Curriculum Update April 30-May 4

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We definitely had a lot of rain. I was out on the rainy soccer fields all weekend in a tournament, as I know a few others were too.

Please continue to send in reading logs. We earn a paw for every 500 minutes read. They are due every Tuesday.

Please also continue to keep track of the Olympic, Go for the Gold logs. Your child should have brought them home last week. By training for the the Olympics at home, your child will help our class. You cross out a gold medal for every 10 minutes of exercise. For every 60 minutes, there needs to be a parent signature. Each completed log is worth 3 gold medals.

The $1.50 for the science boards were due last Friday. If you haven't sent it in, please do so as soon as possible.

We will conclude science week on Monday. On Tuesday-Thursday, we will be taking MAPS from 12:00-1:30.

Rigby Reading
There will be no reading this week due to science week and MAP testing.

enVision Math
We will continue perimeter this week. The plan is to take the test on Thursday.

Spelling
We have completed spelling tests for the school year. With science week next week, followed by MAP testing the following week, there would be no spelling. Since the kids will be taking so many tests, I want them to have a break for the year. Great job this year with spelling. I really saw a lot of improvement in learning the prefix and suffix meanings of words.

Science
The kids have been having a lot of fun with science week. They have either reviewed, or learned a new concept.  Later this week, we will continue our unit on ecosystems with Mrs. Vaughan's class.

Writing
We did not have writing last week. During Cougar Reading this week, we are going to continue to write about different forms of poetry. We are also begin the revision/editing process of our persuasive summer vacation writing.

Have a fantastic week!

Curriculum Update April 23-27

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It was definitely cooler, but nice for the sun to still be out.

Please continue to send in reading logs. We earn a paw for every 500 minutes read. They are due every Tuesday.

Please also keep track of the Olympic, Go for the Gold logs. Your child should have brought them home last week. By training for the the olympics at home, your child will help our class. You cross out a gold medal for every 10 minutes of exercise. For every 60 minutes, there needs to be a parent signature. Each completed log is worth 3 gold medals.

Thank you for following the due dates for the science fair with the topic and purpose. On Wednesday, April 25, the educated guess and problem statement are due.

Please remember $1.50 is due by Friday for the science fair boards.


Rigby Reading
There will be no reading this week due to science week taking its place during that time.

enVision Math
We have completed Topic 10, fractions. We will review and take the test on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will begin Topic 13, understanding perimeter.

Spelling
We have completed spelling tests for the school year. With science week next week, followed by MAP testing the following week, there would be no spelling. Since the kids will be taking so many tests, I want them to have a break for the year. Great job this year with spelling. I really saw a lot of improvement in learning the prefix and suffix meanings of words.

Science
We finished matter last week and began ecosystems. The kids learned about all the different types of biomes and created a mural. It will be completed this week. Next week, we will be working on ecosystem projects with Mrs. Vaughan's class.

The kids did an experiment with food coloring and salt water. They were able to see the separation formed between the two liquid forms.

Writing
We are still continuing to learn and write about different forms of poetry. We are also in the revision/editing process of our persuasive summer vacation writing.

Have a fantastic week!

Brady Team Leggett MVP April 2-6

Brady is a really funny kid. He always makes us laugh and always has a HUGE smile on his face. We have a lot of fun with Brady. He is really creative and smart. Brady is also a great friend.

By Team Leggett Publicists Amanda & Kenzie

Curriculum Update April 16-20

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend. Hopefully we will get some sun.

On April 20, the topic for your child's science fair project is due.

We can still use some help for our science week. If you are able to volunteer, please sign up on the enclosed link. Thanks!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0849ABAA29AB9-science

Our last reading program of the year will began on April 10. It will be our Pawsome Reader program For every 500 minutes read, we will earn a paw. The class with the most paws in each grade level will earn a reward at the end of the program on May 13.

April 20 is twin/triplet day

Rigby Reading
We will review synthesizing: classifying/categorize information and making conclusions. The theme will focus on explorers in space.

enVision Math
We will continue fractions. We will find equivalent fractions, equivalent fractions on the number line, whole numbers and fractions, using fractions, and drawing a picture with problem solving.

