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| Click here for archived newsletters Schalmont CSD |
| ***New: Simple Machine Challenge: Engineering Challenge: Design & Build a Maze to Move a Marble from Top to Bottom*** click here for details | ||
| Multiplication Games to Play at Home or Online...click here. | ||
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December News
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| Thank you for all of your hard work reviewing, studying and practicing the NYS Social Studies exam. Thank you to the boys and girls for working especially hard and thank you to the parents for your support at home. Going forward, we have the ELA exam in January to prepare for. In class, we will continue with our reading groups. We will focus specifically on inferring, figurative language, context clues, characterization, setting, plot, theme and so on. These reading skills and strategies will be on the test. In addition to the reading prep, we will also be practicing the writing process through an integrated unit with simple machines. Students will research, using books and the Internet, the six simple machines. They will use their knowledge gained through research and through hands on experiments to plan and build a marble maze using simple machines. As the students build their mazes, they will be writing a cause-and-effect paper describing how their maze works. . |
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Nightly Homework
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Simple Machines & Marble Maze
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| You may see a slight increase in the homework assigned weekly. We will be gearing up for our ELA exam in January by completing weekly punctuation packets at home. These will be assigned on Wednesdays, and due the following Wednesday. Multiplication practice sheets will be coming home each Monday nights with a short quiz happening on Fridays. Monday – Finish spelling list Try-It (Mon. night is ABC order night) Finish vocabulary spider sheet Copy vocab words onto index cards Multiplication Tables – Mon. night Read 20 minutes Tuesday – Try-It (Tues. night) Spelling Sort (worksheet) Write 5 sentences using vocab words Multiplication Tables – Tues. night Read 20 minutes *Make sure your CR is ready to hand in Wednesday – Try-It (Wed. night) Study vocabulary spider sheet Multiplication Tables – Wed. night Punctuation Packet, due next Wed. New CR is assigned, due next Wed. Read 20 minutes Thursday – Try-It (Thurs. night in cursive) Study vocabulary words Multiplication Tables – Thurs. night (quiz tomorrow) Read 20 minutes Friday – Current Events (alternating weeks) Always a great time to catch up on reading toward those 25 books! |
Students have been given an engineering challenge. The challenge is to build a vertical marble maze that will move a marble from top to bottom in the longest time possible. Students should use at least 3 simple machines, but are encouraged to use all 6 for bonus points. The mazes should be no taller than 24 inches and be able to fit on a student's desk. The research and planning will take place at school. Students should build the maze as part of their homework. A written report of how the maze works will also be completed at school. The mazes are due on December 18. For websites to use for research and further information click here.
Energy Enrichment Since we are focusing on work and simple machines in science right now, what better way to enrich the topic by researching and reporting on the various sources of energy on our planet used to do work. Sure, we can tell you how machines make work easier, but here’s an opportunity to delve in deeper and learn about how an energy source has evolved over time. Students should research their energy source at home or the library using encyclopedias, other books, the Internet and so on. They will then write a report about the history of the energy source, the advances made throughout history, how we use the energy source today and what it might be like in the future. The report should be accompanied by a visual aide (poster, model, diagram, etc…) and students will present their learnings to the class. This project is due before Christmas break (Dec. 23). |
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