Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Scientist of the Week

Andrew was our #1 Scientist this past week. The kids loved this one! They predicted it would fly, glide, spin, twirl, and/or drop to the ground. Each time he tried throwing one, it did a different thing.
Andrew wore the goggles to protect himself from these flying straws :) 
The kids wanted him to do it again and again.
That was so fun! Thanks, Andrew!

Scientist of the Week

 
What a cute scientist!

Zoey was our scientist the week of Valentine's. She did a whirling twirling experiment with a heart and a smiley face on different sides of a card. It was cool how our eyes took a picture of both when she turned it and we saw a smiling heart! It was perfect for Valentine's Day!

 

 Thank you, Zoey! Great job!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Valentine's Day

We had a fun Valentine's Day 
(and I actually remembered to take pictures)!
 
Here we are passing out Valentines.
You can see lots of balloons from the Valegrams.
  
  Everyone brought cute and original Valentine boxes.

  
Here we are opening and reading our Valentines.
  

 
After opening and reading our Valentine's Day cards, we had a yummy treat! 
Thank you everyone for your help in having such a special day.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Spelling Practice

I am so excited for this awesome website I found for practicing spelling. It is called Spelling City. I have added a link to it on the Links To . . . section of the blog.

All you have to do is "copy and paste" the whole list that I put on the blog each week, and paste it into the list section of Spelling City. (It only shows space for 5 words, but if you look underneath those 5 spaces, and click on "batch entry", you can paste the whole list at one time. It's fast and easy!)
Then have your child click on test me, teach me, or play a game to practice their spelling words. How fun and how easy is that? I hope you try it!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

100th Day of School

I thought it would be fun to list 100 things we did to celebrate the 100th day of school, but for the sake of time, I'll narrow it down to 11. :)

     11 Fun Things We Did to Celebrate the 100th Day of School
  1. Read a 100th Day of School book with our fourth grade buddies.
  2. Counted 100 pennies.
  3. Did 100 addition equations.
  4. Ate the number 100 (stick pretzel & two Ritz).
  5. Counted to 100 doing a maze.
  6. Counted and ate 100 snacks.
  7. Did 100 exercises (jumping jacks, hopping, touching toes, etc.)
  8. Listened to "Henry Hooper's 100 Hiccups".
  9. Sang and marched to a 100 Day song.
  10. Made a mosaic picture with 100 squares.
  11. Made a 100 Day crown with Mrs. Rogers.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Scientist of the Week #9

McKenzie was our scientist this week and she did a great job! Her experiment was about colors.

Set up and ready to go!


First she put a big dot of black washable marker onto a coffee filter. Then she dropped one or two drops of water onto it. We found out that the color black is made with other colors. In this case, it was mostly blue. But if you used a different marker, it may turn out differently.


Her second experiment, she dropped several different colors of food coloring into a glass of water. She then dipped in a folded coffee filter. It absorbed and separated the different colors. It was really neat!


Thanks, McKenzie, that was so cool!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Scientist of the Week #8

We had another fabulous science experiment this week done by our #1 Scientist, Scottie.


He poured vinegar into a flask (you could use a bottle), added baking soda into a balloon, and then attached the balloon to the top. When he tipped the balloon up, the baking soda spilled into the vinegar and it reacted. The reaction created a gas that filled up the balloon. Wow! Was it ever exciting.


One of the predictions was that the balloon would explode. The kids were pretty nervous as it got bigger and bigger. Good thing Scottie had the goggles on. Even he was scared it might explode!


After the balloon experiment, Scottie did the same thing, but didn't put the balloon on top. We got to watch a volcano erupt! It was fun. Good thing he only brought a small bottle of vinegar, because the kids wanted him to do it over and over, until it was all gone.

Thanks Scottie, (and his mom) for a fun experiment!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Game Day

On Friday we had a special day where the kids brought a board game
from home to teach and play with a small group.
Thank you to those who brought games. We had so much fun!

Braden, Gerardo, and Andrew playing Let's Go Fishing.

McKenzie teaching her game, SkipBo.

Everyone loved this game, Pounce, where the cat tries to catch the mice.

Another favorite was Hullabaloo.
Scottie and Harley are listening to instructions for what to do next.


Heather concentrating hard while playing her game, Rukus.

We had more fun games that I didn't get pictures of. Thank you everyone!

Scientist of the Week #7

Heather did a great job being our scientist this week. She did a fun experiment that really surprised the kids. Here she is all set up and ready to go.

She did several experiments with water tension. First she did the pepper. The class predicted what would happen to the pepper. Most said it would fall to the bottom or float. We found out that the pepper floated on the water.

But when a drop of soap was added, the pepper spread out to the sides, very quickly!

Then she did it with toothpicks. We didn't know if it would work, because toothpicks are so much bigger. But it did! They quickly moved to the edge of the bowl when a drop of soap was added.

The last one Heather tried was baby powder. That worked even faster. It was so exciting!
What a fun experiment! Thank you, Heather. You did a great job!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Christmas

We did a lot of really fun Christmas activities, but I forgot to take pictures!!

We read a lot of holiday stories and made some fun art projects. The kids loved painting and making gifts for their parents. We had a gingerbread day where we read stories, decorated sticker gingerbread houses, and ate gingerbread cookies. December was full of excitement.

On the last day before the break we had a really fun party. We made crafts, listened to a story, decorated trees and ate them, and played a game where we unwrapped presents. It was so much fun! Thanks a ton to the moms that came and helped!

Then we went to the gym where we listened to the other grades and performed our songs at the Christmas Sing- Winter Wonderland and The Very Best Part of Christmas Time. The children did a wonderful job.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a well-deserved break from school.