Happy Holidays!

Hi students! Over the break I would like for you to make the most of whatever educational experiences come your way. Many of you chose to take home comic book math pages and others have already selected their books for the Louis Sachar author study.

If you are planning a trip, keeping a journal is an excellent practice to remember the trip. You are welcome to share pictures and writing from any of their winter break experiences.

Our next author study is Louis Sachar. This will be done just like the first author study. Be creative in developing your own book project to share with the class. Winter break would be a great opportunity to get a head start on this book project that will be due during the second or third week of January.

When we first return to school in January, we will be studying Costa Rica to prepare for culture night. If you get the chance, research and read about Costa Rica and share with the class in January.

You might also want to check and see if there are any past blogs you have missed. Also, if you are interested in writing a blog entry for the rest of the class, feel free to email me any time.

Happy Holidays!

Mrs. Garrett

Energy

This week's Discovery Center presentation taught us about energy. They have given us five different web activities to try and I would like for you to try at least three of them, and tell me what you learned and what you tried.

Energy Webquest - You hear on the news that there has been a power shortage in your state. The Governor is asking citizens to find better sources of energy. Only those citizens knowledgeable enough about energy to pass his Energy Quiz will be selected to present their reports to him.

Energy Games – Try out the “Watt’s That?” quiz game, or have a go at wordfinds, crossword puzzles, connect the dots, and other great games that are all about energy.

Questacon Virtual Roller Coaster - Try your hand at building your own roller coaster. Watch out though, or you might be in for a crash landing!

Funderstanding Roller Coaster - You can control hill height, sped, loop size, and even gravity in this fun interactive.

Physics Life - explore the physics around you by exploring the Physics Life City.

You have until December 18th to finish this blog assignment.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Garrett

Honesty

This month's character word is honesty. The definition of honesty is to tell the truth, to be fair and straightforward, and to lead a life of honor and dignity. Please read the story below of the Emperor's Seed.

The Emperor’s Seed

There was once an old emperor in the Far East who knew he

had to choose a successor even though he had no children of

his own. He assembled all the young boys in the kingdom

and gave each of them a seed to grow. He told these boys to

go home, plant the seed, and come back to the palace in one

year. He would then judge the plants that they brought and

chose the next emperor.

One of these boys was named Ling, and he went straight

home to tell his mother the whole story. She helped him get

a pot and plant the seed. Everyday, Ling would water his

seed, but it never grew. Even after six months, when the

other boys were talking about the plants they were growing,

Ling’s seed did nothing. He felt like such a failure. After a

year passed, it was time to show the emperor the plants. Ling

was scared to take his empty pot, but his mother encouraged

him to be honest about what had happened. When Ling

arrived, he was amazed at all the beautiful plants grown by

the other boys. Sadly, he stayed in the back with his empty

pot. When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room, saw

Ling in the back, and called him to the front to ask his name.

He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold

your new emperor! His name is Ling.”

The emperor said, “I gave everyone here a seed to bring back

one year later. But the seed I gave you was boiled and could

not be grown. All of you, except Ling, have brought me plants

that were substituted for the one I gave you. Ling was the

only one with the courage and honesty to bring me the pot

with my seed in it.”

Adapted from Inspirational Stories.com

Honesty is…Telling someone the truth, even if it’s not what they want to hear.

Admitting when you have made a mistake, rather than blaming others.

By Friday, December 11th, please leave a comment about this month's character education word and what honesty means to you.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Garrett

Thanksgiving

Dear Students,

Ben's surgery went very well and I have so much to be thankful for in my own life right now. Thanksgiving means different things to different people, but the American tradition of Thanksgiving is a family celebration where we gather and reflect on what we are most thankful for in our own lives. Your assignment this week is to reflect upon your own life and share at least two things you are most thankful for. As always, answer in complete sentences and I look forward to reading your responses.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving break!

Mrs. Garrett

Ecology

For the next eight weeks, The Discovery Center will be returning to teach lessons on many different areas of science. This Tuesday, The Discovery Center visited our classroom and we learned about ecology. We learned that ecology is the study of nature, plants and animals.

Click here to go to The Discovery Center's website related to this week's topic. There are five different links and different types of activities you can try related to ecology and their links and descriptions are below.

Global Warming and Earth Processes - This site provides movies that explain global warming, the water cycle, and the carbon cycle. After you watch each movie, you can take a quiz to test your knowledge of global warming and earth processes. This site is ideal for grades 3-8.

