- Start collecting books for next week's Book Swap. Books may be dropped at school on Tuesday, April 3 and Wednesday, April 4. Frequently asked questions (and answers) about the Book Swap can be downloaded here.
- Save the date for the Readathon & Bake Sale: Friday, April 6! We will need parent volunteers to help bake for the sale Thursday, April 5 and cook breakfast that Friday. More details to come.
- Our schedule is changing. You can download a copy of our schedule here; a link is also on the left side of the blog.
Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow
Purple group: Option 1: Complete JUMP packet.
Option 2: Finish the Missing Digit handout & assigned page(s) of JUMP packet.
Blue Group homework
Fifth grade math homework, due tomorrow.
The homework is in the packet, which can be downloaded on Monday's blog.
Cultural Studies Homework: From yesterday (due today) but became lost in cyberspace on its way to the blog.
Science homework, due Tuesday, April 3
The completed book for the Chemistry Unit project, including one appetizer and at least 3 entrees (for 4th graders) or 4 entrees (for 5th graders), is due on Tuesday, and must be completed as homework. More details below.
Delicious Community Lunch!Anika, Anne, Jesse, Max, Meg, Mia, Shunyata, Tyrrell planned and cooked a very tasty Japanese-themed feast for our class today, with teriyaki chicken and tofu, rice balls with seaweed, fruit and veggie platters, mochi and brownies, and coconut water and apple juice. Many thanks to Max's mom Lisa for helping the students plan and organizing the lunch, as well as Anne's mom Sophie, Jesse's mom Dobee, Mia's mom Mandy, Shunyata's mom Monica, and Tyrrell's mom Kesa (who provided expert Japanese culinary skills). The entire class really enjoyed the chance to eat together. See photos below.
Fourth grade math
Purple group: We played Around the World with multiplication and division facts until the earthquake drill, then learned about variables, which can change value and are usually symbolized by letters. Students figured out why the multiplication symbol X is not used with variables--because the X might be confused as a variable--and that if a number is placed next to a variable, it means to multiply the numbers.
Some students solved for unknowns, and worked on tonight's homework, solving for missing digits. Other students worked further on different ways to "say" times of day, and how to tell time to the minute. Then we all worked on finding elapsed times, using the timelines students created for homework yesterday, and drawing open number lines to get to benchmark times.
Fifth grade math
5th graders worked to convert fractions to decimals today and practiced multiplying decimals with the US standard algorithm (the one most of us learned in grade school). The multiplication is coming along but will need more practice for most students; it's a challenge staying organized with all those steps!
Science
Students put the finishing touches on their books for the Chemistry Unit Project, described here. Many students watched videos again, or looked up written information, to help solidify concepts: links to those videos can be found on last Tuesday's blog entry. Some students needed help adding page numbers if they were creating a Table of Contents, or looking at other books for ideas to write a piece "About the Author." Many worked on making their projects more clear and attractive, by labeling and coloring pictures, and creating a book cover. All the students will assess each others' books next Tuesday in a Gallery Walk, so they need to complete any unfinished work at home over the next several days. It has been inspiring to see how hard the students have worked to understand these abstract ideas and explain them to others.
