Everything you ever wanted to know about pumpkins...

The Discoverers (with the help of many parents) spent an hour on Friday exploring pumpkins! It was quite a learning experience (and fun too)! We measured using non-standard units of measure, we estimated, counted and examined the outside of the pumpkin. Next, we cut inside to see what we could find out! Some pumpkins were very gooey inside! One pumpkin had about 250 seeds and another pumpkin had over 600 seeds. It made us wonder how many seeds a smaller pumpkin would have.

Pumpkin Math on PhotoPeach

The Goat in the Rug

We read a story about one woman's quest to weave a rug. We learned all the steps and gained an understanding of how long it takes to make the product. Next, we tried a little experiment: How many "rugs" could we weave out of paper? After 20 minutes we only had two rugs that passed inspection! The ensuing discussion led The Discoverers to conclude that the best way to create multiple rugs that could pass inspection is with an assembly line! We are going to try it this week. We will keep you updated on the results!

Measuring

The Discoverers are exploring ways to measure. We began by using non-standard units to measure different objects in the room. We quickly discovered that we all got different answers. Next we used standard units of measure to find the length in inches and centimeters of items in our classroom - including me! Everyone did a great job working together and discussing what they found out.

The Discoverers on PhotoPeach

Getting ready for Pumpkin Math on Friday

If you only had six 6inch x 1inch strips of paper could you create a 2-Dimensional or 3-dimensional pumpkin?

This Is Me!

Click on picture to enlarge The Discoverers completed the writing cycle and published their first pieces. You can find the poems posted in the classroom. Here are a few excerpts:

• This is me doing my homework as fast as I can and then reading a chapter of a good book.
• My favorite colors are blue, red and green and I love the smell of pizza.
• Sacking the quarter back and buying Doritos packs this is me.
• This is me our on the field playing soccer in the rain, getting muddy, scoring goals.
• I like hiking and riding my bike. I like Legos and playing the violin. I like movies and Butterfingers. This is ME!
• This is me with my teddy bear dancing with him all day long and then I sleep with him at night and in the morning I hold him by his hand. This is me.
• Listening to my MP3, playing with my little sister, writing stories, and poems. That's just me.
• Once I enter school I go to violin practice to play a wonderful song. This is me.

Budgets!

We added some more vocabulary words to our economic planner: budget, savings, income and spending!

Writer's Workshop

In Writers' Workshop, we write memories about our lives. We are reading books by other authors that inspire writing ideas. This week we read Tomie dePaola's 26 Fairmount Ave. and then wrote stories about our own addresses!

Economics Planner

The Discoverers are very enthusiastic about the new planner! We have collected many different kinds of bill and coins from around the world. We are discussing the difference between needs and wants and goods and services.

Water Planner

We ended our water planner by working in small groups to discuss what we have learned. I overheard one student exclaim, "I never knew water was so important!" The students then decided on one fact to share with the rest of the group. Here are the important things you should know about water:

• About 75% of the Earth is water
• We only have one percent of water to drink
• there are five parts of the water filtration system
• transpiration is when water evaporates from trees
• some people have to walk 3 hours to get water
• 65% of your body is water
  

LDC with Mrs. Gee

We had an exciting first week in LDC with Mrs. Gee. The students are doing a great job answering questions. The best part is listening to the discussions about the books using the questions designed by Mrs. Gee. They show that the students are really thinking about the characters and the plot of the story. Way to go, Discoverers!

How we clean water

For his water project HK built a water filtration system and proceded to show us up close how it works.

The Water Project on PhotoPeach


The water projects were a huge success. The praise word of the day AMAZING was the perfect word. The presentations were informative and the audience was generous with its compliments. Afterwards we placed our masterpieces in the hallway for others to enjoy. The Discoverers went to other classes and asked students to join them for a museum tour. We were especially thrilled (and proud) when Mr. Baker took time out of his day to come and take the tour too!
*Remember to scroll down and turn off playlist before starting the clip.