Animal Adaptations - All animals live in habitats. Habitats provide food, water, and shelter which animals need to survive, but there is more to survival than just the habitat. Animals also depend on their physical features to help them obtain food, keep safe, build homes, withstand weather, and attract mates. On this site, learn about how an animal's physical features, called physical adaptations, develop over many generations to help the animal survive in its habitat.

Animal Defense - Many animals have developed remarkable defenses to keep from being eaten.For example, some animals use chemicals which they spray from various parts of their bodies to deter predators. A few animals rely on trickery and copy the defenses of other animals to protect themselves. In this activity, you can sample various Internet sites and complete the activities for each one to learn more about the adaptations that animals have made to protect themselves.

Chain Reaction - This interactive site teaches you about the food chain and allows you to try your hand and creating your own food chain.

Biomes of the World – Visit each biome and learn about the plants and animals that inhabit each biome. Students can also learn about Freshwater Ecosystems and Marine Ecosystems.

Your assignment is to visit at least two of these websites and explore. Leave a comment below with information that you learned or what you thought was the most interesting link from these choices. Please answer in complete sentences and be sure to include your name in your comment. This needs to be completed by Friday, November 20th.

Happy exploring!

Mrs. Garrett

Caring

November's character education word of the month is caring. Caring can mean a lot of different things to different people. The most common definition is: To be interested and concerned about others, and to treat them with understanding and compassion.

Read the story below and write a comment about what caring means to you.

The Acorn Planter

In the 1930s, while a young traveler was exploring the
French Alps, he came upon a vast stretch of barren land. It
was desolate. It was forbidding. It was ugly. It was the
kind of place you hurry away from.

Suddenly, the young traveler stopped in his tracks. In the
middle of this wasteland was a bent-over old man. On his
back was a sack of acorns. In his hand was a four-foot
length of iron pipe. The man was using the iron pipe to
punch holes in the ground. Then, from the sack he would
take an acorn and put it in the hole.

The traveler stopped the old man to ask him what he was
doing. "I've planted over 100,000 acorns here, but perhaps
only a tenth of them will grow," he said. The old man's
wife and son had died, and this was how he chose to
spend his final years. "I want to do something useful with
my life," he told the traveler.

Twenty-five years later, the now-not-as-young traveler
returned to the same desolate area. What he saw amazed
him. He could not believe his own eyes. The land was
covered with a beautiful forest two miles wide and five
miles long. Birds were singing, animals were playing, and
wild flowers perfumed the air. The traveler stood there
recalling the desolation that once was; a beautiful oak
forest stood there now - all because someone cared.

Adapted from The Sower’s Seeds

Caring is…Giving thanks when it is deserved. Helping to solve a problem, rather than
just ignoring it. Being aware of others’ achievements and celebrating their success. Please leave a comment by November 6th.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Garrett

Fall Holidays

Hi students!

I hope you are enjoying this cool fall weather. Our families have different ways we celebrate the coming of fall. Some families celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, some have family traditions of visiting a pumpkin patch or watching football.

One of my family traditions is to watch the Peanuts movies for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I've included an excerpt from "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."

What is one way your family celebrates in the fall? Please post your comment below.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Garrett

Division

Hi students! This week we have started our division unit in math. I would like for you to watch the following video and post three division problems and answers as your comment this week.



This is due Friday, October 30th. Have a great weekend!

Causes of the Revolution

We have discussed some of the causes of the Revolutionary War, and this video outlines those reasons.



After watching this video, I would like for you to leave a comment including one fact about the Revolutionary War. Once again, you can't list a fact that anyone else has mentioned, so the sooner the better. Your facts may be from the video, from class discussions, or from your own research.

The due date for this assignment is Friday, October 23rd.

Mrs. Garrett

George Washington Carver

This Thursday we are visiting George Washington Carver's home in Diamond, Missouri.

Please watch the following video about George.

George Washington Carver had so many accomplishments that not all are even mentioned in this video. Below, please list at least one of George Washington Carver's accomplishments. Answer in a complete sentence, and you may not list anything that someone else has mentioned in a previous comment. Your facts may come from the video, class discussions, or your own research.

Please leave your comment by Friday, October 16th.

- Mrs. Garrett

That Quiz Multiplication

After clicking on the That Quiz link here, practice multiplication and division!

