What is Matter?

Students are beginning to think about what matter means. Matter has more than one meaning.  What does it mean when we put it into a scientific context?  Students are working as a group to sort picture cards based on what they think are examples of matter and not matter. We are at the beginning of this unit, therefore, we would not expect students to sort with 100% accuracy! We are working towards defining what is matter? How do you know if something is matter?

Do you agree or disagree with their groupings?

Preparing for our Winter Open House

Students are excited to prepare for our Winter Open House on Friday. We made a winter mural using cut paper. Students used their imagination and created a wonderful winter scene!

Preparing for BizTown

Students have been preparing for our trip to JA BizTown in St. Louis in January. What prototype can you make? What can you mass produce and earn a profit?

You need to work as a team, use only the resources you have and work quickly! Check out our prototypes!

What's the Big Idea?

Students will be transitioning to Informational writing in the next trimester.  It is important for them to be able to identify an important idea and the details or evidence from the text that supports that idea.

Working with a graphic organizer from Jim Burke's book Reading Tools, Tips, and Techniques students listened to me read about two famous scientists.  

The first reading was for listening only. The second reading, students had their own text to follow along. They were encouraged to annotate the text as I reread the text.  Using a shorter piece of text helped keep the lesson focused.  This is the book where I focused on two individuals.

Then, students chose their own text and worked to find the most important idea about these groundbreaking people.

                 

These books have great stories about overcoming great odds. Each text highlights an individual who accomplished great things under extraordinary circumstances!

Microbits with Mr. Adams

I thought we were going on to the STEAM bus today but instead, Mr. Adams brought the learning to the media center. And let me tell you, we had some really excited students today! Using Microbits and a laptop, with the guidance of Mr. Adams, students were able to do some basic coding. 

Students tried spelling their name, making ringtones, and explored other projects from the Microbits website.  Mr. Adams has provided a challenge for students to work towards so they can earn their own Microbit!  Who is up for the challenge?

Getting schooled about Micro Bits with @CPSSteamBus thanks Mr. Adams https://t.co/5FZMt6ESmf

— Ms.Thelen (@thelensthinkers) November 1, 2017

Makerspace Challenge

What a week! Students worked on teamwork, communication, and problem-solving when working on the Makerspace Challenge for October. Each group was tasked with using all 42 cups to build the tallest structure.  We had lots of tumbling cups and starting over but it was a great challenge for room 206!

And the winner is...

at 96 cm!