Sea Creature Projects!!

Our Sea Creature Projects look awesome! The presentations have been great so far and the 3-D models have been very creative! Take a look :)

The Archer Fish, By Robert
















The Sea Urchin, By Will





















The Blue-Ringed Octopus, By Simone





















The Puffin, By Jackson





















The Moray Eel, By Sam





















The Hammerhead Shark, By Kiran
















The Puffer Fish, By Gabby
















The Popple Fish, By Clara... ever heard of it? It's kind of related to a clown-fish and made up by Clara herself!





















The Sea Nettle, By Alejandra





















The Seahorse, By Caroline
















The Picasso Triggerfish (Hawaii's state fish), By Matt

June 1-5

The year is winding down so we all know that means.... we have three busy, busy, jam-packed weeks left :)

Tuesday we had a great time in the new Hall of Oceans exhibits at the Natural History Museum and got to see an incredible 3-D movie exploring the deep sea! Check out our 3-D glasses. Unfortunately we couldn't take them home to rock this look in Falls Church...
















Students are also participating in an Artist-in-Residency program this week where they are learning all about how to perform Shakespeare! Thursday, we'll get to see some 7th graders in A Midsummer Night's Dream!

This week in science... students should be completed their 3-D ocean animal models. They are due Friday. Some of them are coming in already and they look GREAT! Presentations start Friday. While we will spend Friday and all next week on our presentations, all students should be ready to go this Friday.
Students will also be taking home a Geology Study Guide this Friday. Students should be prepared for the assessment on Thursday, June 11.

This week in Social Studies... we are preparing 3 Readers' Theaters! One group is working on acting out the Boston Massacre, one group the Boston Tea Party, and one group the Crossing of the Delaware! If last week's Slavery Interact is any indication of this class' creativity and acting abilities, these skits should be stellar!

This week in Math... we are wrapping up our Geometry Unit. The Geometry assessment will be Wednesday, June 3rd.

Check out a few more pictures from our field trip! A special thank you to Sam's dad, Mr. Allan for taking the time to tell us about Ocean Drilling and for the great packets we got to take home!

Week of May 25 - 29

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day and was able to get lots of rest!

This week in science... we will continue with our geology unit as we explore ocean currents as well as how knowledge about sound helps scientists explore the deep ocean. Students should be working on their ocean animal models. Models should be 3-D, homemade, and have a moving part (i.e. no solid blocks of model magic)... be creative!

This week in Social Studies... we are taking a deeper look at slavery in the US by acting out the stories of 7 slaves. Students have read about these real characters and are ready to answer questions in a talk show-like format.

This week in Math... we are exploring geometric solids! How will our knowledge of polygons help us understand and analyze the properties of pyramids and prisms?

ASSIGNMENTS:
Monday - No school, Memorial Day
Tuesday - WKS: Practice 11-1
Wednesday -No Homework
Thursday -Begin working on Geometry Review Guide -- Due Monday, June 1
Friday - No Homework

Week of May 18-22

ALL 5th Graders -- Please be sure to turn in signed permission slips for the Natural History Museum. Mrs. McCann's class still needs two more parent volunteers to join us! Let me know if you can help us out in that way.

SOL Week is Here! Please make sure all students get a good night's sleep this week and have hearty breakfasts!
Monday - Math
Tuesday - Reading
Wednesday - Science
Thursday - Social Studies
Friday - Make Ups

SOCIAL STUDIES - Students have been handed back their unit tests from this year. (If they were returned to me). Students should take some time this week to look back over their tests as the content is directly from the SOLs. Please be sure to return the tests to Mrs. McCann on Friday.

Week of May 4-8

It's raining, it's pouring -- the forecast looks like it's going to be a wet week. I hope everyone is able to stay dry!

This week in Science... we are finishing our rough drafts of our ocean animals projects. We will spend time in-class revising, editing, and creating our final products! Students will soon be receiving information about the presentation aspect of the project. We are also continuing our study of the earth as we explore the origins of earthquakes and volcanoes!

This week in Social Studies... we are finishing up US History to 1877! Monday, students will get their Civil War tests back. They should make sure they correct mistakes and get a parent signature on the test. This week we will explore some key points of Reconstruction as well as begin reviewing content from the beginning of the year to prepare them for the SOL in two weeks!

This week in Math... we are continuing our geometry unit! We will explore properties of quadrilaterals and other polygons. While there is usually more than one name for a polygon, we always want to use the most specific one! We will also review perimeter and explore how to determine the area of a quadrilateral and a triangle.

ASSIGNMENTS:
Monday - Practice 6-4; both sides
Tuesday -WKS: Area of parallelograms
Wednesday -WKS: Area of triangles
Thursday -WKS: Area of triangles
Friday -No Homework

Week of April 27 - May 1

It's a warm start to the week here at MEHMS! I hope everyone got a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend! Don't forget the Book Fair ends Tuesday, April 28! There's a great selection of books in our library classroom... check it out! Thursday we will have a special presentation about Electricity for the 5th graders. This will help them review some 4th grade science contact that will be on their Science SOL in a few weeks.

This week in Science... we will spend one more 1/2 class period researching for our ocean animal projects in the computer lab on Monday. ALL RESEARCH for the ocean animal project is due Wednesday, April 29. Please be sure you have your packet filled with as much information as you were able to find. Also, be sure you have cited the sources you used properly. In class we will continue to explore Plate Tectonics Theory and the composition of the Earth.... could the continents really be drifting?

This week in Social Studies... we are reviewing what we have learned about the Civil War for our test Thursday. Students should be studying the following things: History Alive Online Tutorial, Chapter 18; Social Studies Spiral -- notes glued in; Hand outs in Social Studies Folders. It's A LOT of information so PLEASE be sure you are reviewing your notes nightly this week.

This week in Math... we are continuing our Geometry Unit! This week we'll continue practicing using the protractor to measure angles. We will also explore special pairs of angles. What are complementary angles? They certainly aren't angles that say nice things to each other :) We will also explore triangles and incorporate our knowledge of angles into triangles. There are some great patterns to be discovered in geometry.... we're going to find them!!
DAILY ASSIGNMENTS:
Monday - No Homework
Tuesday - Practice 6-3 - Triangles
Wednesday -WKS: Interior angles of triangles -- students will solve for the missing angle
Thursday -
Friday -

Week of April 20-24

Don't forget this week! Wednesday is an Early Release Day and there is no school on Friday, April 24. I'll be off to the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics conference in our very own Washington DC :)

This week in Science... we will begin our last unit of the school-year... Geology! We'll begin by exploring the composition of the Earth and Plate Tectonics theory. Why does it seem that the continents could fit together like puzzle pieces? We will also be spending time in the library and computer lab researching our ocean animals. In the computer lab we will focus on resources such as Grolier Online (www.go.grolier.com) and NetTrekker! We use these before we ever "google" our animal as these are reliable online resources paid for by our school. :)

If students do not finish their research in class on Wednesday, they will be responsible for the rest on their own time. Students can use the internet resources at home and can use the library resources on Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday. The research is due Wednesday, April 29.

This week in Social Studies... we are continuing to study the cultural, economic, and constitutional divisions between the North and the South that eventually led to the Civil War.

This week in math... we are beginning our Geometry Unit! This exciting unit will take us through the end of the year!!

Assignments:
Monday - No Homework
Tuesday -WKS: Practice 6-1
Wednesday -WKS: Diagram and questions
Thursday -
Friday -