Week in Review 4/ 8 - 4/12

1. In science, we finished up all the experiments with Mrs. Rongoe and we are going to move next to Mrs. Wein to learn about Land and Water. Our last experiment that we finished yesterday was to finish seeing how fast our cars would go if we put a certain amount of washers on the paperclip and a certain amount of blocks on the vehicle. The last thing we did was take apart our vehicles. FH, RB, MW, NL
2. On Monday, we had scientists come from the Darien High School come in and they talked about making wind mills to help us get energy to go to Mars. We experimented with different types of fans to find out which one would produce the most energy. The reason why we made the experiement using the wind turbines was because Mars has a lot of wind. Wind would be an important energy source for us if we ever go to Mars. Someone is interested in privately funding this journey and he is interested in finding a couple to go together, travel for 2 years (one year there and one year back plus time spent on Mars) and share a small tight capsule. They want to first send a rocket halfway to Mars so they can replenish food, fuel, and supplies if needed. They are choosing a couple because they know they will be able to stay together for two years. AC, HP, MW, AA, DS
3. We had our Poetry Palooza on Wednesday and everyone had a chance to share their poems in front of the classroom. Miss Sproch brought in treats to enjoy while listening to the poems. We drank special drinks out of coffee cups! After a poet finished reading, we snapped our fingers or used jazz hands to celebrate their writing. We picked 4-5 poems to publish and decorate to share with all the writers in the class. AN, KC, HP, DS, WS, JW
4. We are having our Spring Party today and we are going to do a craft and have treats! CV
5. In math, we made our own portfolios of our goals. We included our goal, why we set these goals, and how we are working towards achieving them or maintaining them. We conferenced with Miss Sproch to make sure we included all important information to show how we are working towards our goal. Some people chose to create a portfolio using a folder and some created their portfolio in the back oftheir math notebooks. These goals are important because we are pushing ourselves to think about what we need to work on as mathematicians moving forward in order to be the best that we can be! MA, GS, HP, FH, CO
6. In social studies we are researching our Midwest topics and collecting information to become experts. We are going to use this information to write and article and make some sort of magazine about the Midwest. HS, KC
7. On Tuesday, Ms. Kriebs came to our school. She is an author and also she was Mrs. McGettigans mentor teacher. She wrote about colonial workers such as colonial doctor, shipwright, lighthouse keeper, indigo planter, miller, and a sail maker. In one of the stories we learned that indigo planters used urine to help indigo grow faster. It also turned it blue! When the indigo turned blue, people used this to dye their clothes a very bright blue. AA, FH, DS, MW, HP
8. In reading we are working on reading slower and reading more actively to think deeper about our characters and stories. We are reading through a lens of POWER to see which characters are powerful and powerless and sometimes neutral. We learned that people aren't powerful becasue of the "things" they have, but rather the strength they have inside. We are also working noticing the different characters and their perspectives on a situation--how are they feeling or reacting to a situation/problem. KC, FH, GS, HP, RB
9. In Number the Stars, Ellen is temporarily living with the Johansens because the Nazi soldiers have collected a list of Jewish names from all the synagogues in Denmark and where the live. Peter helped Ellen's parents find another place because the Johansens can only hide one person. NL
10. In Rose Blanche, we determined the powerful and powerless characters by using a power scale. We figured out most of the people that have weapons or objects to help them do stuff are not powerful becasue without these things they would have no power. Rose Blanche was powerful because she brought food to the Jewish people in the concentration camp, didn't eat as much food as she could and was giving her food away. They mayor wasn't powerful because even though he had authority, he didn't use his power to help others. Lastly, the mayor is also selfish because he tells the soldiers that he will support them as long as they don't take away his authority rather than helping the people who need help and actually doing something good with his authority. FD GS