December+Weekly+Wiki

December 17-21, 2012

This week was the last week of the year (2012 that is).

This week in Math, we learned something really neat. We learned about order of operations. Order of operations is how you solve a long math problem. Here is an example: 6 x 3 – (5x3) + 2 – 0. First you have to start in the parenthesis. You always start in the parenthesis. Well, here is a way to remember all of the steps: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. The P in please stands for parenthesis, the E stands for exponents, the M stands for multiply, the D stands for divide, the A stands for add ,and S stands for subtract. So, it is PEMDAS. Well, in the parenthesis 5 x 3 is 15. Then you go to the beginning and multiply or divide in the order it is in, so 6 x 3 is 18. Now you add or subtract in the order it is in. You would subtract 18 – 15 and you get 3. Then you add the 2 and you get 5. Finally you subtract the 0 and you still have 5. So, the answer is 5. Pretty cool, huh? We also continued our timed tests and everybody has really excelled since the beginning of the year. Also, we practiced our math skills a little bit on Study Island and on links that Mrs. Tomlin had for us. That’s what we learned in Math this week.

This week in Language Arts we did a lot of test…I mean, a lot. First, we took the interjection and conjunctions assessment. An interjection is a word that shows your expression. Here are some examples: Wow, yippee, hooray, rats, and phew. Now, here is what a conjunction is. A conjunction is a word that combines two choppy sentences. An example of a conjunction is this: We went there, __but__ they lost our ticket. The second test we did was the simile and metaphor test. A simile is a sentence that compares something using like or as. An example is I was panting as hard as a hound dog. A metaphor is a comparison not using like or as. Here’s an Example: The men are giants. The last test we took was the prepositions test. Believe it or not, but we just learned about prepositions earlier this week. A preposition is a word that relates a noun or a pronoun to another word in a sentence. An example is My dog ran __under__ the bridge. We are still working on our unforgettable story. They are turning out fantastic. We added some senses so you can see the character better. The five senses are taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch. Last, but not least, we went on Study Island and practiced prepositions. That’s what we did in Language Arts.

This week in Social Studies we learned about explorers. The first explorer we learned about was Christopher Columbus. His sponsor was Spain. He was looking for gold and a quicker route to Asia. His explorations began in 1492 and ended in 1506 because that is when Christopher died. Christopher claimed land for Spain and mistreated the natives. When he got back to Spain he helped them improve maps because he found new land that they didn’t know about. The next person we learned about was John Cabot. John came from England. John was also a sailor like Christopher. His expedition began in 1497 and ended in 1498. John didn’t go very far but he did claim land. He also mistreated the natives and helped improve maps. Another person is Juan Ponce de Leon. Juan’s sponsor was Spain, too. He was looking for gold. His expedition began in 1506 and ended in 1521. Juan claimed land, mistreated the natives, helped improve maps, and make a settlement. We have another person and his name is Hernan Cortes. Again, Hernan was from Spain, and he was looking for gold. Hernan’s expedition began in 1519 and ended in 1521. Hernan didn’t go very far either, but again, he claimed land. He also mistreated the natives and brought a disease with him that killed the natives. Jacques Cartier was a sailor, too. His sponsor was France, and he was out for gold and a Northwest Passage. His expedition started in 1534 and ended in 1542. He also claimed land, helped improve maps, and made a settlement. Francisco Coronado was out for gold, and he didn’t claim land. His expedition began in 1540 and ended in 1542. The only two things Francisco did do was fight the natives and help improve maps. Last, but not least, is Henry Hudson. Henry came from England. He was also a sailor, too. He was looking for the Northwest Passage. Henry’s expedition began in 1609 and ended in 1610. Henry claimed land and helped improve maps. That’s it for Social Studies.

This week for special events, we did all sorts of things. The first thing that was special about this week was that Friday was a half day. Plus we had our Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun. We had cookies, muffins, orange juice and other yummy things. We watched the movie “Santa Buddies” while we ate. It was a really funny movie. We were able to get seconds of that food, too. It was so good. I think Friday was the best day of the week.

See you in 2013!

By Ashlyn, Joe, Brendan, and Cierra

December 10-14, 2012

This week was outstanding!

This week in Math, we learned divisibility rules. Here is an example: if the number you are dividing by ends with 0 or 5, then it is divisible by 5. Plus, we reviewed factors by using a factor tree. A factor tree is when you have written down the number you are writing factors for. Then you just draw a straight line down and break you numbers apart until you are only left with prime numbers. Here is an example: Say I wanted the factors of 18. I would break it apart and write the numbers under 18, which would be 2 and 9 (or 3 and 6). Then I would circle the prime number and continue breaking apart the composite numbers which in this case is 9. It would be 3 and 3. Those are prime numbers and can’t be broken apart. So, the factors of 18 are 2, 3, and 3. Check your answer by multiplying them. Also, a prime number is a number that can’t be broken down into anything except 1 and itself. A composite number can be broken down into 2 or more factors. Lastly this week, we learned exponents. Three of us had already learned them in Success Time. An exponent is a base number with a small number (the exponent) in the air after it. The exponent shows how many times to multiply your base number, which is the big number. So, if you had 5 to the power of 3 (that is how it is read), you would multiply 5 x 5 x 5. The answer is 125. We sure did learn a lot in Math this week.

