Brittany, a former Room-8er, comes to visit!

Brittany decided to hang out with Room 8 on Friday. She took our spelling test, wrote a paragraph with us, and even took the math test.Nothing like having a crowd watch you work!Vanessa noticed how neat Brittany wrote... Austin noticed it too.
Wesley decided to try to do some ... what is it, bunny ears? rabbit ears? ... but Brittany fought them off. When her paragraph - well, it was more than a paragraph... more like a story - was finished, Brittany gave me the thumbs up.

Well done, Brittany!

Kaia and Vanessa perform on their recorders

Room 8 has already learned to play a song on their recorders! They were excited... so excited, that Kaia and Vanessa wanted to play it during recess. So here, for your enjoyment... is Kaia and Vanessa!

How do you clean up an oil spill?

Today, Room 8 did an experiment on cleaning up an oil spill. We followed the steps of the scientific process (purpose, hypothesis, materials, procedure, results, conclusion) while trying to clean up oil.

We put 1/8 cup of motor oil in a pan with 32 ml of water. Then we had various things to try to clean up the oil: spoons (both plastic and metal), foil, paper towels, cotton balls, and liquid detergent. We had two pans of the experiment going at the same time, so I believe each Room 8er was able to try something to clean. Ask your Room 8er what worked the best.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.


I sent home a packet of information about our science fair. Please, if you haven't already, return the half sheet of paper that was stapled to the top of the packet. This just lets me know you have seen the packet and are aware that your child needs to do a project.

Don't worry now if you spill a little oil... or a lot. We know what to do!

We're festive in Room 8!

The holidays are here... and Room 8 is gearing up for a fun week centered around holiday activites next week.

Our tree has been up since the day we returned from Thanksgiving break. Room 8ers put all the ornaments on - they definitely enjoyed decorating it. We also have lights around the windows and even a small Christmas tree on my desk. (THANK YOU, Sam!!!) Max and Wesley 'hamming it up!'

Next Thursday will be our schools holiday performance. One will be at 10 a.m and the other at 1 p.m. We hope you can make one of them. We'll be singing with Mrs. Friedman's first graders. Friday, we'll be making gingerbread houses from 10:35 - noon. You are most welcome to come join us and assist our construction efforts!

After lunch (12:45), will be our Christmas party/gift exchange. If you have not received the note from your Room 8er explaining all this, please ask them for the green paper.

Remember, that Friday is also a minimum day....

Hope to see you next Friday!

California Regions Brochures

We learned in Room 8, that California has 4 main regions: The coast, desert, mountain, and Central Valley. Once we had finished studying the main facts about them, each Room 8er picked a region and made a travel-type brochure. Look at some of them:Abby did the mountain region...Vanessa did the coastal region...Kaia also did the coastal region...Orion did his brochure on the desert region...Max wrote about the mountain region...Kacey did his on the Central Valley...
Katy, who we miss in Room 8, also did hers on the Central Valley.
We're heading into natural resources now... it won't take long, and then we'll start learning about some of California's Native American tribes. We'll look at how they lived in their regions - according to the natural resources available to them. This unit will tie together what we learned about regions...and what we are learning about natural resources...through some of our state's tribes.

Giving Thanks, Giving Thanks... a poem

Room 8 is making poetry books. We started with our first poem on the first day of school. "The First Day of School" poem. Periodically throughout the year, we write poems and they are filed away. In June, we'll bundle them all together, make a front and back cover, and bind them. Each child will then have all the poems they wrote for 4th grade.

For Thanksgiving, we wrote one titled "Giving Thanks". Here are some of our authors and their creations:

Silent Ball

Silent ball.

We play it in the classroom when it's too wet or too cold to go outside for P.E. Room 8 loves this game. Of course, you have to be silent - or else you're out. When you're out, you just sit down in your chair...Whoa! Look how Wasey caught the ball! Doesn't make any difference, as long as it's caught.You need to make eye-contact with the person you're throwing it to.
Kaia & Spegi

Kacey

Wesley & Spegi

Shelby, Riley and Nathan are sitting down

Wonder who Shelby threw to? It doesn't look like it was Abby.

Sarah must be thinking of throwing it to Summer.

Whew! Katy was relieved that she caught the ball. We miss Katy since she moved.

Nathan LOVES to play Silent Ball!

Spegi

Austin is getting ready to throw to either Spegi or Brittany.

Kaia looks ready... as Wasey and Kobe look on.

Shane

Austin

Sam must have caught the ball funny, because Sarah and Max are laughing.

Vanessa is ready...

Orion has a sparkle in his eye...wonder who he's planning on throwing to?

Silent ball... we usually play with one ball...and after awhile, the 3-second rule goes into effect. At that point, the game becomes something like "hot potato"... Room 8ers start dropping at that point.