Look how tall we are!

Here are a few of our Wisconsin fast growing plants. In a matter of weeks they have shot up from seeds to over 20 centimeters in height!

We pollinated them using "bee sticks." They quickly flowered, and we are now seeing seed pods. Come in and check them out!

Aztec history

In social studies our class has been studying Mexico. Students have rotated through three different activities: studying Mexican history, making a wall map of Mexico, and doing independent research on a Mexico topic of their choice.

Here is a link to an Aztec history site that one group of students has enjoyed:

Aztec site

raising the level of our narrative writing

A quote from Dylan:

"At first I thought, 'This is going to be a really short story.' Then you started teaching us things--and my story started to get longer and longer and longer!"

Here's what we've been teaching/learning:

• how to find seed ideas by thinking of turning points in our lives

• how to listen carefully and encouragingly to each others' ideas

• how writers ask themselves, "What am I really trying to say?"

• how to use timelines as tools for planning and revising our stories

• how to study and create leads

The Big Field of Cake!

This is Shannon's fabulous home project/MCBA project! The project demonstrates her measurement ability as well as her understanding of The Big Field, one of 25 books nominated for this year's Massachusetts Book Award. The cake tasted as good as it looked!

Geometric Logic Puzzles

Is a square an equilateral rectangle? If two skis are parallel, are they still parallel if one of them breaks?

Our class has been engaged in a couple of interesting math discussions. One focused on how it is that you can call a square a rectangle, but you cannot call a rectangle a square. (This naturally flies in the face of our students' sense of fairness and logic!) The second discussion focused on whether lines (or in this case, sides of polygons) can be called parallel if one side is longer than the other (as in a classical trapezoid) or if one side "starts" before the other (as in a classical parallelogram). We broke a number of popsicle sticks in our quest for the truth!

Apostrophe intervention!

What to do? A large poster in our school was incorrectly punctuated. Some students argued to leave it be. After all, didn't people misspell things on Twitter all the time? And wouldn't you pronounce the word ("heart's") the same--whether or not an apostrophe lingered there? Luckily, Mr. Mahler dropped by just as the discussion heated up. His opinion? Take care of it. (He noted, among other things, that a poster is a public message, whereas many Twitter messages are private.) So two students snuck into the gym armed with scissors and tape. Moments later the poster read, "There's joy in our hearts today!" Phew.

So please, if you spot a misplaced apostrophe (or any other questionable punctuation), let us know. We'll take care of it!