Spelling
The Rigby focus for this week is prefixes non, in, and dis. The words are around, bake, coat, color, discover, dishonor, insane, indifferent, nonprofit, and invisible. The extension list focus is sym, syn (together, same). The words are symbiosis, symmetry, sympathy, symposium, symptoms, synagogue, syndicate, synonym, synthesis, and synthetic.

Science
We will continue our unit on matter.  We will do some more investigations with liquids, gas, and solids.

This week, we did an investigation with color wheels. The kids used milk, food coloring, and Dawn soap to discover how fats and proteins are sensitive to the milk. They were able to see how the Dawn soap weakened the chemical bonds in the fats and proteins.


Writing
We continued our persuasive writing. The kids are now working on a persuasive writing piece where they are trying to make an argument about something they would like to do over the summer. They have to state the supporting reasons with evidence to try to prove their point. Look for the papers coming home in the next couple of weeks. They are looking forward to seeing if are able to convince you.

We will also continue writing our poetry.

Have a fantastic week! :)

Force and Motion Roller Coasters

The students were challenged to make their own roller coasters. They had to apply everything they learned throughout the force and motion unit, potential and kinetic energy, Newton's Three Laws, acceleration, terminal speed, friction, and angles. They were assessed by explaining how each one of these played a part in their final roller coaster product. They had unbelievable creativity and displayed a lot of talent!

Curriculum Update April 10-13

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. It was nice to have beautiful weather.

We are down to our final weeks, but still have a lot of learning to take place. Please look for information about science fair in your child's Monday folder.

Our last reading program of the year will begin on April 10. It will be our Pawsome Reader program For every 500 minutes read, we will earn a paw. The class with the most paws in each grade level will earn a reward at the end of the program on May 13.

April 13 will be our electronics party
April 20 is twin/triplet day

Rigby Reading
We will continue to review inferring. This is when you need to read between the lines and figure out what the author is implying. As we infer, we are continuing to look for signs of symbolism within the story.

enVision Math
We will take our Topic 9 math test on Tuesday. We will take the multiplication test as well as the performance assessment. The kids have done a great job with fractions. I began exposing them reducing fractions, finding the greatest common factor, and adding fractions last week. Although the sheets were optional, it was nice to see how many students completed these extra things for homework. This week in enVision, we will begin working on using models to compare fractions with the same numerator and denominator, comparing numbers using benchmarks and the number line, and finding equivalent fractions.

Spelling
The Rigby focus this week is the prefix un (not). The words are move, place, sat, under, unable, unbuckle, uneasy, unwilling, unkind, and unusual. The extension word focus is re (again, back). The words are recheck, reclosable, reelect, refund, reimburse, remember, renew, repeat, respond, revive.

Science
We will continue our unit on matter. We will learn about solids, liquids, gas, density, and mass. Last week, we learned how a liquid can form a gas as we mixed baking soda and vinegar in a plastic bag.

Writing
Last week, we began working on persuasive writing and poetry. The kids did a great job with their persuasive fraction writing and advertisements. They were very creative.

We will continue learning about different types of poetry and writing our own poems.

The students wrote their letters to the children in Hong Kong. This will be the first letters these students have ever received outside of their country. Their teacher said they are VERY excited!

Have a fantastic week! :)

Jake Team Leggett MVP March 26-30

Jake is a really fun kid. He always comes to school with a smile on his face. Sometimes when Mrs. Leggett says something, he just starts laughing so hard the rest of the class starts laughing. He always says its because something she has said reminds him of a funny story that someone in his family did. Jake is smart and really helpful. He is a great friend. Congrats for being MVP Jake.

