December 6th, 2012

This morning we started with Florida and worked our way around the South.  New capitals learned were:
-Tallahassee, Florida
-Atlanta, Georgia
-Montgomery, Alabama
-Jackson, Mississippi
-Columbia, South Carolina
-Raleigh, North Carolina
We review daily the capitals we have learned .

IF YOUR CHILD IS IN MRS.GREER'S CLASS, BE SURE TO RETURN THE BOOKS AND FOLDERS DAILY.

During spelling several students shared their Christmas songs, written with words from their weekly sorts.  In grammar we applied capitalization and punctuation rules to a friendly letter and classified sentences.  Students were able to critique each others' 3-point paragraphs in preparation for writing a revised version.

JOHNNY TREMAIN READING IS PART IX, THE SCARLET DELUGE, PAGES 186-191.

Math today focused on the word "Quadrilateral".  We made creative interpretations of what the word would mean, then learned the true meaning (4-sided figure).  Students practiced drawing parallelograms, trapezoids, trapeziums, rhombi, rectangles, squares, etc.  HOMEWORK IS ONLY PAGE 140.  We will do page 141 in class tomorrow.

4th Graders learned and observed "magnetic field" with iron shavings and magnets.  We created our own magnets using iron nails and magnet rubbing.  We also reviewed the words repel, attract, and magnetic force, and learned what metals are alloyed to make magnets today (iron, nickel, and cobalt).

5th Graders attended art.

After recess we dramatized the seige of Yorktown in the final chapter of the American Revolution.  All students who were wearing red shirts were British troops under General Cornwalis.  The shaded are of the field represented the Atlantic Ocean; the sunny side was the colonies.  George Washington was in NYC and heard that Genreal Cornwalis had his troops in Yorktown.  Based on the geography of the area, GW decided to march 500 miles south, engage the French in keeping the British navy away, and take the British army by surprise.  It worked.

We started our puppets.  STUDENTS NEED TO FIND OUT EVERYTHING THEY CAN ABOUT THEIR WAR HERO.

TOMORROW IS OUR LANGUAGE ARTS TEST.

We will be attending Capri's stage production at the Hale Center Theater tomorrow at noon.