March/April Monthly Newsletter
Editors: Redd Sagers and Lexi McCarty
April Fools Day!
Credit to Lexi McCarty
Mrs. Degnan and Mrs. Spring played an awful but funny trick on us on Friday. They said our STAAR tests got wet by a rain leakage and we had to redo them. Some people thought they were joking but some actually thought it was real. Mrs. Spring and Mrs. Degnan played another evil trick that afternoon. They gave us a word search and said to find words on it. They didn't say to find the words that are on the paper so there ended up being no words on it at all. As you can see, everyone was in a very tricky mood by the end of the day (some people were in a bad mood though!).
Reading Under The Stars
On April 15, Nance Elementary celebrated Reading Under the Stars. There was delicious hot dogs, water, and chips. The group CPAC sang and danced for students. After, 5th grade performed their planned bucket drumming concert and then 4th graders took stage. As a final treat, the 4th and 5th grade ukulele students ended the evening with their performance. Everyone enjoyed this night of music, food, and READING!
Book Character Dress-up Day
Credit to Lexi McCarty and Jacob Barbaran
When the whole school had a story book dress up day, we had lots of fun. The fourth grade made a huge banner thanking Mrs. Moore because it was Librarian Week. Everyone got to dress up as their favorite book character. Even the teachers dressed up. Later that day at reading under the stars, some people still had on their costumes and we had lots of fun. This day really showed everyone's creative side.Life Cycle Projects
Credit to Lexi McCarty
We were put into groups and randomly chose a plant or organism. We had to find out its life cycle and describe each stage. We had to write down fun facts and what it needs to survive. We got the sheet that told us what we were being graded on so we could include everything. Here is a video of a group presenting.Morning Work
Credit to Logan Josephson
Today, our morning work was to write down a quote and then explain what the world to see all the awesomeness in us. Quote: We are all created with equal amounts of AWESOME. It's up to you to decide how much the world gets to see.Examples:
1.Travis - If I showed my awesomeness to the world, they would see my skills on soccer, and video games.
2.Colten - If I showed my awesomeness to the world, they would see my intelligent acts, and my creativity.
3.Addy - If I showed my awesomeness to the world, they would see good character and loyalty.
4.Logan - If I showed my awesomeness to the world, they would see intelligence, how good I am at soccer, and how good I am at video games.
Morning Work Persisting Quote
Persisting Morning Quote Responses
Credit to Redd Sagers
Today, our morning quote was "Persist Until Success Happens" or PUSH. We wrote about what this quote means and example of persisting until success in our own life.Examples:
1. Travis - I think this means to push yourself and it tells you ways you can push yourself. An example of this was when we did subtraction in math class. I overcame this challenge by practicing on homework and I kept trying.
2. Holly - I think it means to keep going until you get it right. An example of this was when I struggled with multiplication and division algorithms in math. I overcame this by reading the problem carefully.
3. Dusty - I think it means don't give up until you accomplish your goal. An example of this was when I didn't understand a problem in reading. I overcame this challenge by asking questions about it.
Drama Plays
Oil Extra Credit Project
Extra Credit
Jeep Visit
Credit to Addy Schubert and Presley Skinner
Students were rewarded for doing a good job on the writing STAAR test. Mrs.Degnan surprised her classes by bringing a MONSTER TRUCK. Everyone climbed inside the Jeep, on the hood, on the tires and on the back. All of the third graders (that were outside) started lining up along the fence to see the huge monster truck.It was a great celebration of our hard work.Michael's Walk
Credit to Zayne Clark
Students at Nance walked for a great cause- Kidney disease! Students met on the Trinity River to support fourth grader, Michael Wills. He suffers from Kidney disease. At the Kidney Foundation, students walked for miles for the people who had Kidney disease. There were many people who came out to walk. When people finished the race they were greeted with cheers and water to celebrate their accomplishment.Test-Taking Tips
Little Old Ladies
Credit to Logan Josephson
In late March, famous former teachers visited Nance Elementary. They came to our class and talked to us about taking our time when we read, and they told us that when the STAAR comes we will be prepared. After that, they told us to get out our writers notebooks so they could see them. These lovely ladies helped to ease our fears over the STAAR writing test. It was noted by several students that they looked remarkably like Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Chaney.You've Been Nanced!
Credit to Ethan McCuthan
Nance has been doing something very special this year. A group of teachers have been going door to door looking for students doing anything school related like reading, homework, stride etc. If you are caught in the act, you will be rewarded a slip in the morning that you can redeem for a prize as a reward for your hard workMath Corner
This month in math, we are doing different math stations. The stations cover concepts we've learned throughout the school year.
Science Square
Butterfly Adaptation
Update!-- Mealworms
Breakfast with Parents
Gymnastics Competition
Fun Facts
- You breathe on average about 5 million times a year.
- Months that begin on a Sunday always have a Friday the 13th in them.
- You are born with 300 bones, by the time you are an adult you will have 206.
- The average lead pencil will write a line about 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.
- One fourth of the bones in your body are in your feet.
- The average person spends 2 weeks of their lifetime waiting for the light to change from red to green.
- It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it.
- The present population is expected to rise to 15 Billion by the year 2080.
- The largest recorded snowflake was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.
- The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom.
- Native Americans used to name their children after the first thing they saw as they left their tepees after their children were born, hence the names Sitting Bull and Running Water.
- The Matami Tribe of West Africa play their own version of football, instead of a normal football they use a human skull.
- Coca-Cola would be green if the food colorant wasn't added.
- During the 17th Century, the Sultan of Turkey ordered his hole harem of women to be drowned and replaced with a new one.
- Coffins used for cremation are usually made with plastic handles.
- "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
- Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
- Cockroaches can live several weeks with their heads cut off.
- It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. We dare you, give it a try!
- A Ten Gallon Hat will only hold 3/4 of a Gallon.
- Of all the words in the English language, the word "SET" has the most definitions.
- It is against the law to burp, or sneeze inside a church in Nebraska.
- In 1386 a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child.
- Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
- The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9,000 years old!
- Scientists have tracked butterflies travelling over 3,000 miles.
- The silkworm consumes 86,000 times its own weight in 56 days.
- If removed from the stress of the modern world, the average human would sleep about 10 hours a day.
- To produce a single pound of honey, a single bee would have to visit 2 million flowers.
- A colony of 500 bats can eat approximately 250,000 insects in an hour.
- One in Five adults believe that aliens are hiding in our planet disguised as humans.
- Travelling masseuses in ancient Japan were required by law to be blind.
- The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in court.
- James Fixx, the man who popularized jogging in America died of a heart attack while running.
- The average American spends about a year and a half of his or her life watching commercials on television. What are you doing?! Get out and spend that year and a half doing something productive!
- The FDA permits up to 5 whole insects per 100 grams of apple butter.
- There are no naturally occurring blue foods, even blueberries are purple!
- The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present in all the important meetings of the University of London.
- The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!
- Just like fingerprints, everyone's tongue is different.
- The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.
- 400 Quarter Pounders can be made from a single cow.
- Only 38% of Americans eat breakfast every day.
- 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
- 11% of the World is left handed.
- A "Jiffy" is the scientific name for 1/100th of a second.
- A Boeing 747's wingspan is longer than the Wright brothers' first flight.
- A broken clock is right two times a day.
- A duck's quack doesn't echo anywhere, no one knows why.
- Every time you lick a stamp, you are consuming 1/10 of a calorie.