Sem 2 Week 12 and 13

Many things have happened over the past two weeks. Last weekend my hike up Jade Mountain took more energy than I expected and so I was unable to publish last week's blog.

So firstly, here is last week's (week 12) blog:

Happy Birthday Jason .. hope you have a great Birthday. And another Happy Birthday to Yao who was sick on his Birthday a few weeks ago.

Things we have learned this week:

English

Story: Charlotte's Web
Phonics: -tion and -sion as suffixes and as part of a word
Grammar: irregular verbs

Math
We are continuing Chapter 11: Fractions and Decimals. We learned about improper fractions and mixed numbers, and started looking at decimals.


Western Social Studies
We are continuing with Unit 6 which is basically all about Economics.
We finished discussing Henry Ford and Assembly Lines and then began work on a personal glossary with words from this lesson.


Science
We have begun Unit F which looks at Force, Motion, and Energy.
We started by doing an activity to see how energy can be stored in a rubber band and then released.


We learned how all Energy comes from the sun in the form of heat and light energy. Plants use light to make food and all other living organisms eat plants and indirectly also use this energy from the sun.

Wind, water, fossil fuels, and trees can provide energy and energy can be stored in batteries.

Art
Mr. Pousen is guiding the students to make a story board diorama. I am looking forward to seeing the finished products.

Flag Ceremony
The next flag ceremony will be in June.


Field trip

I am really sad that I wasnt able to join you all on this fun day. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

Now on to this week (week 13):

Math
We covered lessons 13 to 16 which covered hundredths, decimals greater than 1, comparing and ordering fractions and decimals (this was a difficult lessons which most students managed to complete well), and adding and subtracting decimals.

Next week we will complete Chapter 11 by doing lesson 17 and 18 - Decimals, Fractions, and Money and Problem solving using money. We will also review Chapter 11 and have the test on Friday 28th or Monday 31st.


Western Social Studies
We started looking at Inventors and Inventions. This is an important aspect in our study of Economics because before a product can be made, there needs to be the idea of a product to be made.

Louis Daguerre invested the first form of camera for photography.

Cyrus McCormick invented a reaper to help farmers harvest their crops quicker.

Granville T Woods had 35 patients including telegraph for the railroad and an air brake for trains.

Next week we will look at Jeanie Low and Hans Crhistiansen Lee.


Science

We looked at waves of energy - light energy goes up and down (this we investigated by moving a jump rope up and down) and sound energy goes back and forth (this we investigated by moving a slinky). We also briefly looked at electricity.

Next week we looked at how energy can be changed and we will investigate by using batteries, bulbs, and electrical wire.

English

We finished Lesson 26 - Charlotte's web and did some extra practice on irregular verbs which can be difficult to remember.

We started Lesson 27 - Spider's webs and looked at adverbs. We will complete this lesson next week. Lesson 27 test will be on Monday 31st June.

IOWA tests
IOWA tests take place from Tuesday 25th to Friday 28th May during the first two periods each day. The first test will start at 7:50am and no-one will be allowed to enter the classroom late. Please be on time since you may not make up tests that you miss.

That's all the news for this week.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Mrs DB


3B you are all doing so well. Keep up the good work.

Mrs DB

Semester 2 Week 11

Another week has gone by and many new things have been learned.

Things we have learned this week:

English

Story: Robodogs

Review of Theme 5: There will be a theme 5 test next Thursday

The test will cover the following-

- Phonics "oo" in book, "oo" in school, Schwa: Some words have an "uh" or "uh'r" sound instead of the regular vowel sound. e.g. in the word "reason" the "o" is pronounced "uh", vowel variant "aw" sound which can be spelled "au, augh, al, ough".
Prefixes: pre-, mis-, and in-
Homophones: e.g. whole and hole sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.

- Comprehension including - Cause and Effect: The Effect answers the question "what happened?" and the Cause answers the question "why it happened?"
Sequence: remember to watch out for time order words e.g. next, then, after that.

Grammar including - the verb Be, helping verbs, present, past, and future tense verbs: Usually we had "will" before future tense verbs e.g. will read. Often "ed" is added to the end of a past tense verb e.g. assigned.


Math
We are continuing Chapter 11: Fractions and Decimals. We learned how to compare and order fractions and how to write mixed numbers and improper fractions.


Western Social Studies

We have started Unit 6 which is basically all about Economics.
We started with the definition for Economics, which is "the making, buying, and selling of goods and services". We spent this week looking at goods and services and the students brought in some great pictures - of goods (products)
and services

We also started looking at the making of a product. We read about the model T Ford and Henry Ford.


Science
We spend this week reviewing Unit E and had the test on Friday.

We ended our week by doing a few fun experiements.

First, we looked at the chemical reaction of adding baking soda to vinegar. The resulting gas was enough to partially blow up a balloon.

Second, we watched milk curdle as we added vinegar to it. The milk separated into curds and wey.

