Week of 2.7 - 2.11

Happy Friday!

It was a LONG week indoors... I think we're all relieved to hear that the weather is warming up!  A few things of which to take note:

• Monday we will have a Valentine's Day party in the afternoon.  Most kids choose to bring Valentine's still, but we ask that if they do, they bring one for each child in the class (list below)
• Miller, Jaelynn, Julia, Tait, Alec, Ray, Jackson, Adam, Antonio, Elyse, Aidan, Claire, Lauren, DiVia, Ethel, Hope, Connor, Sebastian, Maggie, Nicolas, Damira, Clark, Sheldon, DeMarion, Tyler, Demetrius
• The kids will have time to type in the lab Monday.  They may bring a flashdrive with heritage-project work if they'd like to work on it during this time.  If you don't have a flash (thumb) drive, you can email their work to me.

Reading:   We read an excerpt of a story called "The West Side" this week.  The focus was on the reading response, which the kids are practicing in prep for ISATS.  We enjoyed the story very much.  Their tests will go home to be signed next week.

We also discussed the different ways in which reading can be monitored/ tested.  It helped the kids to see that different tests and assignments ask them to show different things.  The ISATS check all of these things:

•  comprehension strategies, like summarizing, inferencing, or answering questions about characters and plot. 
• writing techniques (literary devices) in the story, like personification, foreshadowing, alliteration. 
• knowing and manipulating actual word and sentence structures (fluency), like root words, synonyms, prefixes, and vocabulary.

Writing:  We worked on our autobiographies, specifically the introduction and transitions.  These are still pretty basic, please ask your child to read his/ her writing and feel free to offer advice or tips.  We will do at least one, if not two more lessons this week on pulling it all together to make a cohesive story that shows who they are, and not just 'five things that happened in their life.'

We also had a brief discussion today about what the final products should look like.  I showed them some student examples of various parts of completed projects.  The kids are allowed to use a real scrapbook to put their work into, or they can use a decorated binder, or they can make their own.  This is their final weekend and week to work on the project before its due date:  Friday, February 18th. 


Science:  We wrapped up our pendulum experiments and began lifeboats.  Our first experiment consisted of finding out how many passengers a lifeboat could hold before sinking.  The kids had the freedom to try different techniques as to how to put their pennies (passengers) into their boats.  This experiment will lead to a discussion about what types of variables vs what types of standards there are within this experiment, and how we can test them.  We had a lot of fun, but imagine doing a water-based unit with no sink in the room!  Quite the exciting time...

Math:  The kids pre-tested on Unit 6 this week, and we began our first few lessons related to division.  I've taught them the partial-quotient method of division, as well as the 'old-fashioned' (long division) way.  Most students prefer long division, and we've begun applying this strategy to number stories.  Also within Unit 6:  Map reference and measuring angles.

Miscellaneous:

• Here's an easy way to help Whittier and be 'green' at the same time:  Bring in your empty printer cartridges (inkjet and laser) and used cell phones to the recycling center to Whittier's lobby. The Wildcat Council kids will recycle the cartridges and cell phones through Funding Factory to earn new technology and/or recreational equipment or cash.  You can get your employer or business to help too.  Just have them register online at www.FundingFactory.com, provide  Whittier's ID# 167320 and they can ship printer cartridges to Funding Factory for free with all proceeds going to Whittier's PTO.
• Thank you to the families who donated books to our classroom from the book fair!