Mrs. Reuter's Class Chronicles
November 30-December 4, 2015
STEM: Testing Submersible Instruments
Literature Circles: Graffiti Board
Seed Survivor
Our Class
Language Arts
This week in Language Arts, we had a lot of fun. We continued to do daily language. Every day, during Language Arts, we complete one daily language section. There are five sections, one for every day. This week we also split into two reading groups. One group is reading Homer P. Figg. The other group is reading Freak the Mighty. Every day for homework, we read a few chapters and write in a reading log. In our reading log, we write a summary, make a connection, find a vocabulary word that we don't know, find a quote and analyze it, and come up with two questions. The next day after reading, we discuss our responses with our reading group.
In Language Arts, we also talked about parts of speech. We split up into partners and each got a part of speech. The goal of this project is to persuade the editors of Write Source to not eliminate your part of speech. To do this, we created a poster with our partner and in Writer's Workshop, we are writing a persuasive letter to the editors.
By Maya & Rand
Science
Science this week was fun, although it wasn't ordinary Science. We did STEM, and for our STEM project, each team builds a submersible. A submersible is a vehicle that goes underwater to help humans learn more about underwater. Some submersibles can go down 3000 feet! The pressure is unbelievable! This project connects with science because it deals with density, volume, and pressure. This week we were learning about submersibles, so we rotated classrooms. We did a Keynote, poster, video analysis, density drawing, and much more. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun!
By Nick Goldberg & Katie Hsu
Social Studies
For Social Studies this week, we talked about how Cortez conquered the Aztecs. After that, we answered questions that were based on our textbook reading. After that, we pretended to have a Spanish colony and there was a problem. We had to come up with two solutions for the problem. Some examples were droughts, no weapons, other natives, and poisonous food. Then, we did something called our "Life in New Spain" outline. For every section we read, we would write down our main idea and three details that went with the main idea of the section. After that we had two options where we could pretend we were a Indian giving a speech about our unfair treatment when the Spanish took over or we make up a dialogue between a Spanish peninsulare and Indian worker. When we wrote about it we had to take up the rest of the page.
By Diane & Ethan F
Seed Survivor Presentation
This week we had an on-site field trip. We went into a trailer and learned about plants, the water cycle, and much more. There were games that helped us learn about our environment and how we can help it. One particular game we liked was a game that you had to match the the food that's on the table to the item it originated from, for example matching a chicken with scrambled eggs. In a few other games we had to water crops and make gardens. There was also a video which you can watch food being made. Then, we went outside of the trailer and planted sunflowers in cups. Soon they will grow. This field trip was very fun and one of the best ever!
By Greta & Amanda
Specialties
Art with Ms. Martucci
In Art we worked with fun pastel crayons. We were to make alluring pastel seasonal pictures. Katie made a splendid autumn pastel drawing that had beautiful red and orange leaves. It looked so authentic and beautiful. Some of us did fall and some did winter. It was quite exquisite! My favourite part was using all the colours and shapes to make the picture! And I hope we do it again!
By Jessica & Matt
Music with Mrs. Kim
This week in Music we practiced for our concert. We will be singing a lot of songs including one that we listened to practice our capitals, "Tour the States". The most difficult song we are doing is called "Red, Blue, and White". in the middle of our practicing, Tedla and Ms. Kim played Jingle Bells on the ukulele. We also had some break dancing going on. We also practiced more songs including "My Flag", "50 Nifty United States", and "Star Spangled Banner". This week in Music was pretty funny and of course....... fun!
By Tedla & Tu
PE with Ms. Davis & Mr. Ussery
During PE we first warmed up. When we were walking in the hallway to go outside Ms. Davis warned us if we talked in the hallway, we would have to run extra laps. Then, we went out and ran three laps. After we ran laps, Mr. Ussery and Ms. Davis explained to us our stations for hockey. We had five stations in all, and four of the teams, each two teams versed each other, and the fifth station was practicing hockey skills. Our options for the fifth station were playing keep away, dribbling the balls around the cones, pass, or play scrimmage against your team. The teams were red vs. yellow and black vs. white, then we had to rotate our stations every fifteen minutes. We rotated three times in all. Then we went back inside, and dressed back into our uniforms.
By Morgan & Tejal
FIERCE Time with Ms. Johnson
This week in FIERCE was pretty cool. Ms. Johnson introduced us to our culture project. We have to make a brochure that teaches the class about your family culture. We have two weeks to finish it and on the third we will present them to the class. Our classmates' families come from several different countries and there are lots of different religions and traditions. Last month was relaxation month so we did several methods that will help us relax our bodies. We did mandalas, meditation, and coloring to music. Now, we are done with relaxation and we are going to culture and traditions.
By Rod & Ethan H
Spanish with SeƱorita Webb
In Spanish this week we took a vocal test. It was pretty easy. We also translated a book with Ms. Webb. It was about pasta. We also translated our own books. We went to the library to pick out easy and fun books. Most of us picked Disney books. Some people chose to work together. Some people didn't. I can't wait for next Spanish class. We had a lot of fun this week!
By Jaina & Abby
Coming Up Next
Mrs. Reuter
Parents: Try it out!
One discussion strategy called "Save the Last Word for Me". When using this type of discussion one person gets to start with either a quote or a question. Everyone else in the group then gets to share and discuss responses to that quote/question. Then, the person who shared their quote/question gets to have the final word on the subject.
Another strategy was called a "Graffiti Board". The students worked silently in groups to draw/write any connections, themes, responses, quotes, etc. about the chapters they had read. Then they discussed with each other any similarities between their individual contributions.
The final strategy we practiced was called "Written Conversation". For this strategy, the students met with a partner reading the same literature circle novel. Then they had a silent, written/typed conversation about their assigned reading.
Try reading a book at home with your child and utilizing one of these strategies!
Mrs. Reuter's Class 2015-2016
Email: kate.reuter@nlcinc.com
Website: http://www.merryhillschool.com/elementary/sacramento/midtown/parents/our-faculty/teacher/kate-reuter/
Location: Room 207
Phone: 916-429-6055