Congratulations to all our scientists in The Big Dog Room, as our class project was selected to go on display at the Science Fair in the Tucson Convention Center! We did a blind taste testing of different brands of vanilla ice cream. Taste testers had to fill out a form that asked a variety of questions about the flavor and texture of each brand. Parents are always happy to hear, that in every year I've conducted this experiment, the cheapest brand of ice cream always wins! I will provide the class with details as to the dates of the Science Fair, because by attending, students can take notes on experiments that interested them and get ideas for projects they'd like to do in the years ahead.
We will be learning about "Natural Disasters" with our next Science Weekly. I'm excited about the Wilmot Library reopening, so that we can take advantage of their resource books. I hope to get them started on group science projects next week.
Our Social Studies focus will be on the settlers and railroad men who followed the miners into Arizona. One of the questions they'll have to answer in Reading Groups this week is, "What character quality helped pioneers settle Arizona?"
The answer is, "They weren't afaid of working hard."
A tradition that started with early Arizona pioneers, and continues with the students in The Big Dog Room today!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Every Moment You Make A Difference!
Love of Reading Week gave us the opportunity to have some fabulous guest readers in our room! Our readers were La Paloma's own Mr. Rubasch, Mrs. Sullivan, and Mrs. Childress, and Ms.Griffith (editor from "Bear Essential News", and Heather Rowe (KOLD Ch 13 News Anchor).
Besides being in awe by Heather's tv star background, the class really took her message to heart. She told them how she wasn't the best reader in her class at their age, and how hard it had been for her to keep up in school. She made an effort to improve by finding books on subjects that were interesting to her, which were dogs and horses. She found that the more she read, the better she got at it, and now reading is major part of her job as the news comes up in front of her on a teleprompter for every newscast. She pointed out that this job would never have become a reality if she hadn't worked so hard to improve her reading skills.
Students talked about what she had said all week, how they were going to try and find as many books on subjects they really liked from sports, to music, and fashion. Some even remembered that I always talk about the same thing, just minus the tv star background! A love of reading will last a life time and I'm so happy she was able to step up and make a difference that day.
Besides being in awe by Heather's tv star background, the class really took her message to heart. She told them how she wasn't the best reader in her class at their age, and how hard it had been for her to keep up in school. She made an effort to improve by finding books on subjects that were interesting to her, which were dogs and horses. She found that the more she read, the better she got at it, and now reading is major part of her job as the news comes up in front of her on a teleprompter for every newscast. She pointed out that this job would never have become a reality if she hadn't worked so hard to improve her reading skills.
Students talked about what she had said all week, how they were going to try and find as many books on subjects they really liked from sports, to music, and fashion. Some even remembered that I always talk about the same thing, just minus the tv star background! A love of reading will last a life time and I'm so happy she was able to step up and make a difference that day.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Treat Failure As Practice Shots!
We're going to be reviewing double digit multiplication and division this week. I was reminding the class that they are closer to being in 5th Grade than 3rd, so they need to really focus on mastering these basic math skills. These seem to be the two major areas of concern in math right now, so we're going to revisit the basic steps you need to follow in order to complete the problems successfully. Just like we started talking about in August, that you need to always, "Use your addition to check your subtraction." the same holds true with, "Use your multiplication to check your division." While this extra step might take a little more time to do the homework, it will assure that you've done the work correctly.
If your child needs extra work in any areas of study, I would suggest taking them to the Parent-Teacher Connection, which is located on the north side of Speedway, just east of Kolb. I have used this store for years to find materials, and I know you will find it extremely helpful. There are also math workbooks at Walgreen's, usually located in the toy aisle, near the coloring books and flash cards. All of these books have the answers in the back Students should do three or four, than check the correct answers to make sure they are on the right track.
Math is such a part of everyday life, that I want to do everything possible to help them feel comfortable with any problem they face.
If your child needs extra work in any areas of study, I would suggest taking them to the Parent-Teacher Connection, which is located on the north side of Speedway, just east of Kolb. I have used this store for years to find materials, and I know you will find it extremely helpful. There are also math workbooks at Walgreen's, usually located in the toy aisle, near the coloring books and flash cards. All of these books have the answers in the back Students should do three or four, than check the correct answers to make sure they are on the right track.
Math is such a part of everyday life, that I want to do everything possible to help them feel comfortable with any problem they face.
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