By Rebecca Ball on
10/9/2008
Last week we were FINALLY able to plant our potato farm and learn about plate tectonics using peanut better and jelly! We’ll be moving into earthquake and volcano curriculum followed by our study of biomes! I will not be in on Monday or Tuesday as I am attending the Colorado Conference for Gifted Students.
Please send me an e-mail or give a phone call if you would like to volunteer at our Halloween party. In the past, parent volunteers have played a vital role in creating fun game for the students during the party, if this sounds good to you, let me know!
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By Rebecca Ball on
9/30/2008
Please bring your student to conferences! Since the meeting is about them, it is helpful to have them as an active member of the meeting.
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By Rebecca Ball on
9/29/2008
Time is flying by! This week we’ll create a study guide for a formal assessment on rocks, minerals, and fossils. This quiz will take place on Wednesday, October 8th. We’ll also (hopefully!) get to play around with plate tectonics and finally plant a potato farm.
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By Rebecca Ball on
9/22/2008
This Monday we’ll look into mineral identification with our amazing kit from the Colorado School of Mines. We’ll also (really, truly, and finally) plant out Incan potato farm and play with around with plate tectonics. Due to the short nature of last week, we did not get to everything as I had hoped. So, this will be a busy week of catch up! The kids did an excellent job on their Rock Cycle presentations! A HUGE thank you to all the families who volunteered to bring in Incan dishes! Not only did the students learn from this experience, they also got to enjoy some very tasty food!
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By Rebecca Ball on
9/16/2008
: This Monday our class will look at extensive mineral and fossil kits from the Colorado School of Mines. The students will present “The Rock Cycle” projects as well. On Tuesday we’ll check out some interesting local geology at Roxborough State Park. Wednesday and Thursday will include a variety of hands on projects including planting a potato farm, enjoying some Incan food, and learning about Plate Tectonics by playing with gram crackers and frosting! As always, please let me know if you would like to contribute your time or knowledge to our classroom.
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By Rebecca Ball on
9/9/2008
This week we’ll continue to look at Incan society and begin our own potato farm in the classroom! We’ll also practice speaking Quechua (KECH-wah) which is the language of the Incas. We’ll try and gather some brave volunteers together to cook some Incan recipes at home! In Science we will begin to look at the Rock Cycle and Plate Tectonics.The presentations on the Earth’s time line were excellent! Keep up the good work!
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By Rebecca Ball on
9/2/2008
We’re already off to a running start! We’ve been well introduced to Incan Society (feel free to ask your students at home about the Incas, they should be able to provide you with some interesting information). We’ll start to look at specific aspects of Incan Society this week including leadership and religious beliefs. In science, we’re mapping out our Earth’s 4.6 billion year history! From there we’ll move onto Earth’s structure and the Rock Cycle. Please make sure that your student is bringing their planner to school everyday!
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By Rebecca Ball on
8/25/2008
We've been busy! As of today (Monday) we have completed our ERB testing and will move onto our Stargate Assessments for the next three days. On Friday students will have the opportunity to make up any assessments which they missed due to being absent. Last week focused on community building and this week has already shown positive results! The 5th and 6th graders are working well together and we've begun the long process of establishing a safe and respectful classroom environment.
We've begun discussing our social studies component which is the Incan Empire. If you have any information on this topic, please send an e-mail as I strongly encourage parent participation in our curriculum! We're reading The Secret of the Andes which is a Newbery winner and an excellent fictional piece on life after the down fall of the Incas. This week we'll also begin to look
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By Rebecca Ball on
8/15/2008
It was a pleasure to meet all of my new 5th grade families and a joy to see all of my 6th grade families last night at Meet the Teacher! Everyone seemed ready to start the school year and I couldn't agree more! I spent the summer reading excellent middle school books, I was almost run over by a moose in Yellowstone National Park, and I visited: Charleston, Boston, Philadelphia, and Upstate New York. So, I'm very ready to ease into another adventurous school year which I'm sure will provide all the thrills of vacation without having a get on a plane!
The first week will focus on community building and the students will take the ERB assessments. The ERB is an assessment created for college bound populations and greatly assists in our ability to accurately place your student in the Language Arts or Math class that will guarantee them a balance of challenge and success. The second week will begin an introduction of our curriculum and the students will take the Stargate assessments as these a ...
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