By Team Leggett Publicists Dace & Ellie

Animoto Super Sentence Animoto Videos with Mrs. Vaughan's Class

We recently partnered with Mrs. Vaughan's 1st grade class. The third graders helped her students with "Super Sentences". After helping them, the kids created Animoto videos to apply what they learned.

http://animoto.com/play/NjqOmGmVHMj5GgJ7017ASQ
Dutch & Alex

http://animoto.com/play/j2K9IhVfBj059K7oh6OXVA
Sam & Jackson

http://animoto.com/play/Zf1VLKzuTT0aIIUPGhjJVQ
Emily & Carli

http://animoto.com/play/6OAiDoj0UNlcpF4Rixe0VQ
Ben & Broc

http://animoto.com/play/QuK6jIDQh2H1k0CF4XVC4w
Abigail & Jaslyn

http://animoto.com/play/0z6FBaj2MkadVDzcp0yhmw
Helen & Libby

http://animoto.com/play/WanKge9pSdonj1YRdkijLw
Hailey & Sabrina

http://animoto.com/play/dzd8ToxXxRR1MoD5E99OWQ
Will & Brady

http://animoto.com/play/WeMJfINgPiRYo43mo1RUbw
Jane & Ellie

http://animoto.com/play/nq2oHzyK62j8FQIQOQEHkw
Jayden & Alexa

http://animoto.com/play/i0u7Q6N8X5YeheCVgLqEGA
Sofia & Austyne

http://animoto.com/play/Nal17v55GsT6bjEg4fHRSQ
Zack & Nick

http://animoto.com/play/lpwJbBwE0DbNxo81qfzDIQ
Ollie & Josie

http://animoto.com/play/YjUu0F3MZQEpgbEjW0D2hg
Dylan & Kenzie

http://animoto.com/play/74HZJJZvIysKtxVNKNldlg
Cassidy & Lake

http://animoto.com/play/IRp10wJ0SDp1mR3OLzNpcg
Tyler & Jake

http://animoto.com/play/hNoNfshV3SW5C7eqkHZeRA
Lucas & Austin & John

http://animoto.com/play/U6sCZE3tGJO1PAx81UHYnA
Dace & Ryan

http://animoto.com/play/Gii1OcGs8oVU8Fb0oh9Mdw
Isabel & Amanda

http://animoto.com/play/fEqeWNxI3NypuLZqkdzrXg
Ethan & Adam

http://animoto.com/play/PtgIdNZDv1dLPG72KZLh1g
Sophie & Ava

Goods and Services Video

As part of the goods and services walk to McDonald's, the kids had to use flip cameras and digital cameras to identify goods and services in their community.

Force and Motion: Airplane Investigation

Curriculum Update April 2-6

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We definitely had beautiful weather.

Your child was told their preliminary math state assessment score on Friday. When we had our class store, the children bought an electronics party. Many requested we don't have it this Friday because they had given up different electronics for lent. We will have it after Easter the following Friday, April 13.

Rigby Reading
We will review inferring. This is when you need to read between the lines and figure out what the author is implying. The grammar focus will be on adjectives.

enVision Math
We will begin fractions this week. We will work on dividing regions into equal parts, fractions and regions, fractions and sets, fraction parts of sets, and locating fractions on the number line.

Spelling
The Rigby words this week are love, paper, sister, sun, awful, drowsy, hazy, famous, salty, and curious. The extension focus is mis (bad or badly, wrong). The words are misbehave, mischievous, miserable, misfortune, misjudge, mislead, misspell, mistake, mistreat, misunderstood.

Social Studies
We had a great time on our goods and services walk. That culminated our economics unit.

Science
The students have continued to stretch their minds in this force and motion unit. Last week, we made alka-seltzer rockets to learn how mixing chemicals can create a force. On Friday, we learned about air resistance. We learned how gravity pulls the object down to the ground. The opposing force is air resistance. The kids made different sized parachutes and predicted which one would have enough air resistance to pull an egg to its terminal speed. We had a couple of eggs survive. A special thank you to Mr. Rex for helping the kids get to the roof of the school.

This week, we will culminate our force and motion unit by applying everything we learned to create a roller coaster. Then, we will begin the stages of matter.
Writing
We will be working on persuasive writing and poetry. We received letters from our Pennsylvania and Georgia pen pals. We will write them back this week. We have also been asked to write to a class of students in Hong Kong who have never received a letter before. We will work on all of these letters this week.

Have a fantastic week! :)

Emily Team Leggett MVP March 19-23

Emily is nice. Her Animoto video for her MVP was awesome. Emily is a sweet girl and a nice friend. She is also a good athlete. She can do all these amazing things in gymnastics. Her smile makes us happy. She was a great MVP of the week!
By Team Leggett Publicists: Amanda & Kenzie