More Geometry

Today we learned more about our solid figures.
We worked together to determine how many faces, edges, and corners each figure had. Then, we compared them with each other.

Geometry

On Monday, I gave the students 12 solid figures to sort into groups according to their properties. They had to come up with 2 different ways.

Here is what they came up with:

corners and no corners

flat sides and no flat sides

round and not round

tall and short

Calcite Quest

On Wednesday, we tested four rocks (basalt, limestone, sandstone, and marble) for the mineral Calcite. We did this by adding vinegar to the rock. We learned that Calcite is unique because it fizzes when it is placed in an acid.

The boys and girls put each rock in a container with vinegar and waited to see what happened.

Still waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and waiting.....

After we got done watching our rocks in vinegar, we poured the liquid into an evaporation dish. We are going to let them sit for a couple of days and then see what happens. Will there be crystals??

Scratch Test

On Tuesday, we used several different tools to perform the scratch test on some minerals. The scratch test was used to determine each mineral's hardness. We used a paper clip, a penny, and our fingernails to test our minerals.
We discovered that Quartz was our hardest mineral and Gypsum was our softest.

Mrs. Coon's new do....

I am sure you all have already heard, but I am no longer a blonde. I have decided to try out being a brunette! The class has mixed emotions about it! They can't decide if they like it or not! Hee-Hee!

This Weekend: Volunteering at Mtn. Mist

This weekend, David, my brother, and I went to Huntsville up on Monte Sano Mountain to work at a 50K (31 miles) Trail Run! It was a lot of fun, but very cold and windy! There were 300 runners who tackled the muddy trails!
This was our post for the day. We were in charge of running the finish line! It was a lot of fun. We saw lots of muddy people!

The best part about the day was all the yummy food. We had pizza, cookie cake, bagels, and more! We got there at 7:30 and did not pull out until 5:00. It was a long day, but fun!!

Earh Materials Unit

Last Friday we started our hands-on unit on Earth Materials. Each child got this notebook that we will be using throughout the unit.
Each child was given a Mock Rock to observe. We looked at its physical properties, we measured it, and then we took it apart!

Here is a picture of our mock rocks.

This is what it looked like once we broke it apart. The boys and girls had to decide what part of the rock was minerals.

Then, we put the powder material in a cylinder with water to see what happened. Bradley is shaking his up hard!

Then, they observed the cylinder and wrote down their observations. Today we will observe the cylinders again after it has sat all weekend.

Pray for my daddy!

I will not be at school on Tuesday and possible Wednesday because my sweet daddy is having surgery at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham. He just found out he has another spot of cancer that has to be removed. This is his fourth time in a little over a year to battle this aggressive disease! Please keep him and my family in your prayers as we go at it AGAIN!!! UGH!!!!

Science: Earth Materials

The boys and girls took learning into their own hands and worked in groups to study about rocks and minerals.
They read together and stopped often to discuss what they were learning.

This unit has introduced a lot of new vocabulary words. They sounded like a little bunch of geologists talking to each other. It was way too cute!!!

There is more to come on our unit on Earth Materials. We will be doing lots of hands-on experiments!

Hundred Charts

To help the children get a visual picture, we colored in our multiplication facts on hundred charts. This helped them see that multiplication is just skip counting. We spent several days doing this and looking at for patterns. We did our 2's through 12's.

After we finished coloring, we went back and wrote multiplication sentences for our charts.

Arranging Chairs = Multiplication Arrays

Problem: This week I asked the boys and girls to imagine helping me set up chairs for our class play in the theater. I explained to them that I had 12 chairs. The trick was that I had to put them in rows of equal number. They were to come up with all the different arrangements possible even they seemed somewhat silly. Here is what we came up with......

We did this same problem with different numbers of chairs. For example, 16, 18, 24 and 36 chairs. They learned about arrays and did not even realize it!

National Championship Game: Roll Tide Roll!

My whole family gathered at my sister's house on Thursday night for food and football! This is my sister, Michelle, and my brother, Shawn! Both of them graduated from the University of Alabama!
Here they are with my mom and my brother-in-law, Stephen. My dad and I are there, too, but somehow we did not get in any of the pictures.

Here are the kiddos playing Rock Band before game time!

They were getting pumped up for the big game! ROLL TIDE!!!

Stephen, my brother-in-law, cooked ribs and chicken wings for us to eat!

Mr. David and my nephew, Patrick are quite serious!

My sweet niece, Penny, eating her pizza! She is a mess!

Smitty and his cousin, Sam

Callie, my niece, and Patton eating pizza and chicken wings!

It was a fun evening! We are so glad school was cancelled for Friday because it was a late night for us all!! ROLL TIDE!!!!