Upcoming Week 11/18-11/22

For a four day week, we were able to pack in a lot of learning and fun. The highlight of the week was the Levee Challenge in science. Students practiced the engineering design process as they collaborated in small groups to construct a miniature levee. Students worked with several constraints in place e.g. they were given $10 (imaginary) to spend on materials. This meant they had to be careful in picking and choosing the optimal materials. Groups worked in stages with each group presenting their levee to the class. Students discussed what worked well in the design and what needed improvement. With that in mind, the next group attempted to design a new and improved levee. Students recorded their experiences in their notebooks. Judging by the academic talk and the smiles, this investigation was a huge success.

IMPORTANT DATES: 

• Thursday- PTA meeting in the Library
• No school- Nov 27-28 Thanksgiving Holiday

UPCOMING CURRICULUM

LITERACY-

Reading

• Cause and Effect
• Making inferences 

Spelling/Phonics

• Long /i/ sounds and spellings
• prefix mis-

Grammar

• plural nouns with -s and -es

Writing

• Character Descriptions
• Stage One -Brainstorming
• Stage  Two- Prewriting

Math

• Properties of Multiplication, Rules of Division

• Multiplying and dividing with 0, and 1.
• Making sense of word problems.

Social Studies (Geography)

• Locating and identifying our neighborhood community as part of concentric circles i.e. as part of a state, country, and continent.

Misc- Just in time as we finish up our science unit on Water and Climate, I came across this gem on my iPhone weather app this weekend. As there was no discernible wind near my home when this tornado appeared, and as I could find no news reports to support its existence, I could only presume this was some sort of strange iPhone anomaly. Still, I had to share it in class to show that while our forecasts were mostly fairly accurate, sometimes mistakes do happen. What's the strangest thing your phone has done?