Garden Project: Before

*Room 401 Weekly News!*

* Room 401News! *
http://www.myschoolrocks.blogspot.com
Happy United Nations Day!!!

October Announcements:
What a fabulous week! Room 401 has established a dedicated Current Events & Garden Project committee to educate as well as beautify our community. The dedicated members of the Committees are as follows:

Current Events Committee Members:
Business News/Editor: Ramola
Animal/Science News: Izabel
Local News: Shilpa
War of the Worlds/Sports: Eric
War of the Worlds/Sports: Perry
School News: Nithya
International/Narrator: Nicole

Words from the Committee:
*Daily meetings at 2:30 at the classroom library and announcements held at Workshop time.
*Notes, ideas or special guest announcements are to be turned in the Black Box. Funny jokes are welcomed!

Garden Project Members:
Committee Co-chair: Alyssa
Committee Co-chair: Karen
Members: Michael, Kenny, Alvin, Ramola, Kevin, Kevin, Shilpa, Emma, Alex, Cindy, Levina, Perry, Justin

Garden Project Announcements:
On Friday, the Garden Project Committee put on their gloves and frantically pulled out most of the weeds and grass under the sun. The students who finished their Math test early got out their early, but everyone had fun and some even returned sweating! Sorry Little Snails. We hope you find another home soon!
*Please remember to label plastic bags containing your shovels and gloves. Always wear gloves when you garden and please try to stay quiet while other classes are in session!

In the Spotlight: Alvin

What's Happening in Our Classroom?
Building Community: Our class is working together on fabulous Unit 1 plays and a magazine. Thanks for working hard!
Writing: This week, we have worked on personal narratives. I hope you continue to write in your journals.
Science: Since we have been ahead of Mr. D, we will postpone the chapter next week.

Dates to Remember:
‡ Monday, October 23
*Geography: Southwest State Capital Quiz!

‡ Tuesday, October 24
*Science: Unit B, Ch. 2 Pop Quiz?

‡ Wednesday, October 25
*RLA Quiz #7
*SS: Unit 2 Lesson 3 Pop Quiz?

‡ Thursday, October 26
*Spelling/Vocabulary Quiz #7

‡ Friday, October 27
*Math Chapter 4 Test

Remember: Mandarin (FLEP) classes are Mon., Weds. and Thurs. from 10:30-11:00.

Library is Tuesday!

**Drink lots of water and why not begin flossing your teeth regularly? -Miss Lou

See food

Field Trip to....

Room 401: Vice President

Justin became vice president the same time as the other 401 officers, but we were not able to publish his picture until now. He is responsible, reliable, friendly, hard-working and so cool!

Congrats Justin!

Challenge: What is wind?

I. Experiment

Inquiry-based learning is most effective if you can determine what you already know about the subject. For five days, walk outside and take a series of one-minute field trips around outside your house and around a nearby park to observe and record their observations of wind during different times of the day.

1. Use all of your senses to describe wind. Can they see wind? feel it? smell it? hear it? taste it? How do we know it's there? What evidence can they provide to support their temperature and descriptions of wind?

2. Good inquiry is based on exploration of materials, observation, collection of data, and reflection. A journal provides a medium through which the process of inquiry can occur. You should compile a journal with very specific details. In this case, have students list observations by senses each time they explore the wind:

     DATE OF OBSERVATION ______________
    Time of day: _________________

  I can see___________________________
  I can feel__________________________
  I can smell_________________________
  I can hear__________________________
  I can taste_________________________

Today's temperature: ___________________

Today's Wind Activity (Circle): High Medium Low

Short journal entry of any changes,
differences or patterns you see (minimum 1/2 page):

After a number of one-minute field trips for a total of five days have been completed, you should begin to look for patterns in these observations. Do these observations raise any additional questions in the your mind? If so, record them in the journal.

3. After you feel confident that you have had ample opportunities to describe wind individually in their journals, share the descriptions and record the group's best thinking so far on chart paper.

4. Document all these entries together neatly and turn into INBOX for two generous "E" points!

Room 401: Class President

Congratulations to Margaret for winning this trimester's election. It was close, but the majority of the class believes she will do a fantastic job!

Go Marge!

Room 401: Class Treasurer

What a close race! This trimester's Class Treasurer will be Andy! He is great with Math and fast with calculations. Will he keep our class in good financial shape? I believe so!

Great job, Andy!

Room 401 Election Day

Official Ballot
Circle ONE candidate for each category.

President:
1. Perry
2. Ramola
3. Margaret

Vice President:
1. Justin
2. Leigh Anne

Treasurer:
1. Andy
2. Vivian

The 5th grade students of Room 401 eagerly lined up behind the ballot booth and voted for the candidates above who stood up and made convincing speeches in front of their class. These brave (possibly soon-to-be) students will meet, manage, organize, represent and make decisions to better our class as a whole.

Tomorrow morning, we will find out who our next 401 President, Vice President and Treasurer will be!

Tune in...

Students waiting to vote...

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Today is October 4th, 2006. Alexander Chan turns ___ years old and to celebrate, he brought two boxes of _________ to share with the class. Miss Lou forgot to lead the class for a cheerful birthday song, therefore, Room 401 students must remember to sing Alex TWO rounds of this popular jingle.

What will be Alex's birthday wish this year? Will it come true? Last year, Alex wished for __________ and a _______________ . All those wishes _______ and even better, ____ _______________________ happened also. Lucky Alex!

Thanks Alex for the treats and Happy ____th Birthday!
__________________________________________________________

Birthday Trivia: (Yes, you will receive an 'E' points for this one.)

1. What year was the popular "Happy Birthday to You" song written?
2. Who wrote this song and what city did this song originate?
3. How many words does this song contain?
4. How many stanzas does this song have?
5. Write a clever Happy Birthday song to go along with the same tune. Your new version must be a clean (no dirty words of violence, etc.) and not one that has already been replicated! (And must not have anything to do with smelling like monkeys and living in zoos. Ahem...!)
6. Teach it to the class.
7. Can you translate it to another language?

Clearing Out...

Upon clearing pictures, I have come across a few that I recognize. Anyone else?

Guess Who?

Wow...it seems like a decade ago when I took this picture. Tell me which year this picture was taken and something you remember about this year.