Geography: Student Research

  Students printed out information on their topic.  Students highlighted important information and wrote a paragraph using the information.  Students are expected to put the information into their own words. Students conference with Mrs. Guenther to edit the piece. The students have a criteria to guide their writing. They then shared their information with the class.
Pacific Ocean
  The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's five oceans.  The next biggest ocean is the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean and Artic Ocean.  It covers an area of about 60 square miles.  It is 15 times the size of the United States.
By David

Baja Peninsula
  The Baja Peninsula has beaches and rugged mountains and deserts.  The peninsula is approximately 760 miles in length.  It has a 2,038 miles coastline.  The peninsular mountains ranges run the length of the peninsula.
By Sophie

Yucatan Peninsula
  The Yucatan Peninsula is surrounded by lakes and swamps. Merida is the capital.  The Yucatan Peninsula is located in the northwest part of the state.  The Yucatan Peninsula is surrounded by short and tall jungles.  However the forests are being cut down.
By Leah

Sierra Madres
  The Sierra Madres is 3 mountain ranges.  The top is very snowy to hot tropical valleys.  The Sierra Madres start from the U.S. border to Guatemala.  Then back to the U.S. border. The Sierra Madres is 1,500 miles long.
By Emma

Belize
 Belize is a small nation in central America.  Belize borders the Carribean Sea on the east.  Its size is 22,960 km.  The temperatures are higher inland.  There are low mountains in the south.
By Zoe

Mesa Central
  They grow crops such as beans, wheat, and sugar cane.  They also make textiles, cement, and chemicals.  The mesa central is located between the mountains. Due to the blocked streams and rivers they form shallow lakes and swamps on the mesa.
By Jada

Guatemala
  If you visit Guatemala in December to February, it will be very cool both night and day.  The rains start in May or June. July to September it is muggy and buggy.
By Milo and Jack

Rio Grande
  The Rio Grande river flows out the snow capped mountains in Colorado and journeys 1.900 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.  The Rio Grande is a river east from Colorado.  The Rio Grande flows from its headwaters in San Juan Mountains.  The Rio Grande is about 1, 760 miles.  The Ro Grande is located by Tijuana.
By Abby

Sonora Desert
  The Sonora Desert is in the south western part of North America.  The Sonora Desert is located in North America and covers the southwestern parts of Arizona, California in the United States and the state of Sonora Mexico.
By Alyssa

Gulf of Mexico
  Gulf of Mexico covers the area of 579,153.  The depth is over 13, 123 feet.  The Gulf of Mexico is located to the southeastern part of the United States.  The Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest bodies of water.
By Alexis


  

Amaryllis Sizzles for the Holidays

Here is information on how to take care of the flower from an article in the Waterloo Courier.  When the blooms appear, move the pot away from direct sunlight and cold or warm air registers to make the flowers last.  Preservation:  1. When blooms are spent, cut back flower stems but leave strappy green foliage in place. 2. Keep it in bright light -even outdoors in summer months-and watered so soil is moist, not wet. 3. Continue feeding until August. 4. Bring it indoors before frost and place it in a cool place with indirect but bright light.5. Leaves will naturally yellow and drop. freshen the potting soil and water well. Water sparingly until new growth appears, then begin feeding and watering as needed. Place the pot in bright, sunny and warm place.

Practice Practice Practice

Practicing flash cards with your child on a nightly basis can help your child be successful in math.  This nightly ritual will help your child memorize his/her facts quickly and easily. Here is a website for flash cards: multiplication.com  Thanks so much for your help.

Hopefully, the students are reading 15 to 20 minutes at home for pleasure.  This will also help the students to improve comprehension and fluency.    When discussing the book with your child, you could ask him/her two reasons he/she liked it.  Also ask your child to make a connection, when he/she read the book.

Cultural Heritage Powerpoint Presentation

Nika Silkin shared her third grade cultural heritage powerpoint presentation with the class.  Her information helped the students to learn what information to include in their presentation. It also helped the students to learn about Russia that is located on the continent of Asia.  The students took notes during the presentation and wrote a paragraph using their notes.  Here are two examples of the paragraphs the students wrote:
Emma wrote:
Russia is located in Eurasia. A Russian Christmas is on January 7th.  Bliney is like a pancake. A famous place in Russia is Red Square.

