Wax Museum, Science Fair 2013, Writer's Workshop...snow!?

Can you believe it's a SNOW day and we are two days away from SPRING BREAK!?!? Me neither!  But since I'm stuck at home, thought I'd catch up on the blog....

Last week we had many rehearsals for the Wax Museum, but our most fun day was Thursday when we had two dress rehearsals.  We performed for the second grade magnet classes and for Ms. Maenner's class.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, both the audience and our wax figures.  I am so proud of the progress the kids have made in public speaking!!

We have been busily preparing for our Wax Museum scheduled for tomorrow morning (TUESDAY) in the cafeteria.  Please arrive between 9 - 9:10 am...and gather in the center of the cafeteria.  Our wax figures will enter right around 9:10 and you will begin your walking tour.

Last week everyone presented their Science Fair projects...my goodness, we have a ton of budding scientists!  It was fun seeing the pride on their faces as they told us about their hard work (I also recognize it was hard work for you parents, so in case they forgot to thank you...THANK YOU!)  ANIMOTO movie at the end of this post...

We had some great work with Writer's Workshop this week...this is work you don't often see come home, but anytime you're in the classroom, take a look at the stories that hang by the windows.  Anyone who publishes a piece, hangs it on their hook so others can read their work.  The kids take these pieces through the entire writing process...they draft, peer conference, edit, revise, have a teacher conference, and then they publish. Most of the kids LOVE to write and really use their time productively.  I try to run a full Writer's Workshop twice a week.  Take a look...

Wanna see our science fair projects?!?!?! 

Click on the link "Science Fair 2013" below...and enjoy!!

Science Fair 2013

More than a teacher...

OK...so you may not LOVE this post if you are a fan of my rambling words...but I am swamped in "my other life...mom, softball coach, head of our CCD cluster group, stand-in rep for swim team, etc!!"  So I was thinking...maybe I could use more pictures and less words to save some time right now...of course I will add captions, but maybe you could "infer" what we have been doing lately...hopefully you are ok with this...if not, please find me on a field or in a car driving one of my kids somewhere...and you can tell me about it! ;-)  Thanks for understanding...rest assured...none of this "other life" interferes with your darlings' days...we're rockin' it in the classroom!

Hope to see you all Tuesday, March 26 for our Wax Museum.  Final drafts came home this weekend...they have ten days to learn it so that they know it so well, they only have to look down a couple times...YES, you will be tired of it, but when all of us hear it for the first time, we will KNOW they practiced their tails off!  Encourage eye contact and LOUD voices when they're practicing.

ALSO...early bird science fair projects are due MONDAY...all others due WEDNESDAY...email me if you have questions.

Enjoy...

LITERATURE CIRCLES - THE 21 BALLOONS

KINDERGARTEN BUDDIES! 

 They brought us cards and a poster and "Pete" to wish us luck on the MSA's!  We read books to them in return.  We love our buddies!!

(It was Wacky Tacky Day!)

 WE have the BEST INTERN IN THE WORLD!!

She made these for the kids during MSA's!

PI DAY!!

We calculated pi...

analyzed our calculations...

calculated some more pi...

read Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi...

and then we ate PIE!!  

Thank you to everyone that donated pie,

 and a special thanks to Mrs. Shipley and Mrs. Canaday who stepped in and served!!

Have a wonderful weekend...stay warm and dry!!

Happy Snow Day!

So...I'm guessing my house is a lot like yours right now...seven kids playing, snow clothes in the dryer, mom trying to get stuff done...I have to admit...I've missed snow days!!  And then to top it off...time to blog!!  There are many important reminders and updates to read and view, so please focus!  ;-)

NEW WAX MUSEUM DATE 
OK, so I know we're only missing one day...but that one day was critical to being ready with final drafts to practice for at least a week...and now with a delay in MSA testing, the parent conference crazy schedules, and of course, the Science Fair...I must push it back.  And because of the Science Fair, I have to push it back quite a ways...it is NOW scheduled for Tuesday, March 26th...same time, same place...just new day.  I hope you can join us!

SCIENCE FAIR
I am so excited to see these projects...I have checked almost every student's question/hypothesis/purpose/materials/procedure...and now we are in the data collection phase.  I received an email stating from a parent whose child's data will not be ready Friday...this is TOTALLY ok!  The due dates are all to help the kids manage their time...I am trying to keep track of who has turned in what so that no one is left working for thirty hours on the last weekend!  So...whenever your child's data collection is complete, have them bring me a copy.  Here are the last due dates....

Data Collection due Friday, March 8

Conclusion and Real Life Application due Friday, March 15

Early Bird (extra credit) due date is Monday, March 18

Final due date is Wednesday, March 20

UES Science Fair is Friday, March 22
MSA's
So impressed with how hard your kids worked the past two days!!  Because of this snow day, our testing will be pushed back.  Today was to have been our "day off"....whichever day we return to a FULL day (not delayed opening) will be our "day off" and then our third day of testing will be the following full day.  So...for instance...if we are delayed tomorrow...no one tests...so if Friday we are in a full day, that will be what would have been our Wednesday...our day off while the 4th and 5th graders test...our third day of testing would then commence on Monday.  I hope this makes sense...if not, email me and I'll try again!!

NOW...to what we've been up to....short and sweet...

Last week we did some MSA prep...just getting them used to multiple choice and extended response questions, following directions, etc.  It seems to have paid off! ;-)

We also jumped into our novel The 21 Balloons...the kids are meeting in Literature Circles to discuss their ideas and opinions about the novel, as well as discuss vocabulary and other important parts of the story.

All kids have turned in a rough draft of their biography and hopefully by Friday will have a final draft after conferencing with me.

TOMORROW we will be "solving the mystery" of the white powders in SCIENCE.  The kids have collected so much data, they've analyzed the data, and are drawing conclusions...we have to observe how heat affects the powders tomorrow and then we'll be able to make some final conclusions!  They have already figured out a few of them...after testing the powders with iodine and red cabbage juice, they read articles about how those solutions are used as indicators of starch, as well as an acid/base indicator...and now they have a very good idea about what the "orange" powder is!!  Ask your kids to explain this to you!!

In math, my class is working on FRACTIONS...especially finding equivalent fractions.

I'm pretty sure since this storm turned out to be a "dud" I'll be seeing your lovelies tomorrow...have a good night and email me if you have any questions!