After Memorial Day we are down to only 12 and 1/2 days left of school. No worries, we are going to keep on learning right until the end!

Next week we will be exploring volume in relation to area and perimeter. After that we are going to be introduced to fractions and decimals. In social studies we are going to finish learning about our national governement and then get into the history of our city. Our reading story for next week is called Visitors from Space. Visitors from Space is another expository nonfiction piece about objects in space. In English we will continue our review of all of our concepts until the end of the year, using our skills in the other subject areas to write our ideas and explain our thoughts.

If you want to listen to Visitors from Space a little early, click here.

Have a great weekend, kids. Hopefully, we will have great weather.

Thanks, Eleanore, or thePOD today. What a sweetie! As I was checking my morning email, I came across an email from Eleanore, who let me know that she was not going to be in school, but had written our POD for us. What I like about the work is that it is practicing two ofthe skills that we are reviewing right now - to/two/too and proper nouns. Thanks much! You can see her POD sentence bleow:

Here is the classwork for the day:

Today in science we ran around the room conducting an experiement that tied in math to science. Since we can now multiply quite well, we thought it would be cool to figure out how much work it was to move small objects. Using the formula:
distance x force = work
Well, we are measuring distance in centimeters and our force in newtons, so our work is how many Newtons it took to move our objects 30 cm. We kept the distance a constant, meaning that we always lifted the object the same height. I wonder how many newtons are needed to lift me up 30 cm?

Today was also an “I am a gambler.” day in spelling. This is where you choose to do only half of the assignment, just the worksheet, betting that you will spell all the words correctly. If you make any sort of mistake, you know what to do! Yup, that’s right, write each word 100 times!!

Lastly, many of you have been able to use a computer now and then for daily work in English and spelling. I am proud of how quickly you have taken to Apple’s word processing and layout software called Pages.

Great work today in science I am proud of you. See you later.

In addition to our cut out models of shapes, we used Apple's program called Pages to make these movements of shapes. Remember that a translation is a slide, a rotation is a turn, and a reflection is a flip. Here is our digital work for math:

Here is the classwork for the day:

Happy Birthday, Haruka!!

Just to remind you - tomorrow we will be taking a reading comprehension test on our expository fiction selection this week, Rockin' and Rollin'. I really enjoyed your educational posters. I can easily see the work that you put into them. What impressed me the most was how well you cited your source for information that did not come from our text. You researched and found information on the web, clearly stating the site that your information came from. Great work! Click here to hear the audio version of our selection of the week.

Also, we will be taking a spelling test tomorrow on contractions, study up.

Tomorrow we will continue on to chapter 24 in our math text exploring more complicated geometrical concepts such as congruency, symmetry, perimeter, area, and volume.

Have a great night and here is the classwork for the day:

I apologize for being out and not getting a post through yesterday, but Nadia needed a bit of my attention. She was quite sick at daycare and needed to say home yesterday. So, I got to be a stay at home daddy to my little girl. There is not much more to add to that for today, other than that our science review activity today will count as a test grade. You all worked very hard on it today in class. I was very impressed how you used your resources to find the correct answers. Great work!

Here is the classwork for the day:

Below is the homework for the day and a copy of the directions for our English assignment.

Happy Birthday, Eleanore!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you. In honor of all you do for your children I would like to share this "oldie but a goodie" movie with all of you moms. It still cracks me up, I know as a teacher I relate well to the singer! Enjoy and enjoy your day, you deserve it!

~Mr. M

Happy Birthday, Braden!!
and not to forget:
Happy Birthday, Sadie!!

Today in science we learned a bit more about how thermometers and thermostats work. At some point tonight, take a look around your house and find your thermostat. What kind is it? Is it digital? Does it have coil? Ask mom or dad, they can help you.

Tomorrow we will be taking our comprehension test on Alejandro's Gift. You should all have brought home your text books to read it again, or if you want, head on over to this thread in Club Geek and listen to the audio version.

Lastly, we will be having a spelling test tomorrow, be sure to study up!

Oh, I almost forgot!! Tomorrow is the last day that we will be collecting coins for diabetes. If you have any spare change, send it on in to donate to a good cause!

Here is our science writing from today:

Here is our classwork for the day:

Yesterday and the day before we studied 2D and 3D figures learning that they have sides/angles and verticies/edges/faces, respectively. If you would like more practice with 2D shapes and the line segments that make them up, head on over here. There will also be work with lines and angles. Have fun! If you would like to review 3D shapes, click here. Kids, remember to ask your parents a question!

By the way, here is our science work. I was impressed with your ability to write solid sentences with great content. Some of the skills we took with us from English class include comma separated values, the article "an, subject/verb agreement, and the use of present tense verbs. Great work!

Here is the classwork for the day:

Today, kids, we got to become gamblers in spelling. When it came time to do your sheet, you got to choose to write your colorful words three times each on the back, or just do the front. If you chose to just do the front, you agreed to write each error 100 times. Ooooohhhh, what a gamble. You were also instructed to take it home and have a friend double check it for you. Be careful and be thoughtful. Good luck!

Here is the classwork for the day:

Sling Fire has been added to our science game section of Marchionda.org. It is the second version of one of our classroom favorites, Sling. Head on over to our science games area to play Sling Fire. Why is this in the science game section? Great question. Sling is a lesson in physics, or the science of how things move in nature. But, whatever, its a cool game.

You all have a chance to meet the Green Bay Packers at our high school on May 12th. The Packers will be playing basketball against a team of Fondy All-stars. All you have to do to win is write 4-5 sentences to the following prompt: "Why would you love to meet the Packers?" Two winners will be selected from grade levels to meet the Packers. Be sure to include your name, school, grade, and home phone number on your writing piece. The catch is that this is due TOMORROW MORNING. I will take care of submitting your paper for you.

Today we began our chapter on geometry in math class. We will follow this up with decimals and fractions. If there is time at the end of the school year we will get into fourth grade multiplication and division.

Instead of putting an audio version of our story of the week, Alejandro's Gift, in the sidebar, head on over to this thread in Club Geek to listen and chat. I will put up different questions each day. See if you can reply the correct answer first!

Lastly, I will not be in the classroom tomorrow morning. A substitute will be teaching you our reading and English lessons. Represent our class well! I have an inservice on educational technology.

Here is the work for the day:

Well, kids, there will not be a comprehension test yet again for our Wump World book. The main point of this week was to learn about human impact on our planet. After watching Life After People, I am sure you have learned a balance between human technology and nature. Please share with your parents and family all that you have learned. Many of you choose to take notes for your own learning. I was amazed to see that your notes turned out to be pages and pages in some cases. Some of you actually began writing stories with this interesting setting. Very cool!

Tomorrow we will be drilling some basic long division. I'm sure you will pick it up. There will be lots of time for questions. No worries.

Lastly, there will be a spelling test tomorrow, but only after we do some in class studying.

Oh, and I am off to pick up my NEW CAR!!!