daw.com - August 28

Just where does the time go - another week is over and we are really busy at all the learning we do in class every week.  We had a special class this week with Mr. Watson the science specialist who took the class through water rockets and variables that could be changed to make them fly further and also be more accurate.  This is the start of this activity which will finish at camp later in September.  Here is a video I made of the event;

A quick reminder that this coming week is only three days.  When students get dismissed at 2:25 on Wednesday they do not come back to school until Monday.  Enjoy the break.  Because of the short week I will not be sending a homework packet out.  Students continue with their reading every night, including during the holiday please.  Students will need to turn in their reading log on Tuesday morning and I will give them the new one for September.
One of the uses of technology I employ in my class is the use of the school blogs for a reading journal and also our learning log.  You can find your students blogs on this page.  I would bookmark it so that you can refer to it often.  We have already got 2-3 posts up and published.  Soon these blogs will also be used for students to comment to each other as this is the purpose of a blog.
Next week is school photos and Wednesday is our turn.  Please make sure that your student is dressed nicely for these pictures as they are used for many purposes here at school and it always nice to see the students looking good when the show up on our network.  These pictures are also used for the annual yearbook.  We will do the class picture after Winter Break.  If you wish to order any picture sets, please return the order form I sent home last week with the money by Wednesday morning.
We have finished our first unit in math and move on to a unit about estimation and calculation.  Please find the parent letter for this unit attached at the bottom of this blog post.  The Monday folder will have all the assessments for unit one in them so look for them when this comes home on Monday.
Our Explorers unit continues to look at the European explorers from the perspective of others there at the time.  The book Pedro's Journal chronicles the first voyage of Christopher Columbus from the view of a ship's boy.  It is interesting to listen to the questions the students have about his journey.  We have also looked at the landing of the European explorers in the Americas from the perspective of the local natives.  Raised some very interesting questions.  Next we move on to the look of a journey of a young Japanese boy who immigrates to the USA and then returns home to find that things are not as he remembered them.
Every week we look at the English language is many areas.  This past week we started to look at vowels and consonants as well as the sounds in the language.  We also started to write poetry by looking at the Cinquain - a 5 line poem.  These, combined with other activities, are year long learning activities.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me and we will set up a time to meet.  Have a great weekend and enjoy your holiday.
Harold Daw