Social Studies Test

Today was testing day in social studies so there isn't much to report. I have started grading some of the tests and I hope that the students continue to do well. Tests always give me a good idea about many aspects of the class. I get to see how much the students have learned, how I did at presenting the material, and occasionally I realize some students may not have prepared as well as they should have. The conversations I have with the students when questions are asked is always valuable too. I enjoy hearing their thought processes and reasoning behind answers. It makes me feel proud when I discover how much they have learned. It's a good reflection piece for us all.

Classifying and Sorting

Today we focused on science skills. We reviewed sorting and classifying items using properties of matter. We sorted shapes, science supplies, and finally candy. The students enjoyed using a variety of characteristics to classify my Fourth of July parade candy. We learned that properties of matter can be a useful way to sort many objects. Our real life sorting objective was to pick materials that we could use to build a house. We discovered that properties do make a difference when it comes to certain jobs.

Archaeology

Today we become archaeologists in Mrs. Haley's class. We used many resources to learn the job of an archaeologist including some websites that simulated a missions dig. We watched a Bill Nye video and read about the process of studying artifacts in our social studies book. After all of the great detective work and discussions, we received a letter from the Archaeologist Association of America. They needed our help to find out information about some ancient artifacts. The students worked hard to piece together the artifact, collect data about its characteristics, and finally make an inference about its origin.

Matter and Historic Indians

Today we are going to do a mini-assessment on physical and chemical changes. The students will be creating a menu for the Chemical Change Cafe'. They will be allowed to use their notes and book to help them. I will be checking to see if they can identify a chemical change.

We will continue to discuss Historic Indian culture. The students will discuss how the Europeans changed the Indians lives. They will describe the changes that occurred in their culture. We will play a matching game to wrap up our Historic Indian study. The students should use these two worksheets to help them study for the test.