Day 131 - Steal the Pins

Good morning class! Today is Tuesday, April 12, 2011. We came into class and went through our morning routine. As usual, we went to specialists at 9:05. We had P.E. today. We learned how to play a new game called Steal the Pins, which is pretty much a modified version of Capture the Flag. We were divided up into teams, and then we divided the gym up into two halves. The gym teacher established a “puppy- guarding line”, and then placed six of the foam weighted pins and a bucket. The pins could be placed back no further than the red line, and the bucket had to stay underneath the basketball hoops. Each team had to stand between the puppy- guarding line and the line that divided the gym in two. There were two jails on either side. The objective was to tag all of the members on the other team, or to steal all the pins. If you were tagged on the other team’s side, you went to jail. If you hit the bucket on their side, there was a jail break for your team. You could pick up as many pins as you wanted and try to get them back to your side. It was a lot of fun!

When we came back, we worked on our morning math, got our net books out, and did the Daily Problem. Then our teacher showed us some persuasive writing paragraphs, and depending on what it was, we had to rearrange it to flow and make more sense, or we had to take out details that didn’t belong, didn’t make sense, or that didn’t back up the main idea. We worked on it until break, all of us taking turns going up to the board and crossing out sentences. When we came back, we worked on our Avatar project. Our teacher went around to everyone who needed help with their avatars, while the rest of us continued to work on our stripes. Then we went to lunch. Our teacher let us play Mario Kart, but warned us that after today, it would be twenty dollars in funny money to stay in and play on the computers or play Mario Kart.

When we came back, we took a long math test on the “Covering and Surrounding” unit. It took us an astounding two hours! Then we went over it at 3:00. We passed it in, and then watched the video on Global Warming. Our teacher wants to finish the video so that we can go on to watch the video that states the opposite side on Global Warming. Then at 3:25, we did PSV, wrote down homework, and left. Enjoy your evening! Here’s your homework:

Homework
Read 30 minutes and Reading Record
Math Packet Days 15 - 18

Day 130 - A Surprise at Lunch

Hi everyone! Today is Monday, April 11, 2011. This morning, we came into class and went through our morning routine, and at our normal time, we went down to P.E. We played a modified version of “Pin Knockdown”. Instead we used weighted foam pins, and we had several other changes as well. We were divided into five groups, and we divided the gym into four sections. One section was the beginner’s square, and the other was the King’s square, where we went when we had gone through all the other sections. One group went to the King’s square, another to the third, the second, and the beginner’s square. The remaining group went to the sidelines along the beginner’s and the second square where they waited for a group to get out so they could get in. One person from each group went to get a gator skin ball and a foam ball. They returned to their group while the remaining people went to get their own foam balls. The objective was to either knock all the pins down from one group, or hit all the players and get them all out. If one group was eliminated, all the groups behind it moved up (if the group in the King’s square were eliminated they would go to the sidelines, and the beginner’s square would move to the second square, the second to the third, the third to the King’s, and the sideline’s to the beginner’s square).

When we came back, we continued to get our net books out and do our calendar math. Then we went over our persuasive writing by ourselves, and then with a partner until break. When we came back, we worked on our Avatar projects. We worked on the eyes and the stripes until lunch. Then our teacher brought out Mario Kart on the Xbox. He gave us two options. We could go outside or we could stay in and take turns playing. Most people chose to stay in, but some people weren't interested and they went outside.

After lunch, we worked on a math packet. It went over the area and perimeter/circumference of circles, rectangles, and squares. Then, we looked at some questions about light. We brainstormed together, and then we went onto Social Studies. We read two chapters on Ancient Greece. It was all about travel and farming. We went to our notebooks and answered a couple of questions on the selection. Then we continued to watch the video on Global Warming. After ten minutes, we wrote down homework, did PSV, and left. Have a nice evening! Here’s your homework:

Homework
Read 30 minutes and Reading Record
Complete CS Review
AP p. 77

Day 129 - The Area of a Circle

Good morning everyone! Today is Thursday, April 8, 2011. This morning, we came into class and went through our morning routine, and got our net books out. At 9:13, we went down to library. We first checked out some books. Then, some people went up and presented their favorite author power point. When we went back, we did some more “Project Alert” with a guy from Evergreen Hospital until break. When we got back, we worked on “Where the Red Fern Grows” and the persuasive paragraph until lunch when we went outside and played “Capture the Flag” with both of our teachers and the counselor.