Finally, we created a solution in a fun way. We poured milk into a plate. Then added a couple of drops of food color, and finally added one drop of liquid soap. The result was a beautiful mixing of color.

Next week we begin the final unit in our science book which looks at Force, Motion, and Energy.


Homework Machines
This is the first week that the entire class received certificates.
Well done to you all .. congratulations you are incredible homework machines.Reading Log
Well done to everyone for reading so well.

Flag Ceremony
Next week we will have flag ceremony. Please remember to wear your class shirt on Wednesday.

CSS
On Friday the CSS teacher taught the class how to greet others in a traditional Chinese manner. They all had fun greeting each other and playing a fun game to practice greeting others of different ages.

3B you are all doing so well. Keep up the good work See you on Monday

Mrs DB

Semester 2 Week 10

Another week has gone by and many new things have been learned.

I hope you all like our new door poster - "Come into 3B and Join the Champions"

Things we have learned this week:

English

Here are some of the Onomatopoeia posters from last week.

Story: Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Schwa: Some words have an "uh" or "uh'r" sound instead of the regular vowel sound. e.g. in the word "reason" the "o" is pronounced "uh".
Homophones: e.g. whole and hole sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.
Cause and Effect: The Effect answers the question "what happened?" and the Cause answers the question "why it happened?"
Past and future tense verbs: Usually we had "will" before future tense verbs e.g. will read. Often "ed" is addred to the end of a past tense verb e.g. assigned.

Please remember to sign Lesson 23: Chestnut Cove workbook and test and return them to school on Monday.

On Monday there will be our usual weekly English test on this week's work.

Math
We have started Chapter 11: Fractions and Decimals. Important words for this week are "denominator" and "numerator"

Please remember to sign Chapter 10 workbook and test and return them to school on Monday.

Western Social Studies

We have finished Unit 4 and this week we spent some time reviewing what we have learned.

Please remember to sign Chapter 8 workbook and return it to school on Monday.

Next week we start Unit 6 which is basically all about Economics. This was one of my majors at university and so I have decided to complete this unit first before doing Unit 5 in case we do not have time to complete everything in the text book. I feel that a basic understanding of money and the working of business is important for children to learn in elementary school. There is a wonderful internet resource on the Time for Kids site which I will provide more information about as we go through this unit.

Science
Chemical Change: This is when the molecues change and cannot return to its original state easily.

We observed Chemical Change on Tuesday. We added vinegar to baking soda and observed the results.

When doing experiments we need to not only observe with our eyes but also use our other senses. We looked at some items on the board and decided which of our senses would be best used to "observe" these items.

On Thursday we had fun observing a tasty Chemical Change.
We made cupcakes and coconut ice.

The best part about this experiment was of course the "taste test"

Homework Machines
Well done to you all .. congratulations you are incredible homework machines.

Flag Ceremony
The flag ceremony was canceled this week but we did receive one clean up certificate. Great work 3B .. keep up the good work.

Home room hour
On Wednesday we were invited by the grade 2 parents to join the grade 1, 2, and 3's to listen to a presentaion about chinese wind instruments.

SPIRIT WEEK

Everyone participated so well this week and made it a really fun week. Well done everyone!

Thanks Jason for bringing in candy to share with us each day of Spirit Week.

Monday - Cartoon Character Day - winner = Nina

Tuesday -Crazy Hair Day - winner = Alica

Wednesday - Class Tshirt Day

Most orange winner = Elijah

Runners up = Nina, Nicole, Ricky, and Sonia

Thursay - Pajama Day

Crazy toy winner = Victor

Beautiful toy winner = Jolene

Friday - Crazy Hat Day

Most creative = Jasmine

Most fun = Jonathan Chen

Runners up = Nicole, Sonia, Nina, Jolene, Jason, and Alica

3B you are all doing so well.
Keep up the good work
See you on Monday
Mrs DB

Sem 2 Week 9

Another week has gone by and many new things have been learned.

Things we have learned this week:

English

Story: Chestnut Cove

Prefixes: pre-, mis-, and in-

Homophones: e.g. too, two, and to

Cause and Effect: The Effect answers the question "what happened?" and the Cause answers the question "why it happened?"

Present tense verbs: When the noun is I, You, or a plural then you don't add an "s" to the verb, if the noun is singular then you add an "s", "es", or "ies" to the verb. Verbs ending in ch, ss,z, and sh add an "es" and verbs ending in a consonant and a "y" need to change the "y" to an i and then add "es".

On Monday there will be our usual weekly English test on this week's work.

Math

We finished Chapter 10: Ordered Pairs, Probability, and Prediction.

On Monday there will be a test on Chapter 10

These pictures show Jason, Nick, Joshua, Victor, and Yao plotting ordered pairs. Social Studies

Kwanzaa: A holiday celebrated by African Americans to celebrate their heritage.

Hanukkah: A holiday celebrated by the Jewish people to celebrate their heritage.