Click "Arithmetic"

On the left of the new screen, select the following:

Lenght: 50 and Level: 12 You may use a timer if you want. The real test will have a timer of 5 minutes for 50 problems. You may choose only multiplication or only division, or select both and mix the two. Practice several times, and when you feel ready, take our class quiz!

Return to That Quiz home page and use the following codes:

Multiplication: POXX6671

Division: UBMC7566

Challenge (optional): SMND0951

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Garrett

Piano Player

One of your classmates is quite the pianist! There is no assignment due to fall break, but please enjoy the following video and feel free to leave a comment!

Have a great fall break!

Mrs. Garrett

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Hi class,

This month's character education word is Respect. We have all discussed what respect means, but I thought I would post this video about respect, written by a school counselor at another school.



I know it's pretty silly, but I thought it might make you laugh. Your assignment for the week is to tell me two ways you can be respectful this week while at school. You can't list anything that anyone else has posted above you, so the sooner the better!
Have a great week!
- Mrs. Garrett

Circuits and Electronics

In science, we have learned the circuits control the flow of electric charge. For this week's assignment, you are going to build a virtual circuit!

Go to this link at ClassZone.com. Scroll down to "Circuits" and see if you can complete the circuit and light the bulb.

What parts are necessary to light the bulb?

What happened when you opened the switch?

What happened when you closed the switch?

Can you build a circuit without the battery? Why or why not?

How is this similar or different from the snap circuits in our class?

Answer at least one of those questions as a comment below by next Friday, September 18th.

Facts About Andrew Clements

Hello Students!

Your assignment this week is to research Andrew Clements and post facts about him below. The challenge of this assignment, is to post at least two facts that no one else has mentioned. You have until Friday, September 11th to complete this assignment. Good luck!

- Mrs. Garrett

Author Study: Andrew Clements

Our first author study is Andrew Clements. We will be reading some of his books in class, but you will need to choose one to read at home. We will be reading No Talking, Frindle, and A Week In the Woods, and The Report Card in class. Please choose a book by Andrew Clements other than those, and one you have not read before. We have several of his books in class that you may borrow. You can also find all of those titles at the Springfield Public Library.

Click here to see a list of his books.

The books available in class are The School Story, The Last Holiday Concert, Lunch Money, and The Landry News.

You will then need to do some kind of project to share with the class about your book. We have discussed some ideas in class, and those include writing a song about the book and performing it for the class, write a newsletter with articles related to the book, dress up as your main character to tell us about your book, act out your favorite part of the book, or just about anything else you can think of that will be a way of sharing your book with the class. Keep in mind, all of this project will be completed at home, but you can bring your book to school to read during free choice reading time.

Follow these links for even more ideas:

Teachnet.com

List of 200 ideas

Your assignment:

By next Friday (September 4th), I need you to post a comment telling me which book you are going to read and what your project will be. You don't have to include the details, but I would like for you to have a general idea of what you would like to do.

The actual projects are due September 30th. We will all share our projects with our classmates that day. I can't wait to see what creative ways you decide to share your reading with our class!

- Mrs. Garrett

Learners of Tomorrow

Attention students! That is what so many teachers are working towards every day - getting students' attention. I believe that using technology is a great way to keep kids' attention in the classroom. What do you think?

I would like for all of you to watch this video with your parents sometime this week. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think by August 24th, so we can talk about this in class. If you can't leave a comment, let me know and I will help you.

I am so excited to be starting the school year as your teacher!

- Mrs. Garrett

Welcome Back To School!

Dear Students,

Hi! My name is Mrs. Garrett and I’m going to be your teacher for the upcoming school year. I am thrilled about all of the units and activities I have planned for the first trimester. We will begin the year studying electricity and magnetism.

I have taught third, fourth, and fifth grades over the past six years, and I am eager to begin the school year with all of the fourth and fifth grade students at the Summit. I am married to Josh Garrett, and we have a six month old son named Ben. We live on a farm in Sparta with two miniature donkeys, 35 chickens, two ducks and two dogs. Part of our farm is pasture and part is woods, and we love to walk the trails we have made through the woods and pick berries. I also love to spend time in the garden. I can’t wait to find out more about you!

In our classroom we will form a community of learners. I hope to learn as much from you as you learn from our class. We will have many hands on activities and we will use computers to research all of the major units of the school year and to write papers and presentations. We will also have plenty of guest speakers and visitors throughout the year. I can’t wait for us to get started and I will meet you all soon!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Garrett