Snow, Snow, Snow!

Wow! What a weekend! I think that most of us were certain that there would at least be a delay today! Yesterday it snowed and snowed and snowed! I would like you to post and answer the following questions:

1. How much do you think that it snowed at your house?
2. What was the temperature at your house? (you can make a guess)
3. Tell me one thing that you did in the snow this weekend.

Science Workshops

This week we started Science Workshops in the afternoons. Students met in their "forum groups" (mixed 1st through 4th grade groups) to study Newton's Laws of Gravity. Each of the workshops focuses on a particular law. Students used science process skills (Observation, Communication, Classification, Measurement, Inference, and Prediction) and participated in experiments and activities to learn about the laws of gravity. On student posts this week kids were asked to respond to the following:

• Which workshop did you attend?
• Describe one activity that your group did.
• Tell which of the process skills you used in your activity.

On Thursday students went with their 3/4 "techie" buddies to the computer lab to post to their respective blogs. Look for the link to Mr. Willis' blog to see what his class has been doing.

Reader's Theater: Kanchil Outsmarts the Crocodile

On Tuesday morning, six students presented their Reader's Theater production of "Kanchil Outsmarts the Crocodile." Reader's Theater stories provide students with a way to work on fluency and expression. In Reader's Theater students perform a play by reading their lines, rather than by memorizing their part. By reading and rereading their lines students become more fluent and are able to work on intonation and expressive reading. The six kids performed for Mr. Popoli and Mrs. Thyng's students during our snack and story time. The audience completely enjoyed the presentation! Great job everyone!

Science Workshops

Starting next week, on December 9th, Pinnacle will be starting a science unit on Position and Motion of Objects. The six teachers will be working in partnerships to teach Newton's Laws. I will be working with Mr. Kellogg on the 3rd law on equal and opposite forces--an object that is pushed or pulled will exert an equal amount of force in the opposite direction. Students will be in mixed 1st-4th grade groupings, and will spend two weeks (four sessions) on each law. Stay tuned...