Wednesday, October 26, 2016

We are beginning the new lesson in Caesar's English with a new set of words to learn. Most students did well on the quiz and all parents should have been contacted about their child's performance by now.  I am currently working on a new online quiz to help students prepare.  Here are the new words:

Serene - calm, clear and peaceful
Acute - sharp
Grotesque - weird-looking
Condescend - to act superior to someone else
Odious - repulsive, repugnant, hateful

For JA Biztown, my class voted on the our class' candidate for Mayor of JA Biztown.  The actual election will be on Tuesday, November 1st.  

In math, we are into our multiplication unit with using the traditional algorithm to solve 2x2 and 2x3 digit problems.  I will likely move ahead of schedule and teach (or review for some) the lattice method of multiplying.

The answer is 103 since there are two sides more than the number of the step.  For example, the first step is 1 and it is a triangle, which has 3 sides.  3 is two more than two.

In science, we began the second part of the unit with a focus on minerals.  Students did a warm-up first....

The answer to number one is to place glass between Hard and Shiny.  Glass isn't easy to break with one's hands.  The answer to number two is Liquid #5.  The heavier and more dense liquids will naturally sink to the bottom.

Then, they took the following notes:

Mineral - a solid and non living substance that occurs naturally and has a crystal structure. Minerals are formed from lava cooling.

Hardness - the ability of a mineral to resist being scratched.  It is the most reliable means of identifying one mineral from another.

Color - the color appearance of a mineral

Luster - the ability of a mineral to reflect light

Cleavage - the way a mineral breaks along a plane of weakness

Streak - the powdery line left behind by a mineral after being scraped

Texture - the outer appearance and feel of a mineral
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Mohs' Scale of Hardness - a ten point scale used to measure the relative hardness of a mineral by its resistance to scratching

I also showed them a simple Mohs Scale: