Thursday, September 1, 2016

Today we continued with place value up to the millions place in math.  I built in more class time so that the students could finish their IXL assignment for the week.

In literacy, we discussed an important practice called Referencing the Text.  This means that good readers will go back to the text to cite the source of their information.  Students were also given two choices for a writing prompt in which they did something called a Cold Write.  In other words, I gave no instructions other than to choose a prompt and write at least a page.  This is to see how my students write so I know where to focus.

The choices were:

1)  Write about a time that something was really challenging for you and you were able to overcome it.

2)  Write about a time that someone did something wonderful for you and how it made you feel.

The students were also given time to read independently to practice stamina.

​In science, we continued with the scientific method.  Today's question and experiment was:   Is the temperature at the center of a mass of Playdoh greater than the surface, less than the surface, or equal to the surface?

Again, we had to find a clear and consistent way of measuring this temperature in as equal conditions as possible so that data can be reliable.  What I did was use a thermocouple probe from digital thermometer.  First, I measured the temperature of the surface of a fresh cylinder of Playdoh straight out of its container.  The temperature was 71.9°.  Then, I stuck the probe into the mass until I reached the estimated center.  The temperature:  71.9°.  So, it was demonstrated that the temperatures are equal since the Playdoh itself does not generate any heat, it only absorbs it from the air temperature in the room.  Tomorrow is the finale of the mini-unit on the scientific method.

On Tuesday when we return from Labor Day, we will begin our first full unit on Forces and Motion by first studying magnetism. 

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