Roller Coaster Heaven

This week is full of fun as six of our classmates get ready for their trip to Washington D.C. Those of us who are not going will be creating our own brand of fun. One morning will be spent at Gauche Park, another spent learning strategy as we play a variety of board games. On Friday, 14 of us will head to Kings Island for Math and Science Day.

Create your own roller coaster

Roller Coaster Simulator

Happy Spring!

Our first two journals have arrived! After long trips across our country and around the world, Becca's and Rachel's journals returned to Clermont Northeastern Elementary. Becca also received her final postcards from Phyllis in Iowa, Wilma in Minnesota, Loretta in Illinois, and Todd and Susan in North Carolina. Jessup's journal should be heading our way soon. It was last seen by Jean in Washington on its way to Texas!

We are studying perimeter, area and volume in math this week. Tomorrow we will have a math day during which the students will travel to 9 different stations learning about probability, fractions and measurement in preparation for the Ohio Achievement Test next week.
In science, we are finishing up our unit on weather. Weather ABC books are due this Friday, April 16.
Our language arts focus this week is poetry and figurative language.

News from Afar

While Joline's journal found its way to Lebanon, Ohio, Becca's went to Wisconsin, Jessup's to Sacramento and Santa Cruz, CA, Ethan's to Norwich, Connecticut, and Rachel's to Cedar Park, TX and Pella, Iowa. Sydne received a cool care package from Crofton, Maryland containing lots of information about Annapolis. Meanwhile, Mikella's journal sojourned at Stirling Castle in Scotland while Jack's journeyed to Japan. Every day the students look forward to seeing what kind of mail we might receive!

Happy Easter!

Geometry

Informational Websites
Figures and Polygons
Math is Fun
Polygons
Interactive Websites
Math Cats
AAA Math
Practice Activities
Sorting Polygons
Polygon Quilt
Printables

Perimeter Game
Terms to Know:
polygon: a closed plane figure bound by straight sides

perimeter: the distance around a two-dimensional shape

What You Need:
•One deck of playing cards (Print a deck.)
•Metric rulers (scaled in centimeters)
•Pencils
•Paper
What You Do:
1.Shuffle the deck and place it in the center of the table. Give each player a pencil, a ruler, and a sheet of paper.
2.Players take turns drawing a card. They take the value on their card (aces = 1, all face cards = 10) and use it to draw a line equal to that many centimeters. They should label this line with its measurement.
3.In the second round, players will draw a new card, then draw another line stemming from either end of their previous line.
4.The goal is for a player to make a polygon by closing their figure with a final line on their third or subsequent turn.
5.When a player creates a polygon, they must also state its perimeter. If correct, they earn 1 point. On their next turn, they may begin drawing a new polygon.
6.The first player to earn 3 points wins.

News from Abroad and More

Postcards have been arriving daily from overseas and from our own great country. Becca's journal traveled to Memphis, TN and Orland, FL while Jessup's went from Alaska to Florida, Sydne's from Florida to Arkansas, Lauren's from Kentucky to Texas, and Ethan's from Las Vegas, NV to central Pennsylvania. Jack's journal was in China according to the last postcard he received. Mikella's journal must be especially weary as it flew from Norway to Australia and is now on its way to Scotland. All of the students love receiving word of their journals' journeys!

Current Topics
Reading: Encyclopedian Brown and the Case of the Slippery Salamander
Language: Mystery writing
Math: Geometry
Science: Weather

Literature Projects

Only two literature projects are left this year. Historical fiction is the genre due on March 26. Do not choose a book we have read together (i.e., Pink and Say.)
The historical fiction you choose should:
*present a well-told story that doesn't conflict with historical records,
*portray characters realistically,
*present authentic settings,
*artfully fold in historical facts,
*provide accurate information through illustrations, and
*avoid stereotypes and myths.
List of historical fiction books

More ideas for historical fiction
The final literature project for this year is the student's choice, but it MUST be a chapter book.

This week we are learning about clouds. Ohio fourth graders need to know how to identify cirrus, cumulonimbus, cumulus and stratus clouds. We will be observing the sky and recording our observations in our cloud journal.

Cloud Finder

Our reading selection this week is Seeker of Knowledge.