Learning about Matter with Mr. Prazar

Each Tuesday during the month of January Mr. Prazar will be visiting our classroom to teach us about Matter. During his first visit, the class learned that matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. Mr. Prazar explained that the class will be focusing on three types of  matter-solids, liquids and gases. He led a guided discussion to help the children discover some properties of each state.

The children did the "Molecule Dance" to learn how molecules move in solids, liquids and gases.


On his second visit, Mr. Prazar brought the Water Olympics to our class. The children were very excited to participate in these hands-on activities.

How many drops of water can you place on a penny? Some of us were able to get over 30 drops of water on a penny!

Can you balance a paper clip on the surface of the water? It's harder then you think!
One student was able to balance 4 paper clips!

How many pennies can you add to a cup before it overflows?
Most of us were able to add over 40 pennies.

Can you move a drop of water along a maze?

Which material will stick to the cup the longest? We used an index card, cardboard, a laminated sheet and a piece of wood.

News from Room 215

We have started 2017 off learning about many exciting topics! Reading We are going to be studying nonfiction for the next few months. We are currently completing an Inquiry Unit on Wild Weather. Over the last few weeks the class has completed the Immersion Phase of an Inquiry Unit  and have built up their background knowledge of thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and blizzards. Last week,  the students picked their focus topic and began to find sources and will soon begin taking notes. As the class is just learning about an Inquiry Unit, we will be going through each step together as a class. The goal is that when we are done, students may pick a topic of their own to research.

The class did an activity called a carousel. During this activity, students recorded what they already knew about each wild weather topic.

Writing
Our focus for writing this month is opinion writing. The students have each picked a topic write about and are learning to support their opinions with reasons and details. 

Math
We have been learning all about division! Students have practiced solving division problems with and without remainders. They are also learning to use long division to divide a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number (with and without regrouping). This can be a tough concept and I'm proud that the children are showing resilience when practicing this new concept.

Multiplication Stories

We have been focused on multiplication during the past month. The students have learned strategies such as skip counting and using known facts to find other facts. Knowing our facts well has been helpful now that we have learned to multiply two and three-digit numbers by a one-digit number with and without regrouping. The class has also  been busy writing multiplication stories. Using the iPad app Explain Everything we brought our thinking to life. Click on each project below to view our multiplication stories:

Happy New Year!

I would like to take this time to thank each of you for your support and kind words in 2016. Your children are a joy to teach and I thank you for sharing them with me each day. I consider myself lucky to work with you and your children and am grateful to have a job that I love!

I wish you and your family happiness and joy in 2017!

Thanks to Mrs. Klipfel we had some fun with the Green Screen!