This week in Social Studies, we learned about some of the artifacts the Europeans took to the “New World”. The first artifact was a potato. The Europeans liked potatoes because they had discovered a new food to eat. Another artifact they had was a tobacco plant. Some people dried the leaves, other people chewed on the tobacco, and many people sold the tobacco plant. European explorers also brought Bibles with them to the “New World”. Many people believed that all people should share their beliefs. Bibles were very important. Gold and silver, shiny! Some Europeans counted wealth in gold and silver. Plus, some of the Europeans were so talented that they could turn coins into other objects and sell them for a lot of money. Coins were very important to the Europeans, but flags were also important. Flags were important because the Europeans could claim land with a flag. Flags also honored Kings and Queens. Take a turn down that path, find the rusty old trailer, yippee! You found your way! Maps were very important in early times. Back then, people did not have GPS to find their way, so they had to use maps. The Europeans would also make and sell maps. Maps weren’t the only thing that helped find direction though. The compass rose told the explorers what direction they were heading so they would know. Maps and compasses were very important. Lastly, European explorers used astrolabes. Astrolabes help explorers see how far north or south a ship is from the equator. Plus, astrolabes can also work day or night. All of these artifacts were very important to the European explorers. This week in Social Studies was brilliantly awesome!

This week in Language Arts, we learned about commas in a series. Commas in a series is when you have a whole bunch of names or items lined up next to each other, but they are not separated. So, you have to put the commas in the right spot. We also reviewed interjections. If you don’t remember, interjections are words that show excitement or emotion in stories. We also started writing a story on something you will never forget either in Gym or from recess. We reviewed conjunctions. Again, if you don’t remember, conjunctions are words that join two choppy sentences together. We took our Events Assessment, and went on Study Island for Visual Elements. That’s all that we did in Language Arts.

Can you guess all of the fun things that happened this week? Here they are! First, Mrs. Upp came in to talk to us on Monday. She explained how to work as a team and how to be a good listener. Also, it was Student of the Month. I would like to congratulate Brooke for doing a great job for the goal! Do you want to know what the goal was? Yep, caring. The last thing that rocks about this week is that people who make their AR goal got to have what they ordered from McDonalds and they also got to watch a movie! How cool is that?

I hope next week is as fabulous!

By Ashlyn, Brooke, Brendan, and Tara

December 3-7, 2012

This week was spectacular!

This week in Math, we learned how to divide 3 digits by 1 digit and 4 digits by 1 digit! Plus, we learned how to check our answer by multiplying and to write our remainder as a fraction! Isn’t that cool? How you do it is this: let’s say you have 423/5. Well, 5 can’t go into 4 so you have to see how many times 5 goes into 42. That would be 8. Then you multiply 5 times 8 and write 40 under the 42. Then you subtract 42-40 and get 2. Then you bring down the 3 and you start all over again with 23 divided by 5. That would be 4 and when you subtract you get a remainder of 3. You go through the same steps when you are dividing a 4 digit number. How you write it as a fraction is this: Say you were dividing by 7 and your remainder is 3. You put the remainder over the number you are dividing by. So this is how you would write it: 3/7. Easy, right? This week in math we also learned how to check our answer. You multiply your answer by the number you were dividing by and add the remainder.

This week in Language Arts, we read the rest of __My Teacher is an Alien__. It ended with Peter going up to space with Broxholm. It was a really great book. We did Study Island a lot this week too. Our class did Locating Answers so we could practice for the Locating Answers test. We continued doing Working with Words. We also read a book called __Tacky in Trouble__. The book is about a penguin that’s different from the others. Then one day he went surfing and landed on an island. After that, an elephant thought he was flowers because of his shirt, and the elephant put him in a vase to use as flowers. A little bit later, Tacky convinced the elephant that he was not flowers and then Tacky goes home. Then we did a paper on the book about plot. Plot is the events in a story. Here are the parts of plot: exposition, rising action, conflict, falling action, and resolution. Another thing we did this week was a Supporting Details test. Our class worked hard on that. We also learned about Visual Elements. It’s a picture that goes with a paragraph, for example, charts and timelines. Last but not least, we took the test for Locating Answers. That’s what we did in Language Arts.

This week in Science we learned about the Moon. We learned that the Moon and the Sun make tides on the Earth—high tides and low tides. There are two tides that we learned—Spring Tides and Neap Tides. Do you know what those mean? Spring tides are high tides, and Neap tides are low tides. Pretty cool, right? It all has to do with gravity. We also watched some videos about the moon. We read on the laptops too. We have learned a lot about the moon.

This week was special because Josh turned 12. He brought in some cookies and they were delicious. They were oatmeal. Another thing that was special was we got a half of an hour of gym because we got one hundred Paw Points for November. We are the only class that has got our reward every month. I thought that was pretty cool.

That is why our week was spectacular.

By Tara, Joe, Cierra, and Sean

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