Essay September 30th-October 4th

Choose One to write your weekly essay:

1. "Tuck Everlasting." We finished "Tuck" on Friday. Did you like the ending? Well, here's your chance to change it. Write an alternate ending at least three paragraphs long. What happens? Does the man in the yellow suit come back? Does Winnie drink the water? You tell me!

2. As we study the map of the United States, I think about all the people I know in the USA and all the places I've travelled. Have you been out of state on a vacation? Have you gone on a road trip? Do you know anyone from another state? You may write about a vacation to another state: What did you see, taste, touch, hear, smell that was different than you were used to? Otherwise, give a friend or relative from another state a call and ask them how it is living in their state. What is the land like? The climate (the weather over a period of years- what is it usually like in the winter/spring/summer/fall). What kind of crops do farmers raise? Anything else that would be useful can be asked. Please write at least three paragraphs about your vacation or your out-of-state interview.

Room 20 Classroom Notes September 30-October 4th

This week, we will have a guest artist working with us for the next five weeks. Michael Wehrli will be working with half of our class at a time for four sessions per week. This week, we will also be vistied by Gregory MacNaughton from Reed College's Cooley Gallery. We will discuss the exhibit we will be going to and prepare ourselves for our journey on Thursday morning from 9:00am-11:30am. We will arrive back at Lewis for lunch. Speaking of guests, next week (October 8th), we will also be working with a musician Aaron Meyer. This week during writing, we will prepare for that musical experience by writing song lyrics about what we have learned so far this year. In math, we will begin a new unit on understanding multi-digit multiplication and division. Since the first unit was an overview, we will not have a unit test. We also started our first multiplication facts quiz last week. Students need to know a fact within a few seconds. Sometimes students think "knowing your math facts" is knowing how to skip count by that number. We started on our two's. If students answer 38 questions within two minutes, they will move on next week to three's. If students do not meet the 38 answers, they will have a week before the next quiz to practice. I will have worksheets, flashcards, and games to help them study. In reading, we did not get to "Thunder Rose" because we got caught up into the final chapters of "Tuck Everlasting." We will read the tall tale of "Thunder Rose." We will also be introduced to "Island of the Blue Dolphins," by the end of the week. We will have another walking field trip to Tideman Station Johnson Creek, which will take place on Wednesday, October 23rd from 9:00-11:30. This will be a scientific field study interacting with and studying water, macro-invertebrates and indicator species (if a certain creature is thriving, it indicates a healthy eco-system), native plant species, and invasive plant species. If your walking field trip permission slips are in, there are no other forms to fill out. October 9th is class pictures. We will be taking pictures at 10:20am. Every Thursday, we will be doing calligraphy. Aside from letter formation, we also started designing our own monograms- a blending of our initials in a creative way. This is a design-based exercise that helps students play with spatial reasoning using their initials. In science, we will continue to work with our Reed friends studying scientific variables and learn about the solar system in class. Homework this week will be: math- Home Connection 10, 11 (possibly 12), writing essay (will go home and be posted on blog), studying the capitals and names of the midwestern states and northeastern states, and "Thunder Rose," spelling pages 5-8 long vowel VCV spelling patterns. Keep viewing the moon!!! In math, homework depends on how far we get. Like most of the week, activities may go as planned, or we might go another direction toward another teachable moment. Thanks for signing up for conferences outside room 20!

Friday Science

Studying Bubble Gum Science Variables with our Reed Friends Nisa and Emily. We described (observation) the gum and compared between two types of gum. We then created a hypothesis based on what we think would happen after chewing the gum. Then we chewed the gum for one minute and measured the bubble in centimeters. We checked to see if our hypothesis was correct. Would a particular gum have a bigger bubble? Based on what observational data?

Mighty PEMDAS!

Working with data and words

Home Essay Due Friday, September 27th

Essay Question Due 9-27-13

Tuck Everlasting

In “Tuck Everlasting,” Winnie discovers a spring of eternal life that the Tucks have kept secret for many years. Your essay question for homework this week is: Would YOU drink the water and thus live forever? Or, would you not drink from the spring?

Please write a paragraph about why someone WOULD drink from the spring.

Then, write a paragraph about why someone WOULD NOT drink from the spring.

Final Draft: WHAT DO YOU THINK? What would you do and why? Please defend/support your answer with examples from the story, such as, “I would not drink from the spring. In the story, the Tucks have a sadness about them that I would not want in my life.”

Monday Night: prewite/brainstorm/start your first draft

Tuesday Night: finish first draft and start editing and revising (reworking)

Wednesday Night: continue editing and revising second draft with changes

Thursday Night: final draft

Room 20 Classroom Notes September 23-27

Good week to you! We will have a walking field trip to Reed College's Cooley Art Gallery on Thursday, October 3rd. This means ALL walking field trip forms must be in or your child cannot go. This walking field trip will begin at 9:00 and we will get back to school just before lunchtime. The exhibition is titled, "Will Return," and created by the Reed alumnus Jamie Isenstein. I have already had the opportunity to see it and it is very thought provoking. In class this week, we finish an art piece based on Mike Selznick's cover art for such books as "Frindle," and "The Landry News." We explored contour lines and sketch and color a simple item (nicknack) from my house I brought in for each student. The purpose was to bring it in closely and view/explore from a close perspective; an everyday object such as a pen, tape measure, or night light. They are turning out great! In writing, I had students create a baseline- showing me where they are as a writer. I didn't assist too much and simply wanted a work sample for their portfolio. This week, we will finish them and do some short daily pieces along with assigning our essay of the week to be done at home. In math, we explore variables and find an algebraic equation that might be applied to different patterns. If I know the rule of each pattern, can I show a formula that could explain the nth arrangement? I will also start a math facts process for our class that will practice and keep track of our math facts from 1-12. Please study facts with your child: flash cards, car quizzes, or a quick check! In reading, we will read a tall tale called, "Thunder Rose," and explore cause and effect. We will be starting "Island of the Blue Dolphins," at the end of this week or the beginning of next. In geography, we will study landform names and play a bit of Pictionary to make sure we know the definitions before we start a big project the week of October 1st. In science, we have been learning about the moon and sun. We will be visited by an astronomer on Monday, Kathy Kornei, who will teach a lesson about relative distances in our solar system and classifying galaxies. We will finish off our week with Reed Science starting their first lesson with us. Reed will be focusing mainly on physics and human body systems this semester. Homework for this week due Friday will be 1. The essay of the week (see my blog for details)
2. Math Home Connections #7, #8, and #9
3. nightly reading
4. Moon calendar
We will have a quiz on the western states again this Friday. The week of the 1st of October, we will be studying two regions, The Midwest and the Southern states. I am not distributing materials until September 30th, but if students wish to familiarize themselves with those regions' states and capitals, go for it! Finally, I will be asking students to work on math facts this week at home. They will need home support on this. We will have a quiz once a week and I will provide practice sheets and/or games to help them master 1-12. Yet, this first week, please quiz your child on 2's, 3's, and 4's. If they know them already, up the ante. Thanks to everyone who got their forms in on time. Remember, Camp information documents due next week (week of October 1st).