November 9th, 2012

TUESDAY MORNING IS A FIELD TRIP TO THE UVU NOORDA THEATER TO WATCH THE PLAY, ANDROCLES AND THE LION.  IF YOU WISH TO DRIVE AND ATTEND, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT keriwahl@yahoo.com.

Be on the lookout for a class list.

Friday was a steady stream of learning.

We began with a Language Arts test, and an opportunity for any other make-up tests.  Students watched a movie about Benjamin Franklin and compared our times with his.  We reviewed some of his accomplishments (first public library, fire station, philosophy club, rocking chair, etc., etc.).

Next, students divided into independent, buddy, or group reading.  One group is reading Johnny Tremain and the other is reading from the readinga-z.com Level P books.  Students should complete the Johnny Tremain reading by Monday, so they can prepare to teach their concept.  Mini-lessons will be shared on Tuesday morning.

Math was more practice with fractions of a set.  Students learned that a story problem with a fraction and the word "of" means multiply.  Example.  Susie had 64 keychains.  She lost 3/8 of them.  How many keychains did she have left?  To bar model, students draw a bar and label the whole bar "64".  They divide the bar into 8 boxes, because that is the denominator.  Students then write the quotient of 64 divided by 8 in each box (In this case, "8").  Students then reread the problem and label 3 boxes together with a bracket.  They see that 3/8 of 64 is 24.  The students then reread the problem and what the question is.  Because the question is "How many did she have left?" we draw a bracket under the rest of the boxes.  Students automatically see that the answer will be 5 x 8= 40.  They write the answer:  Susie has 40 keychains left.  We worked very hard with these types of problems.  Anything you can do at home to show fractions of a set would be great!

After lunch, we drove to the Crandall Printing Museum at 275 E Center Street in Provo and had a hands-on lesson in printing history.  We saw how the Gutenburg press worked, visited Ben Franklin's print shop, and learned about how the Declaration of Independence was printed.  We also got to see the first Deseret News printer and visit the Grandin print shop.  However, I think the students' favorite part was the hidden entrance to Mr. Crandall's private apartment!  He was so generous and gracious.

Mini-courses were lots of fun.  In mine, Chemistry, we created a diet coke and mentos geyser, discussing molecular bonding.  We also made lava lamps with colored water and oil, showing that not all liquids are the same.  We wrote with invisible ink to use acidic properties and finally made Hokey Pokey, New Zealand's version of honeycomb candy.  The recipe is: 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of dark corn syrup (light works, too), 1 tablespoon of lemon or vinegar.  Microwave on high for 3 minutes.  Stir.  Microwave for another 8-10 minutes on high.  Quickly mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda into the hot mixture.  Stir like crazy.  Pour quickly onto greased wax paper.  Let cool.  Break into pieces.  (This is particularly good if you dip the pieces into melted chocolate...!!!)

I will be at school on Saturday catching up with grading and planning.

Have a great weekend.