Room 20 Classroom Notes March 3-7

I had a great time at the Talent Show! We also have the Lewis Family Dance this Friday, at which "The Lonesome Teacher Trio and Friends" will be performing dance tunes to get your toes tapping. Please consider coming! This week, we finish up our first fractions unit. We will have a test in two parts on Wednesday and Thursday. We will continue working with fractions more in-depth (multiplying and dividing) and decimals in our next unit. We will review math on Tuesday. In writing, we are finishing up our persuasive pieces and turning them into speeches. It is very important for our kids to practice at home. Speeches will begin on March 17th and will be a scored state work sample. Our classroom calendar is now connected to our blog (I was having problems bringing it up previously). We begin Portland Taiko on Friday, a tremendous opportunity for the kids. Check out more at http://portlandtaiko.dreamhosters.com/. I sent information about our next book report last week. It will be due the week before spring break and will be presented. The genre is graphic novels. Students should begin creating their final presentation products at home. The handout gives the myriad of ways to present. Pick one, and begin! In science, we continue with our flight experiments. This week, we will change variables of our choosing and write up and graph our results. Please check the blog for daily assignments and homework. We will have a Read-A-Thon (called Read-A-Ton!) that will take place the day before spring break. Students are getting information for sponsors and a reading ledger (reading log). This will help students who need a full or partial scholarship for our camp this year! Let me know if you have not received this information. On Thursday, please bring in one or several types of paper/tin foil/tissue paper for a science experiment with paper airplanes. We need as many kinds of paper to test flights made of different materials. I hope you have a wonderful week!