A Peaceful Day After

Sorry for a couple days without posts, but I think you know how busy we've been! A big, big thank you to all the parents who helped out on Friday and Monday with costumes and make up. A big thank you also to the parents who provided refreshments on Monday. And also thank you for being there for the performance of Oliver! It meant so much to the students.

Today was a typical end of the year day. We started by picking up books that we're finished with like Open Court and the math book. We also clean out our desks and washed them inside and out. After 45 minutes of noise and confusion, we then had some quiet work to calm the teacher's nerves. The students worked on their coordinate grid skills by translating coordinate points into pictures. Here's a sample:

After recess, the students went to Mr. Pratt for Social Studies and room 7 students came to me for Science. After lunch, we read chapter 8 of A Wrinkle in Time. In this chapter, Charles Wallace, now completely controlled by the evil force behind the Man with the Red Eyes explains to the others that no one is ever unhappy on Camazotz because they are all alike and no one thinks to deviate from the rules.

Homework:  (1) Write a summary of chapter 8 of A Wrinkle in Time. This summary can be shorter, about half a page. (2) Do the math worksheets on Percentage, Factors, Division, and Multiplication. Note that the check step is optional for the division today.

Pleasant

A day as pleasant as the weather. We worked on illustrations for A Wrinkle in Time as well as reading another chapter. This one was  a particularly good chapter where the children enter the enormous CENTRAL Central Intelligence and come face to face with the evil man with the red eyes. We worked with pieces of granite and five other minerals to try to determine through examining color, hardness, luster, and cleavage which of those minerals helps constitute granite. This kind of "field work" is not nearly as easy as giving the children a fact to memorize, but it builds so much deeper knowledge of geology. We worked some more with solving and simplifying algebraic equations. They're doing great!

Homework:  (1) Write a summary for chapter 7 of A Wrinkle in Time. Be sure to have a good topic sentence such as “In this chapter, the children meet the man with the red eyes at CENTRAL Central Intelligence who seems to put a trance on Charles Wallace.” Be sure to sequence or transition words. (2) Do the “Multiplying Fractions” worksheet. (3) Do the Science study questions.

Camazotz

Today we did only a few things, but I think we did them well. We read chapter six of A Wrinkle in Time.  This is often a middle school book, but our students are doing amazing well with it and having a good time reading it, too. In this chapter, the three children arrive on the planet Camazotz to find Meg and Charles' father. This planet, which is under the control of the dark power, is both familiar and quite strange.... We also practiced some key scenes and a song from Oliver! We had a "free play" PE so that Mrs. Caruso could help perfect the "I'd Do Anything for You" choreography. In math, since we are finished with the textbook, we are working on the Hands-On Equations program. It's an exciting way to teach Algebra, and it is astounding to see the children solve equations I never encountered until eighth grade!

Homework:  (1) Do summary for chapter six of A Wrinkle in Time. Use a topic sentence such as “In chapter six the three children go to the planet Camazotz to find father.” Be sure to use sequence words like then, next, after, finally, first, last, etc. This should be at least ¾ of a page. (2) Also, do the “Multiplying Fractions” worksheets. Be sure to simplify to lowest terms.