Back from Spring Break

How was your Spring Break?  We had an exciting and restful break.  Some of us traveled to visit families while others went to places like Six Flags.  No matter what we did, we all had FUN because we did not have to go to school.  

Now we are getting ready to take the Reading and Math TAKS test.  To help us prepare, we are doing rotations into other teachers classes every Wednesday.  Also, we are charting our progress.  We have a goal to all achieve commended.

Seeds Today, Tomatoes Tomorrow

Have you ever grown hybrid tomatoes?  This week in Mrs. Nelson's class we planted tomato seeds.  Mrs. Wagner brought the seeds, soil, and egg cartons.  First, we put some soil in the egg cartons.  Then, we each got to drop two seeds per cup.  We were surprised how small the seeds were.  Next, we covered the seeds with 1/4 inch of soil.  Finally, we lightly misted the soil with water from a spray bottle.  We are expecting them to sprout in three to seven days.  We can't wait to see them grow!

Science Fair

Have you ever wondered if alcohol can erode a liver faster than cola?  This was just one of the many questions we received answers to in our Science Fair.  This week we finished our projects to enter in the science fair.  We learned about the scientific process.  The first step is to have a problem or question.  Then we had to develop a hypothesis.  After that we did experiments and recorded our observations and data.  We collected our results and made conclusions.  Finally, we decided what we would do next time.  Our class learned that the process never ends.

Snow Day

Burr!!!  It was so cold on Wednesday.  We did not have school  because the roads were covered in ice.  There were icicles hanging from trees and plants.  Many people's car doors were frozen shut.  It was so cold even the grass was frozen.   Most of us stayed home and did not leave the house.  Some of us went outside to play on the ice.  We had fun on this day.  However, we are disappointed that we missed doing writing rotations this week because of the snow day.  Writing rotations are where we rotate to other teachers and learn about the writing traits.  The ones we have learned so far are ideas and organization.  By the end of the day, all the snow was melted and we were ready for school on Thursday.

Symmetry in Nature

This week in Mrs. Nelson's class we learned about symmetry in nature.    Symmetry in math is perfectly congruent however symmetry in nature is not always perfect.   We made butterflies that showed symmetry by the colors of their wings.  We used markers, coffee filters, water, and Wikki stix.  This was a nice break after working hard on the Writing Benchmark on Wednesday.

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.