Week of 11/5/07

This week we will finish up our geology unit with a test on Wednesday. I will send home a study guide on Monday. In math, we will take a test on graphs on Monday, and then we will study mean, median, mode, and range the rest of the week. This is fun math! Spelling will cover sounds of "i" words. In English, we will look at adverbs. This week the children need to finish their independent books and work. They have been doing very well with this and moving at a steady pace. A couple have already finished their books and work! They will get to start on their book project early. I am cutting reading homework this week to 50 minutes. I am doing this because I am assigning a science homework assignment. I hope you will spend some time with your child on this assignment. It involves a leaf hunt! Have you noticed the beautiful changing leaves on the trees lately? There are various shades of greens, yellows, reds, oranges, and browns. Each year, one of mine and my students favorite art projects involves leaves! Please go on a fun leaf hunt on a pretty afternoon and find some neat leaves. Look for various colors, shapes, and sizes. The more variety, the better! After you have gathered around 15 to 20 leaves, follow the directions below on how to press them. The leaves are due on November 13th.

Directions: Clean the leaves you've collected by soaking them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. Blot them dry between 2 paper towels. Then place the leaves on 2 pieces of newspaper. Take care that the leaves do not touch each other, because the parts that overlap will not dry properly. You may also want to trim any stems that are particularly thick. Cover the leaves with another two pieces of newspaper and put something heavy on top. Dictionaries work well. It will take about 5 or 6 days for the leaves to be ready to work with. By then they should be flat, stiff, and dry.

Don't waste time, and get going on your leaf hunt as soon as possible so that your leaves will be ready by next Tuesday.

Remember that the Christmas present money is due this Tuesday, November 6th. ($6.50)