Reminder: MCA Math Tests

April 22nd and 23rd Good Luck!

Math Formulas

Your child should have these formulas memorized;


Area of a rectangle

Area = base * height


Area of a parallelogram

Area = base * height


Area of a triangle

Area = 1/2 * (base * height)


Thanks!

Interesting information

Thought you would all like to know this about Easter.

Easter this year is: Sunday March 23, 2008
As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).
This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.
Found out a couple of things you might be interested in!
Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare.
This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here's the facts:
The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).
The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Juice Forms

Just another reminder that the juice forms for the third trimester are due on Thursday, March 6th. The total cost is $12.88 for either white milk, chocolate milk, or juice.

Juice Forms

Sorry the Blog posting site was down..... but now it's up and running again!


Third trimester forms were sent home today.

Lunar Eclipse tonight at 8:43

Check out the moon after 8PM

for more information go to

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080220-eclipse-news.html

No School on February 15th and 18th

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day--The student list will be coming home on Thursday.

Conference Dates

The conference dates and times were sent home today, along with the Elementary Storm Newsletter. Please take a moment and read our story about the Inventors Congress. That was a very entertaining and enjoyable day!

Field Trip

Saint Cloud Symphony Orchestra field trip permission slips are due on February 5th, along with four dollars.

Thank you!

Inventor's Log

Please have your child bring in their Inventor's Log on Tuesday and Wednesday so I can look them over to see how they are coming along and to answer any questions. Thank you!

"Improvement" Paragraph Example

Improvement

My “Christmas Light Keeper” will improve life by saving families lots of time during a very important time of the year. You no longer have to get frustrated with untangling your lights. Putting your Christmas tree and lights up will be a lot more fun. “The Christmas Light Keeper” also improves life during the Christmas season because you will save more money on your lights since you no longer have to throw the old one away and buy new lights. That way you will have more money to spend in other ways.

An Example of the "Purpose" Paragraph

Purpose

The reason I chose to invent the “ Christmas Light Keeper” was because I was getting frustrated with the Christmas Lights. It was a week before Christmas and we had just got our tree. I had to get the lights untangled. I was getting so frustrated with the lights that I just had to quit. Then, I got the idea of inventing something to keep the lights from tangling. So, I discussed it with my mother and she said, “Okay”! So I then named it the “Christmas Light Keeper”. The purpose of my “Christmas Light Keeper” is to save time, frustration, and money.

Example of a "How It Works" Paragraph Created by a Fourth Grader

How It Works

My " Christmas Light Keeper" works like this...
First, you need to create the body which is three spools put together. Th spools that I used were recycled. What I mean by that is if I hadn't thought of the "Christmas Light Keeper," the spools would have been trash and so thinking of this invention sort of keeps from adding more trash to the earth. The Crank is sort of like a handle, but we call it a crank. The crank is attached to the axle. The axle goes through the three spools, if I didn't have the axle there wouldn't be a crank, an axle makes things move. Now, I'm going to talk about the base. The base is made out of wood. The wood is hand cut. Before I cut the wood I had to draw out how many pieces of each size of wood would be needed, then I cut the wood. I put felt on the spools so that the felt would protect the lights. There is Velcro to attach the lights to the spools. You could also put beads or garland on the spools. You then turn the crank and it rolls up your lights. Then you just put the whole thing away until next Christmas and the lights don't get tangled, and then next Christmas just pull them off, and that's how easy the "Christmas LIght Keeper" is to use.

Spelling List for the Week of January 7th-11th

Spelling List
Week Three
Test on January 11, 2007
Story---The Case of the Curious Whale Watch
Theme- Vowel sound in great [a], touch and nothing [u], meant [e]

List
great
touch
meant
break
nothing
young
weather
money
ton
breath
month
health
wonder
shove
honey



Challenge Words
treasure
rough
nervous
company
pleasant

Commonly Asked Questions - Inventor's Congress

Inventors Congress Questions/Information:

1. Please do not stress or allow your child to stress over this project. It is supposed to be fun. We are not expecting or anticipating brand new, amazing inventions. Some of the best inventions have not cost a thing. I have had kids get good grades and their invention stopped working or didn’t work properly when it was at school. It’s about the process and not some big dazzling display.

2. Parents can definitely help and guide, but please don’t do it for your child. You can give ideas and use tools that kids are too young for, but please make sure they are with you throughout the process.

3. Posterboards can be purchased at school for $3 after break, or you can buy one or provide one on your own. A gate fold type poster board works best. There is not one specific look that it needs to have.

4. A parent packet has been sent home. Please familiarize yourself and your child with it.

5. The poster board format is in the parent packet. We would like the poster boards to look similar to those in regards to the way it is set up.

6. Grades are figured by using the poster board, speech and most importantly the log book. The log book tells the tale of how much effort a student has put into it. We don’t expect every single line to be filled out in the log book, but the large majority of it should be filled out. One or two sentences for each question just isn’t enough. Kids can skip around. I encourage kids to do a little bit each day.

7. A few log book questions usually give kids some problems. Page 1 is just asking kids problems they would like to solve. All inventions have solved a problem or made something easier. The invention your child picks is solving a problem. The 2nd part ( Another problem....) is a problem they would like to solve ( for example one little girl wanted to walk her dog at night. She went on to explain the problems). page 2 are the solutions or answers to the two on page one.

8. Poster board paragraphs should be a minimum of five sentences. The more details the better chance of a top quality project. These paragraphs need to be typed at home. If your child doesn’t have access to a computer they can write the paragraphs at home and we can find time for them to type the paragraphs at school.

9. Your child’s speech will be given the week of the Inventor’s Congress and we will discuss it with them more after break.

10. Getting an idea for an invention is often times the toughest part of Inventors Congress. Combining things that are already invented is often times the best way to go. The little girl mentioned earlier who wanted to walk her dog at night took a dog leash, some Christmas lights and found a way to make it battery powered. None of the things she used were new, but her idea was, and that was the important part. Another student had a Dad who was a poor putter in golf. The student took a putter, glued a mirror to the head of the putter, and a laser pointer to the shaft. The light in turn created a line where to hit the ball. Again, all of the items used were not new and were not invented by the student. One of the best inventions of all time was one of the most simple that I have seen. A student was tired of trying to get straight one dollar bills for the vending machine. He took an old cheese grater, and some tin foil and made an area between the foil and cheese grater that he could run the dollar through to straighten it. Simple, but brilliant. His speech was great with a wonderful poster board, paragraphs and log book.

11. We are asking that there be no recipes or games.

12. We need them to have a working model preferably. One student one year had a clay model of something that would take away world hunger. That’s a great idea in theory, and a bit unrealistic, but the problem was they couldn’t show us how it worked.

13. Failure is not a bad thing. All inventors fail.

14. If any parents want to help with calling area businesses for prize donations please contact your child's teacher. We could really use the help!

15. Important dates.
A. Invention proposals are due Tuesday, January 5th. If your child doesn’t have one by this date there still is time. Teachers will check in with them to see what their plan is and where they are at.

B. Inventions, poster boards, log books are due at school Thursday 14, January 22nd

C. Inventors Congress is at school on Friday, January 25th with the time to be determined later.

If you have any other questions please let us know.

Thanks!

Inventor's Parent Packet

The Inventor's Parent packet was sent home today.
The dates to remember are as follows:
Proposals are due January 7th.
Projects are due January 22.
January 25th Inventor's Congress at PV.

Field Trip-Great River Bowl

We will be bowling on December 21st at the Great River Bowling Alley in Sartell. Permission slips were sent out today. This a culminating activity for our Bowling Unit in P.E. The cost of the event is $5.25