Treyvon wrote:
The Russian people speak Russian.  Russia Day is on June 12th.  Russia is the biggest country covering 11 time zones. The Russian food bliney is like a pancake.

Mean,Mode,Range,Median! Oh My!

The students gathered data for the following questions:
Abby: Analyzed  bags of M and M's
Sophie:  How much sleep do you need to get per night?
Emma and Zoe: What is your favorite animal?
Jack: What is your favorite holiday?
Treyvon : What is your favorite color?
Milo:  How many people live in your house?
Jada: How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Leah: What is your favorite season?
Matthew: What is your favorite sport?
Alexis: What is your favorite flavor for Skittles?
David: How tall are you?



Students organized the data by creating many different types of graphs.  They made line graphs, bar graphs, line plots, pictographs and pie charts. They then analyzed it to find the mean, mode, median and range.
The following students defined the above vocabulary in their journal entries:
Jack:
Range: Range means there are two numbers, and you subtract the the smallest number from the largest number.
Mean: Average
Median:  List numbers from the smallest to biggest. Then find the middle number.
Mode: The number that you use the most.

Zoe:
Mean: Add all the numbers together and then divide by the amount of numbers.
Mode: The number that occurs the most.

Emma:
Mode: The mode is the number that shows up the most.

Ask your children to explain their graphs to you.  I will be sending them home this week. The lessons used the inquiry approach and were student centered.

Spirit Day

Tomorrow is Spirit Day.  Dress in Price Lab's colors.  Yeah Price Lab School!!

Homework

Read for 15 minutes.  Blog or bring in your written journal entry for your book.  Your journal entry should be at least 6 sentences.  Enjoy your book.

Our Service-Learning Project, Student Activists

On Friday the class  discussed the question, How can the students make the world and community a better place? How can they make a positive difference? First we began with the students discussing the projects their families are working on for the holiday season:
Leah, Jada : Sending supplies to Africa and Haiti
Zoe: Sending Christmas presents around the world
Alyssa:  Recycling materials at church
Sophie: Donating food to the food bank
Treyvon: Giving money to the Salvation Army
Alexis: Purchasing toys for Operation Christmas Child
Abby: Delivering Thanksgiving baskets

Next students listed social justice issues they are interested in.  They were helping the homeless, helping the food bank, giving toys for children, keeping the community clean from litter and recycling.  The students voted on their issue for their service learning project.  It was helping the homeless.  They believed this was an important issue to make the comunity a better place and to help children in need.  The service learning project is meant to help the students have a voice in their community.  It also encourages empathy.

Presently, the students are seeking out a variety of sources with multiple perspectives as they study this issue they have chosen. After gathering this information, the students will discuss how to carry  out their service learning project.  Any ideas from the families are welcomed.

Mexico Research

The students continued to read information about Mexico.  This week the students worked on geography.  Each student was assigned a topic such as Pacific Ocean, Yucatan Peninsula, Baja Peninsula, Mexico City, Belize, Guatemala, Sierra Madres, plateau and Gulf of  Mexico to find information on the internet.  Students highlighted the important information and then they wrote a paragraph to present to the class to help them learn about the geography of Mexico and  the countries by Mexico. The students labeled these areas on a map as their final test.

Math Update

Games
This week the students have been practicing their multiplication facts by playing the Multiplication Baseball game.  I am sending home a copy of the rules. So that your child could play it at home with someone.  It is a game the students enjoyed.  They realized many of them need to practice the higher multiplication facts for quick recall.

Dr. Nelson's Math Class
The Dr. Nelson's college students have been working with the students on the following; collecting data, determining the mean, determining the range, representing results with a bar graph. and making predictions based on the data.  The students met this Tuesday and Thursday.  They will return next Tuesday and Thursday.

Have you read?

Dear students,
I enjoyed reading about your favorite book, and why it was your favorite.  I enjoy reading and discussing books with my friends.   One of my favorite books is My Name is Maria Isabel.  I enjoyed learning about her wish for the new year.

Dear families,
Thanks for helping your child post his/her comments on our blog.  I greatly appreciate it.

Have you read?

Students,
Here is a chance to blog about your favorite book that you have read.  Write a comment about why you enjoyed the book so much. Include the title and the author.  Just post a comment about it on our blog.  I look forward to reading your comments about your favorite book. This is a chance to read what your classmates had to say about their favorite books.
Mrs. Guenther