Braille Bug Web Quest!

Annie Sullivan taught Helen to understand words with by writing the letters into Helen’s hands. But if that were the only way for Helen to understand words, imagine how difficult it would be for her to read and write.

Fortunately for Helen, a young boy (not much older than you), named Louis Braille, invented a way for blind people to read and write.

Today, you're going to work in partners to complete a fun Web Quest and learn all about this incredible young man and the invention that changed the lives of blind people forever!

To start the Web Quest, you'll need to have one of you click on the Web Quest link below. Once there, enter BOTH of your names into the name box, and begin. The other person needs to click on the Braille Bug link below. Work together to follow the directions on the Web Quest, find the answers on Braille Bug, and answer the questions.

Once you're finished, you'll get to play some fun Braille games! Have fun!!

Web Quest
Braille Bug

Economics Project

Today, I explained to students our big at-home economics project that they will be working on over the next few weeks. They brought home a four-page packet detailing everything that needs to go into the project.

Students will conduct an interview with a parent or other adult to find out about their job. They will then write a report detailing the adult's job and how the various economics concepts we've learned (scarcity, resources, production, consumption, interdependence, etc) relate to that job. Parents can help with the report, but it should be written in the student's own words.

Students will also bring in a visual aide of some sort to help present their report. They may choose to make a poster or three-sided display board. They may decide to create a Power Point show. Or they could even record a video of you at your job. Any visual aide should obviously have pictures that relate to the job. On the day of the presentations, students might also want to come to school dressed like the person they interviewed, or bring objects that are used in the job.

Parents are also welcomed to come to school to either be a part of the presentation (though it is the students that need to do most of the talking) or just to enjoy the presentations!

All projects are due and will be presented to the class on Monday, February 14th. A detailed rubric will go home next week showing exactly how the projects will be graded, but in short they will be graded on the Content of the written report, the Quality of the report and the visual aide, and the Speaking skills of the presenter. We will spend some time in class practicing presenting aloud before the big day! Please help make sure your child doesn't wait until the last minute to start working on their project! And feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions that you may have.

Make sure to check your child's binder for the packet for the complete details of the project!

Finding Mass and Volume

Last week we continued learning about how to describe and identify matter. We started by measuring the mass of various objects.








Later in the week, the children were given the difficult task of trying to determine the most efficient method for finding the volume of a tissue box.






Once we had a good solution, the children used this method to find the volume of other objects!

New Year, New Things to Learn!

We're back after a long vacation, and this past week we started a whole bunch of new units in reading, math, science, and social studies!

In math, we're using simple patterns to explore numbers and find faster, more efficient ways of solving problems. Some of the kids were really taking off this past week, figuring out math problems that many of my fifth graders last year would have had trouble with! It was pretty impressive!

In reading, we got ready to read our next novel, "Helen Keller," by Margaret Davidson by learning about the human eye and ear. The kids also learned about author, Allen Say with Mrs. Hartnett. This coming week, we'll start one of my favorite books!



In social studies, the kids got a taste of just how much economics plays a role in their every day lives! They learned about scarcity and opportunity cost, and had fun getting some practice with making economic choices. This week, they'll learn about goods and services, consumers and producers, and three types of resources!

In a couple weeks, we'll be starting a big at-home economics project, so stay tuned for details!



Finally, in science, we've started one of my favorite science units on matter! The kids took part in a way-cool scientific investigation yesterday where they had to use their senses other than taste to detect which of five almost identical substances was water. We have a lot more fun experiments and investigations coming up in the next few weeks, all having to do with matter!

Holiday Party!!

We had a blast at our holiday party on Friday! I got so many great pictures, it's taken me over an hour to load them all onto the blog!! Check 'em out!

Most of the class had school spirit Friday and showed it with their best PJs!













Aside from Luigi, we had another surprise guest join us all day on Friday! Amber's sister, and former Sofferin's Superstar - Caitlin joined us for all of our fun!

We also had a bunch of other parents show up for our luncheon! Here's Chloe and her grandmother!
Even Axel's mom managed to get away from her kindergartners for a little bit to join us!
Axel's dad also joined the party!

Of course, Princess's mom always comes to all of our luncheons!

Here's Hudson with his dad!
In the morning Friday, we enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate (figures the weather gets warmer just in time for hot cocoa!) and one of my favorite movies! And hey, it's the first time I got through the whole movie without crying at the end!



Awwwwweeeee!



After a couple games, including my own version of "Deal or No Deal", we had a huge lunch! We had so much food! We had tons of great food thanks to all the parents who helped out by sending stuff in! Thanks so much for everyone who helped make this luncheon a success!










Of course, the favorite part of our luncheon was the chocolate fondue fountain!





Somebody tell Amber that Halloween was a month and a half ago!


After lunch came my favorite part of our holiday festivities - the gag gift exchange!
Hudson got exactly what he wanted - a Tinkerbell painting book!

Whoa! Yoshi got his very own Precious!

A Precious phone book, that is!


Nick got the absolute cutest present in the bunch!

Somehow Elysha doesn't seem too excited about her Jacob's Ladder toy. I think it's pretty cool myself!

Ivan was ecstatic about his bag of pasta! That's the spirit, Ivan!

Klea got a pan flute that I bought while on my cruise in the Grand Cayman Islands last year. But she didn't hang on to it for too long.

Just what a 9-year-old wants. A box of tea bags.

DJ knew that would be a DVD! Good choice, DJ!

Rebekah got an iPhone box, but by now she's learned that things aren't always what they appear.

Axel was the first one to steal! He snatched Klea's pan flute.
Klea then stole Princess's Jacob's Ladder.
And Elysha taught Axel a little lesson in thievery, taking the pan flute out of the game!
But don't fear, Axel, because you get to open a new present, and it just so happens to be one of the best ones!
A can of beans!

Axel and Chardaisha could put their gifts together and have a really good meal!

And Chloe can bring the desert!

Amber is relieved to get a Christmas puzzle!

But not as excited as Kenniah was to get this giant lollipop!

For some reason, Darius wasn't too excited about his Christmas cakes.

Aniya got herself a box of chocolates!

Alexis can keep her food fresh with this box of foil wraps! Lucky!
It's just what Abdullah needed - an extra copy of his student dictionary!


Finally, Hudson got a chance to unload his Tinkerbell book, stealing Klea's Jacob's Ladder!


Finally, the kids got to check out what they got in their stockings!
















We sure did have a great holiday party! I hope everyone has a wonderful and restful winter vacation! When we come back in January, we'll have a lot of work to do, learning about fractions, economics, matter, and a bunch of other stuff! But for now, take it easy and enjoy your time off!