Week Twelve

We had a busy week in Room 104.  We continued with more non-fiction in reading and writing workshop, place value in math, and examining solids and liquids in science. We were able to get it all done in only four days, too!

Our ELA Block included new spelling words and more handwriting practice.  I told the class that we will be learning cursive soon, so be ready! In RUOS, we continued our "Becoming Experts" unit by focusing on main ideas, keywords,  and gaining and connecting knowledge from our books.  Partners looked at two different books on the same topic to see if the information was the same or not. We will do more comparing next week. In WUOS, we wrote more nonfiction "books," adding extra information and text features to fancy it up for publication. We will will be wrapping up both our reading and writing units in the next week or two.

In our afternoon block, we investigated how properties of materials change when we add heat or cold to solids and liquids in Science. We learned that heat makes solids melt and turn into a liquid. Conversely, we learned that cold can freeze a liquid and turn it into a solid.  We used a hot water bath to observed two solids ( butter, chocolate) melting and used the school freezer to see multiple liquids (water, soap) freeze. We noted that oil did not freeze. Lastly, we found out that some changes are reversible (like ice to water and back to ice) while others are not (a cooked egg won't change back to a regular egg). We also reviewed and had a comprehension check on our unit. Next week we have Social Studies. In math, we worked more on place value. We looked at converting numbers to standard form and finding if numbers are greater than, less than, or equal to one another. We also had our math centers and workshop. Mr. Bulger worked with another group, too!

We also had some fun specials, too. We did more painting with tempera in Art with Ms. Sundquist. We worked on rhythm in Music with Ms. Altshuler. We had some review in Spanish with Sra. Colmenero. We read a story and checked out books with Mr. Withers in the library. We played hockey and more fun games in P.E. with Mr. Simatic. We got to go to an assembly called "Opera for the Young" on Monday. It was a great performance! Students also got Tuesday off from school while I (and the rest of our staff) had a Teachers' Institute.

Looking ahead, we will be finishing up the first trimester next week. Report cards will go home on December 7. Have a great weekend!