Oops! We Did It Again. Learning Is Fun!

Room 138 took over the playground on Thursday morning to carry out out inquiry about force and motion. Our question today was "How does weight affect motion?" Yes, this is why Mrs. Rowan and Mrs. Yadon asked the workmen to leave all those wooden spools stacked outside our classroom. Is your student talking about inertia these days? We are budding physicists. If we only had a roller coaster on the playground.

Have your students been talking about Newtons?

We answered the questions about friction and how inclined planes make work easier this week. Students found that sandpaper produces more friction than carpet and wax paper. Friction is helpful in some situations (walking) and not helpful in others (moving heavy masses). Students also experimented with the change in force required to move a load when an inclined plane is set at different angles. We are aces with the spring scales now.

Room 138 has the BUG!

Wow! We have had a lot of students out this week. It seems there is a little big bug going around. It has caused about ten of our students over the last two weeks to miss at least one day of school.

Get plenty of rest and take care so you are well for our field trip next week and FCAT!

Dinner.... You.....6:00

Don't forget our CLASS dinner tonight at 6:00! See you there! Come out and eat with your classmates and support our school at the same time! Make Ms. Ramanan happy- show up and eat lots of PIZZA, PASTA, and Dessert Pizza!

What did you do this weekend?

It's Mrs. Rowan's favorite, I mean favorite time of the year! Coach Rowan has officially started travel ball! His U15's placed 1st and his U14's placed 2nd! It was a great weekend in Ocala - very tough competition! This is my favorite picture from the weekend- I just like the motion of the shot!

A few fun pictures at the end of the day Friday.... Just playing around and waiting for the bus to be called!

Mrs. U and Jason with their new baby.... NYN (not yet named) as of Friday! So cute!

These next few weeks are going to fly by! Don't stress the test! You guys rocked your district benchmark tests that we took. The results from the test you took in December blow away your August results! The District is well pleased with Room 138, as well as, your teachers!

The next three weeks you need to:

Be Prepared and Be Present!

Rock the THINKING.....

Working in groups to REWORK leveled readers! We can never be sure that we have added enough details. Using our own work, we are able to work together to create a strong and concise answer using details and supporting statements from the story. Tony, Mario, Brittney, and Misty present their Island to us!

Dalton, Calvin, Diaje', and Alexandria present their island project.

Seven, Allison, Eduardo, and Jasmine share what they thought would make a great place to live!

All in all we did a great job with our Social Studies project. Students really used what they learned about rules, rights, and privileges. It was neat to see what each group thought was important to their island, how you could gain access to the island, and what laws you would need to follow! We have posted all their hard work on our classroom bulletin boards. Stop in and view their great work!

Jordan is looking to see how that sharpener works!

We are listening to our story of the week on tape. Students get to hear it read to them before they start the deep diving of assessed skills!

Still listening!

Dalton is enjoying the story!

Today we stretched our minds! We actually did some word problems in isolation. It was quite a stretch for us in Math. Usually we are grouped and very loud!

The silence was almost scary!!!

Great minds think ALIKE!


Monday your students will bring home two permission slips. One will be for the Marine Science Center (March 6), and the other for Wild Adventures (June 4th) our end of the year trip.

The Marine Science Center is FREE! We will have our kick-off to FCAT celebration lunch there! Pizza, chips, drinks, and cupcakes. If anyone would like to send in drinks or cupcakes let me know. As always chaperones are always welcome! There is no cost for chaperones on this trip.

The end-of-year trip will cost $40.00. (Plus food and snacks the day of the trip). We will travel to Valdosta on charter busses. We are lucky to have Mr. George again as our driver! He has driven us for the last 3 years on our end-of-the year trip. We like to have as many parents as possible come- the more the merrier! You are welcome to ride the bus up with us and your cost would be $40.00. If you drive, chaperone tickets are $20.00- We will leave the park at 5:00. The day we are there, the park will close at 8:00. So, if you want to stay for an additional 3 hours, you can!

Douglas Anderson Theatre Production

There is a great theatre opportunity at Douglas Anderson Friday Night - The Diary of Anne Frank

It is a great show, and some of my former students will represent I AM SURE!!!!!

New BLOG Look!

A cool thanks to Angel for the BLOG layout change!

Hands-On is the ONLY Way!

Wow, I never remember playing with Science tools when I was in the 5th grade, much less designing my own experiments that required me to write procedures, measure outcomes, and then discuss the process! We have come along way with educating our students! Here we are trying to determine how many wheels we need under our book.

These pencils were actually are wheels!

If I tell you it blew their mind, it would be such an understatement! They just have to see for themselves!

