Doritos, Popcorn and Yogurt

We are putting out a request that students bring their snack everyday! We eat lunch very late in the day (1:15) and it is very difficult to get all the work done we need to get done when students are HUNGRY! Plus, we all know how it feels when we are hungry and food is all around us! We are running out of our stash, and would like to see students bring individual snacks for the remainder of the year. Some great snacks are: chips, crackers, fruits, cereal bars, PBJ, etc.

Doritos, now that is a snack any student would love!

Popcorn is another great snack, not to mention it makes the room smell GREAT!

Yogurt is a great snack option!

The walk that started it all!

This is a great ecosystem for us to study.. it changes and we like to observe these changes!

Nothing like a crisp cool day to observe the neighborhood around us!

Jason is busy writing all the living and non-living things he sees on our walk.

Jordan is busy filling out his living and non-living chart.

Is that lichen on that tree?

This was the best living thing we saw on our walk! They actually removed themselves from the water to come and visit with us!

We found a family of ducks and I do believe that they were as happy to see us, as we were to see them! They followed us all the way down the fence!

We made it back - Safe and Sound and had very long lists of living and non-living things that we found in our walk!


******* School Supplies ********
It is also time that school supplies are updated. Today marks 90 days of school for us - halfway to being a MSS (Middle School Student)- Students needs paper, pencils, glue sticks, and markers. The supplies that Mrs. Rowan and Mrs. Yadon provided at the beginning of the year have finally all been used!

We could also use some Puffs Tissue, Bounty paper towels, and sandwich size zip lock bags (for our way cool science experiments!)

Finally -- get ready to think about a food item that you can bring in for our 100 Day Celebration. Yes, if everyone brings 100 items we will have a record 3,400 items on the 100th day of school..... So let's think... you could bring carrots, celery, peanuts, orange slices, apple slices, M&M's, lifesavers, bagel bites... I mean really folks, the list is ENDLESS! Have fun!

A Little bit of History Please!

Tony is interested in learning about all his rights under the Bill of Rights.

Lakia makes a rare BLOG appearance!

Eduardo smiles about all his rights he has living in the United States.

Yesterday in Social Studies we spent time learning about the three branches of government. Students were amazed at what all our government handled and where all that "tax" money goes!

In Math we are still learning about probability, and how to tell if data represented in a data chart is true or false. Usually there is a shape that is formed when the data is true!

Not just any Monday....

Many of our students could not believe how fast the day went yesterday. We are moving right along and it is critical that students are in school every day. Now that the holdiays are over are schedule is very focused on academics and when you are not here, you miss quality instrution time!

What an awseome sight! A group of 5th grade boys R-E-A-D-I-N-G and L-O-V-I-N-G it!

Emily and Jasmine were right on track in identifying many characteristic traits of the main character.

Crystal and Alexandria were busy looking for clues about their character during Literature Circle time.

Daniel and Jason stepped outside to enjoy their Literature Circle time.

What can we say, our seeds our AMAZING! Now we understand how Jack in Jack and the bean stalk felt!

We have MEGA sprouts now, and we can even see quite a bit of root growth!

It is amazing, but our pill bugs really do have a favorite side! Ask your student which side their pill bugs enjoy more!

We have all gotten really great at counting our pill bugs!

We know that great scientists always take research notes!

Jordan is busy updating all his data forms!

We are busy learning how to read a data chart? By the end of this unit we will be able to look at a graph and understand if the data presented is real.

Students felt very comfortable sectioning off their graphs- Thank goodness for our unit on Name That Portion.



Students made graphs and placed spinners over the graphs to understand probability.

A Conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

All students will participate in the 6th Annual Willie Gary / Martin Luther King Essay Contest. Entries will be due (final draft / edited) Thursday, January 15th.

Essay Requirements:
No more than 400 words

Theme of Essay:
"If you could speak with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. what would you say to him to describe how society has changed since his I have a Dream Speech"

Today we listened to the speech, Dr. King was such an awesome orator and the students were able to hear the chants from the audience and the roll of applause.

Good luck!

Literary Elements and Literature Circles

Can you believe one week down? I believe that we have about 20 weeks left in school, and friends that is relatively speaking a VERY short time to get you prepared for those tough middle school teachers! So what are your two great fantastic awesome DYNAMITE teachers going to do? Well, throw you into a literature circle and have you identify all the elements of course! Over the next few weeks we will be looking at Plot, Character, Setting, Theme, Atmosphere, Point of View, Dialogue, Imagery, Climax, Resolution, and Metaphors.

We know that some of you have picked some really GREAT books to study out of, and we are excited to see you find your talents in your small groups! We know you will shine.

This week is going to be another fast one! We have quite a bit going on in the Science Lab classroom! Who will be making all the observations this week? Did our fish survive? I heard it through the grapevine that one of our worms didn't. You know, Mrs. Yadon and I have trouble harvesting worms! Last year the little guy climbed clear out of the container and landed on the floor- And when he was found he was no GUMMY worm!

Tutoring Monday for those of you staying for Math tutoring. Tuesday we have Art or Music, Thursday is the big EVENT - the after school DANCE (can you BOOGIE?), and Friday you get to sleep in and get ready for the long weekend!

Make sure you have your books logged so you get full points!

A big congrats to Allison on her trip to State Chorus - we can't wait to hear about that!

We will also introduce a new writing contest on Monday- It is about MLK and the winner gets to fly to Atlanta (that's in Georgia) and spend the day touring MLK's memorial, house, and other fine contributions to our society. We will assist you anyway we can this time-- because we want winners not Chicken Dinners!

We were finally able to hang-up some of our "Louisville Loot" this weekend! We are ready for basketball! Go CARDS!

Book of the Month

This is our Book of the Month this month. It fits in nicely to our Science unit- just kind of worked out that way. Yesterday the students drew food webs after having the story read to them!

When it works (Science that is) It is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Our new bulletin board is allowing us to share the scientific process with the whole school. We have made set up our experiment, made our hypothesis, and now we are documenting our findings! If you get a chance, stop by the main hallway and see our seeds in action!

Our bag of dry seeds - many predicted that these seeds would NEVER sprout!

A bag of wet seeds.

Can you believe our beans have already sprouted in just two days, in a hallway no less! We are so excited!

Nahjani and the rest of the gang still absolutely LOVE the computers!

Brittney working on her food web.

This is our Book of the Month this month. It fits in nicely to our Science unit- just kind of worked out that way. Yesterday the students drew food webs after having the story read to them!