When we came back from lunch, we did a math checkup on circles. We had to find the circumference and if we knew how to, the area. Then we learned how to find the area of a circle. Radius squared multiplied by Pi or 3.14 equals the area of the circle. Then at 2:10 we had “Steps to Respect”. We worked some more on our role plays that we will show the second graders. Then we presented them to the class. After that, we watched some more of the global warming video, and then we did PSV, cleaned the class room, and left. Your only homework is Reading 30 minutes and Reading Record. Have an awesome weekend! See you Monday.

Homework - read 30 minutes and reading record

Day 127 - Simulating the Settlement of Ancient Greece

Hi all! Today is Thursday, April 07, 2011. This morning, we came into class and went through our morning routine. We didn’t have any specialists today, so it took until about 9:50 for everyone to finally get their net books out and get logged on. When we got on, we did the MSP questions and worked on our Persuasive paragraph until about 10:50. Then we got to play on coolmath4kids.com until break. When we came back, we read Where the Fern Grows, a PDF, and answered a bunch of questions that were in a word document (on the net books). Then we went outside for lunch.

When we came back, we did Social Studies. During lunch, the two teachers set up our desks to represent Ancient Greece areas like Athens, Crete, and Sparta. Then we were handed a packet of regular sheets of paper with our group number on them. Then in our little area, we put them down, careful not to overlap them. They represented our claimed land. If we were able to get all of them down in one minute, we survived and got our resources. If you didn’t get them all down, then one person had to go away to the Black Sea, African Minor, Italy, and North Africa. Then the rest of them got their resources. If you had two of one resource, then you had to go trade with someone else. They had to sing a song that goes to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”. The people who didn’t have to trade had to perform a song that went to the tune “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”. It was a lot of fun! Then we cleaned up and got our desks back where they were supposed to be, and we did math until it was 3:20. Then we did PSV, cleaned, wrote down homework, and left. Have a nice evening! Here’s your homework:

Homework
Read 30 minutes and Reading Record
CSS.1, p 78, Q# 15,
AP, p 65
Math Packet Days 13 & 14

Day 127 – Light Stations

Good morning all! Today is Wednesday, April 6, 2011. This morning, we came in and went through our morning routine, and at our normal time, we went to music. In Music we learned the E string on the ukuleles and sang 2 pages of our graduation song. Around 9:45 we headed back to the classroom and went over morning math. After everyone had their net books, we started on our persuasive writing paragraph. Once people were done with that we started picking a topic to debate on. At 11:00, we had break and at 11:10 we started math. In math today we traced a circle and found the ratio, diameter, and circumference. It turns out that when you measure the diameter for any circle, it goes around 3.14 times! Once we were done, we jumped up to our computers and worked on our Avatars. After 12 minutes, we headed out to recess.
When we came back, we visited some different stations that had to do with light. It was a lot of fun, but we had to stop at 1:50 to do PSV, write down homework, and leave. Here’s your homework:
Homework
Read 30 minutes and Reading Record
AP, p 64
Math Packet Days 11 & 12

Day 126 - Ancient Greece

Good morning everyone! Today is Tuesday, April 05, 2011. We came into class, and went through our normal routine because we had the net books back. But at 9:05, we went to P.E. We had a practice of the Timed Run, so we ran and walked for 30 minutes, and then went back to class and finished our morning work. When we got our net books out, we finished our two paragraphs about ourselves. Then, we typed five facts that you could prove, like rocks are not living, and the earth is round. After that, we took one of the facts from our paragraphs, and listed four examples that backed that fact up. Then we had break. When we came back, we worked on our Avatar projects on Gimp until lunch.

When we came back, we did a math lesson. We got into groups of four and found the area, circumference, and diameter of different circles. Then we did Social Studies. We started the Ancient Greece unit and we worked on the geography of Macedonian and the Persian Empire. When we got done, we watched some more of the movie on Global Warming. Then we did PSV, cleaned, wrote down homework, and left. Here’s the homework:

Read 30 minutes and Reading Record
Math Packet Days 7-10

Day 125 – Welcome back from Spring Break

Today we had a busy day getting back into our routine. We started off by going to Music. After music we came back and worked on Mystery Class. We got caught up on the week of clues we missed. There are now two cultural clues that are helping groups figure out where their class is. Some groups already think they know where their city is! Next we worked on our persuasive writing papers. We wrote positive traits about ourselves and then we traded with people and they wrote positive things about us. Afterward we wrote two paragraphs summarizing the results and put it in the drop box.
After lunch we came back and worked on math. We estimated the area and perimeter of two lakes in groups.