Fractions

Circuits

Geometry

Geometry covers shapes (3D/2D), lines and angles, coordinate graphing, and vocabulary. Some of the terms we went over today were: right angles, parallel lines, perpendicular lines, transformations (translation, rotation, reflection), corrdinate points, x-axis, y-axis. We will be sure to plot our points by finding the x-axis first, then the y-axis. The strategy for that is the "elevator strategy". We also reviwed all of our plane and space shapes, names and attributes.

Producer or Consumer???

We were discussing food webs and food chains in science class. We found that plants are the producers in a food chain. However, a student asked about a Venus Fly Trap. He wanted to know if it could possibly be both since it eats bugs. What do you think???

Light

Today we learned about reflection, refraction, absorption and transmission. Light can do any of these things. Please share through your comments, questions and /or comments about this subject.

Elapsed Time

We did elapsed time today using the "T-Chart" strategy. Everyone seemed to leave with a better understanding of the concept. Some od us even left today with a new found fondness for elapsed time. Keep up the good work. Strategies help!

Magnetism

Opposite poles attract. North and south poles are attracted to each other, so they stick together. Like poles repel. North and north, or south and south will push away, or repel.

Singapore MATH

We are learning a new strategy in math. It is called model drawing, and it oroginated in Singapore. The strategy is used to help us visualize word porblems. It really helps simplify the information. We start by asking who and what the problem is about, and we then draw a unit bar to represent information in the problem. We are having so much fun with it!

Friction

We investigated friction today. We found that in the case of sliding objects down a ramp, the more friction, the higher the ramp had to be, to enable the object to slide down. The less friction there was, the lower the ramp had to be. In our investigation, the match box car went down when the ramp was the lowest, and the eraser went don when the ramp was the highest. Friction has to do with objects/surfaces rubbing together.