Testing the data.

Using a ruler to measure, and a spring scale... We are building SMART Scientists!

We have blasted off as we prepare for FCAT. It is so much fun to have students teach the class the Blast Off lessons!

Allison and Cinnamon did a great job today!

As did Daniel and Tyree.

Here is Samuel, Nahjani, Angel, and Dante reviewing their island policies.

And look who started off on TV this morning! The kids were like... Mrs. Rowan it's Briley, grab the camera! I thought the building was on fire!

We had a great day today! Busy, but great none-the-less!

Progress Reports and Scholarship Warnings went home today. If you would like a conference we are available most mornings at 8:00am.

Wednesday is Early Release so remember how you are getting home!

UNF Nature Trail Field Trip a Success

We joined with Ms. Harris' class on Friday to explore what UNF had to offer our budding scientists. Mrs. Rowan and Mrs. Yadon think it was a great learning experience--even just a few weeks before FCAT. Hands-on learning is what sticks with students. We would reccommend a family hike and picnic for all of our students.

In just a few short weeks we will spend a day at the Marine Science Center in Mayport, FL. There is no cost for students to attend, whew! Let us know if any of our parents want to join us. I know Maddie's mom is in.

A big thank you to Ms. Underkofler, Ms. Davenport, and Mr. Freeman for helping out on the UNF trip. Oh yeah, and we can't forget our nice treatrs when we returned to school--Thank you to Emily's mom and Alexandria's mom.

Sometimes the bus ride is the best part of a field trip, but not today!

This was Tony's finest hour of the field trip. He didn't feel well but was a trooper! He was in fine shape by the time we got back to school for our Valentine's party!! Hmm, is that suspicious?

It all started with Rangers Ilani (spelling ?) and Valerie reviewing herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores with us. They showed us some awesome skulls. That dolphin brain is bigger than mine. Scary.

Kids on the move.

We ran an animal gait relay race. How does a galloper move their legs?

Mario studies the field guide. Just what left those prints?

A small group at work.

Students worked in small groups to eaxine evidence left behind by wildlife--tracks! How big were they? How big was the gait? How did they move? Where were the tracks found? From all this evedence they had to reach a conclusion--just like real life biologists and park rangers.

Mrs. Yadon was a witness. Seven and Emily did not feed the turtles.

Do you really think this painted turtle has never been fed by visitors? He saw us on the bridge and made a beeline for us.

We're Off to the Woods......

Don't forget tomorrow we are off to the WOODS @ UNF Wildlife Sanctuary. Remember to wear jeans and sneakers. We are HIKING after lunch so be PREPARED.... Not Scared (We do realize some of you haven't been outside in nature!)

Be sure to bring a bag lunch and a drink!

A few pictures from Wednesday and Thursday-

Tony is busy working on his Constitution- I wonder if we will want to (or be allowed for that matter) to live on his island.

Emily and Diaje' did a great job teaching their Blast Off lesson to the class. We are really enjoying these lesson presented to students by students. Having half the class at computer is really working for our boy and girl groups.

Maddie and Lauren are busy "SEARCHING" for the right answers, because we know on the FCAT that many of the answers are in fact "RIGHT THERE!"

Klaudia is using her awesome skills to locate answers using key words and supporting details.

Alexandria is reading for meaning - she will be able to answer all the questions at the end!

******* Pictures from Thursday *********

Today was a great glue and scissor day in Room 138. We had them out two separate times today!
A big thanks to Mrs. Plish for letting us borrow her fancy-smancy scissors!

Dalton is busy making his Valentine bag! He even cut out his own hearts.

Eduardo rocks on cutting out hearts!

The girls are busy working.,... what did they do with Calvin?

Seven is working on his MAD scissor skills---

Brittany and Tyree are having a contest.... Who can make the fastest heart!

Everyone in Room 138 Spread a little love today!

Crayons, Markers, Glue Sticks, Scissors..... We made great use of classroom supplies today!

Allison was all smiles over her bag!

Daniel and Jason work to "PERFECT" their bags!

These next few pictures show us working to create our energy books! Wait until these are done.. You will be impressed by our "Simple Machine Knowledge"

We are rocking and rolling in Room 138 getting ready for the big test! The next three weeks we will really practice our test taking skills. The reading test this year is all multiple choice and we are learning how to think like test makers in order to be great test takers!

If you have any time in the next three weeks and you would like to volunteer some tutoring services we would love to have you in our room! We can use you anytime.

Will end with Nahjani's smile....it says it all... how much fun we have learning EVERYDAY in Room 138.