Fiddler Crabs

Wow!  The wait is finally over.  Our fiddler crabs have arrived.   First, we put them in their new habitat.  The crabs habitat is made up of salt water and a humus and sand mixture.   Next, we fed the crabs plankton and dog pellets.  Some of our class observed them eating the dog pellet.  Finally, we recorded observations and characteristics that we noticed.  For example, we observed that they moved from side to side.  We also thought they were exploring their new habitat.  All of us are excited to be able to observe them in the weeks to come.

African Clawed Frogs

This week in Mrs. Nelson's class we got new frogs because our old ones died.  We received African Clawed Frogs.  These frogs are bigger, fatter, and heartier than the African Dwarf Frog.  We learned that the females are longer and wider than the males.  Also, we observed that they swim fast because of there webbed feet.   We are excited to have new frogs to study.

The Greensheet

Have you ever wanted to have your story published?  We attended a program this week that gives us an opportunity to have our stories published in the local Greensheet.  We were asked to write a story about where we would go on Christmas break and why.  If you want yours to be published you had to hook your reader by asking a question, giving a quote, or starting in the middle of the action.  Our school has the honor of being featured in the December 12th issue of the Greensheet.  Be sure to pick up one and check out our creative stories.

Twiggy the Amazing Skiing Squirrel

This week in Mrs. Nelson's class we learned about cause and effect.    First, we previewed the text.  When we did this we thought it was fiction because we saw a picture with a skiing squirrel.  As we read, we stopped to think and write a little.   We were amazed that this was really nonfiction. The story was about a squirrel named Twiggy that can ski.   Chuck and Lou Ann Best rescued a squirrel from a storm.  They taught the squirrel how to water ski.  After we answered questions, Mrs. Nelson showed us a video that had Twiggy skiing.  The video was hilarous.  You should go watch it at www.skiingsquirrel.com.

UPSL Pumpkins

Today Mrs. Wagner helped us to make UPSL pumpkins.  This pumpkin shows the strategy to use UPSL.  This helps us solve math problems.  The steps are:

1.  Read the problem

2.  Underline the question

3.  Circle important numbers and labels

4.  Make a statement out of the question

5.  List important numbers and labels

6.  Make a plan

7.  I will work through my plan

8.  I will show my work

9.  I will check my work by using a different strategy

10.  I will make sure my answers are reasonable

We took a practice benchmark and used all of these strategies.  You could use these steps to help you solve any problem.  You should try them.  We believed it helped us.

Dear Mr. Henshaw

This week we have been reading Dear Mr. Henshaw, by Beverly Cleary for our novel study.  This book is about a boy, Leigh Botts, who writes to his favorite author.  We like this book because it has parts that are hilarious.  For example, Leigh makes up some funny songs about a shoe on the highway.  We are also writing letters like Leigh.  Our letters are to Mrs. Nelson about books that we are reading.  This is a text-to-self connection that we have made about the book.

Lets With Officer Coyle

Today we reviewed all of our Lets lessons with Officer Coyle. Lets stands for Law Enforcement Teaching Students.   Then we learned about what it means to be a true friend.  We also learned about peer pressure from friends.  This was the last Lets lesson so we received graduation certificates and erasers that say "make no mistake, lets be drug free."  We will miss Officer Coyle.

Neo Boards

Yesterday in Mrs. Nelson's class we took a pretest on Neo Boards.  Neo Boards are a tool to help you learn to type.  We had to type as much as we could in two minutes.  After that we printed out our test.  Next, we entered our name to track our progress.  Finally, we learned about the home row keys, ASDFJKL; .  It was awesome.  We hope to learn to type without looking like Mrs. Nelson does.  

Milestone Rewards

This week we took a Math Milestone.  We all worked hard and showed our work.  Because we showed our work, we earned pirate loot.  The people that earned a 100 got to go play puzzles and games while other students went over their milestone.  They also earned extra pirate treasure.  If you earn ten coins you get to reach in a treasure box full of goodies.  We are extremely excited about earning our pirate l00t.  Eleven students also earned a certificate for their hard work on this test.