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December 11, 2006 Issue The Stroud Crowd Newsletter > December 11, 2006 What's New in Room 202? Last week we wrapped up our Science unit by having some fun with sinkers and floaters. On Thursday, students had a chance to test their homemade cargo boats by filling them with as many washers as they could hold. Greer, Deena, Paige, and Cecilia all designed boats that held all of our washers—over 410! Greer’s boat was dubbed “unsinkable” by the class, as it also held 2 coffee mugs and an apple paper weight. In math, we’ve been investigating classification. Students developed their own categories for sorting our class into groups while playing the game “Guess My Rule.” They had to identify attributes of a data set and concentrate on making careful observations and reasoning from evidence. They engaged in sorting activities that required them to take into account more than one attribute at a time and then grouped data by similar attributes. We used Yektti cards (fantasy creatures from outer space) to learn about more complex sorting in a context that was not too overwhelming. We enjoyed reading “A Christmas Story” to our Reading Buddies and teaching them how to make paper chains on Thursday. We made gifts at stations with the Art Docents on Thursday, but shhh, that’s a secret I cannot give details to you about. We began illustrating pages for our Books About Me that we’ve been typing, began a class kindness chain where we catch people doing acts of kindness and write them on a chain link, and had class store on Friday. Congrats to Cole, our Check it Out winner last week. DONATIONS NEEDED: small post-it notes for graphing, baby wipes for clean ups, old hand towels, TREATS FRIDAY What's the Buzz? The Buzz Group theme for Tues., January 2 will be meaningful gifts. Students can bring in a gift they received (not priceless) that was meaningful to them, or tell about a meaningful gift they gave to someone else. Story Corners Practice your story. 12/15 10:30 Beck, Greer, Hazel, Will Reminders
The Stroud Crowd Newsletter > December 4, 2006 What's New in Room 202? Last week we enjoyed the break from school due to the snow and ice, and we captured the teachable moment by doing some experimenting with ice and changing it from a solid to a liquid. We held an ice melting contest and had a good discussion about heat energy and transfer. Some strategies students came up with for melting their ice cubes (in baggies) were sitting on them, putting them inside coats (misconception: coats are “warm” allowed for good science conversations), putting them under warm running water, holding them in front of the overhead lamp, and rubbing or banging them. The solids that melted the fastest were those that were placed in the warm running water. We then changed it back into a solid by placing it in the freezer. We also investigated floaters and sinkers by testing various fruits and vegetables in a tub of water. There were many surprises—we discovered an orange is a floater, but if you peel it, it sinks! We began our data unit by doing some graphing and using different representations for data we collected about ourselves (chart, graph, picture, model). We played Guess My Rule to enhance observational skills and discuss attributes and characteristics. Congrats to Wren and Amy, Check it Out winners. What's the Buzz? The Buzz Group theme for December 11 will be student choice! Story Corners Practice your story. 12/8 3:00 Cecilia, Leverious, Carmen, Cole 12/15 10:30 Beck, Greer, Hazel, Will Reminders
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West Woodland Elementary School |