the details that support that reason. Then, after discussion and modeling, they turned their graphic organizer into the rough draft version of their essay. After completion, they met with a peer to go over organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice. Their final drafts were written using strong conventions and in their neatest handwriting. These essays were presented to Mrs. Hollenbeck and Mr. Watkins. The kids must have been very persuasive...the majority of them wanted recess to remain in the schedule and that was indeed the final decision. Mrs. Hollenbeck quoted many different students' reasons stating that they were excellent points on both sides of the argument...but in the end the "staying healthy" and "brains that get a break think better" reasons won her over!
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Also in Language Arts this week we have continued with our novel...the kids are reading, discussing, and writing about this wonderful story. I think some of them are frustrated because they just want to read the book and not stop to talk, think, write...they're such avid readers that once they start a good book, they hate to put it down...but I keep making them put it down!! I am working with the kids on writing strong answers to comprehension questions...being a "word thief"...stealing the words FROM the question...makes writing a strong complete sentence very easy...I told them it's the only time they are allowed to steal in my classroom! :-)
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And of course, the work with homophones this week...our word study lessons always have a focus...but your child's list may not always reflect the focus because if they get all of the words correct on their pretest, they are to find challenging words to put on their lists...I always provide a challenge list that stays with the focus...but some of your kids would much rather attack a dictionary and find outlandish words! I usually have to look half of them up to a) see if your child spelled it correctly, and b) see what it means! So, just in case you were wondering where some of the words come from...there you have it!
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SCIENCE - we dove back into science some this week...we viewed a fantastic DVD titled, Bill Nye the Science Guy - Rocks and Soil...something about that man makes everything fun to learn about! We also did an experiment titled "Cookie Rocks"...instead of edible items, we used clay and lots of different "minerals" hidden in the clay (beads of different shapes and colors)...the kids used a spring scale to weigh their rock and then dissected the rock to discover all of the different minerals...they then weighed the minerals separately and the clay separately to discover if there was any difference from the original weight. They recorded all of their observations and data while working and then we ended the experiment with a discussion in which the kids were using all kinds of great vocabulary. I really love this unit. Next week we will be working with/learning about weathering and erosion...stay tuned!
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I'm sorry I'm a day late with the post...may I brag on my middle schooler for a minute? Connor and two of his friends are participating in the National History Day "fair" (sort of like a science fair, but for social studies)...their project was selected to represent UMS...they met at my house yesterday afternoon because they found out that along with the model castle and power point they had prepared, they also needed a 500 word essay. I had to leave school right away so the boys could work at our house to complete the paper. Needless to say, they had access to our computer, and their needs came first! I am headed out now to go take pictures and watch their presentation! I hope you have a great weekend with your families...I look forward to seeing your lovelies Monday morning...and don't worry...after day one and the initial "what's it like?" worry...they'll be just fine! I promise. :-)