This picture shows us playing a Hanukkah game called Dreidels.

Science

Physical Change: This is when matter's shape, size, or state changes but no change occurs in its molecules.

Mixtures can be separated using your hands or a tool such as a funnel, filter, or magnet. Here is a picuture of us separating mixtures of marbles, beans, paper clips, and water.

Solutions sometimes can be separated by evaporation. In this picture we are separating a solution of sugar and water by evaporation. We are most grateful to Mr. Ray for helping us in the science lab and for providing the equipment we needed for this experiment.

Reading Log

Well done to Ricky, Victor, Jasmine, Sonia, Nicole, and Gloria for receiving certificates this week.

Earth Day

On Wednesday we celebrated Earth Day by joining with the other elementary classes to clean up the school. I am so pleased with everyone in 3B. You all worked so hard and with such good attitudes and made a big difference to our area. Well done to you all!

It was Yao's birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday Yao. I am sorry you were sick. I hope you feel better now.

Next week is SPIRIT WEEK

Monday is Dress Like a Cartoon Character Day

Tuesday is Crazy Hair Day

Wednesday is Class Tshirt Day .. it is also Flag Ceremony

Thursay is Pajama Day

Friday is Favorite Hat Day

I hope you will all participate in this fun week.

3B you are all doing so well.

Keep up the good work

See you on Monday

Mrs DB

2nd Semester Weeks 7 and 8

Congratulations everyone for doing so well on the mid terms. It was a tiring couple of days but you are all stars. Well done to those students who received above 95% in Math, Science, and Social studies and above 90% in English.

At flag ceremony this week 3B and some individuals received awards.

3B received two 1st place certificates fro clean up, Joshua received March student of the Month for Caring, and Alica recieved the Model Student Award from the Hsinchu Goverment.

Well done everyone on a job well done!

In Math this week we stared Chapter 10 and looked at tally charts, line plots, and pictorgraphs on page 438 - 447. Next week we will finish Chapter 10 by looking at Bar graphs, ordered paries, probability and predicting on pages 448 - 467. On Friday there will be a test on this capter. You can use pages 476 and 477 to do some extra practice.

In English we read this week's story "Chestnut Cove" but due to mid terms we will comtinue this lesson next week.

In Social studies we continued looking at how culture is influenced by language, art, music, and religion. On Wednesday during Home Room Hours we had fun trying some Australian aboriginal dot art. Next week we look at festivals of different cultures.

In Science we finished Unit E Chapter 1 and next week will move onto Chapter 2 - Changes in Matter.

Last week we looked at ice melting in a jar and when it melted condensation formed on the outside of the jar.

Another fun activitiy we did in science was to see how one cup of water looks different in different shape and size containers.

On Tuesday after we finished exams we took our anemometers outside into the sunshine. It was a windey day and we hoped that hsi special homemade weather equipment would tell us the wind speed. Unfortunately, it didn't work very well but at least we got to spend a great half-an-hour in the sun (being eaten by mosquitoes :))

On Friday we did two sicence activities. Int he first one we looked at what metals can be lifted with a magnet and in the second one we discovered that vinegar and water mix, and oil floats on vinegar and water.

Congratulations to Ricky, Alica, Nicole, Nina, and Victor for receiving Reading Certificates last week.

On Friday afternoon we took a break from regular English class and learned about "Onomatopoeia" which is a term that refers to words which sound like the read sound. Like buzz, woof, and kerplunk.

On Friday we said goodbye to Sandra. We will miss you Sandra. Goodluck at your new school. Thanks to Sandra's mom we had a delicious cake to end off our Friday and wish Sandra goodbye. Thank you Chitra and good luck to your whole family in your move to Malaysia.

95% of 3B received Homework Machine Certificates this week. Well done to you all!

3B you are all doing such a great job!

Mrs DB

Sem 2 Week 6

Thanks to the school, last weekend I went with a few teachers to choose books for our class. Now we have some new Roald Dahl, Geronimo Stilton, a Judy Blume, a couple of animal books, Warriors, Secrets of Drune, Andrew Clements, and a couple of classics. I hope everyone enjoys reading these new books.Each student chose a new book out of a bag and told us all a little about what they thought it was about.In Math we learned how to use a tables square to help us with division.In Science we leaned how to observe everyday objects and decide how they felt, looked, smelled, and sounded. This was the start of a new section in Science about matter.On Friday we had a taste testing activity. Can we taste well without sight and smell? How does seeing the color of something affect our taste?

At flag ceremony on Wednesday, 3B received a certificate for clean up. We also received a special mention about the cleanliness of our hallway, so well done to Nicole, Jasmine, Jonathan Ai, and Victor who are our hallway cleaners.Well done to you all for doing so much reading this last month. And congratulations to those who received certificates - Nicole, Victor, Yao, Wesley, and Ricky.We start a new reading challenge for April. So get reading those chapter books 3B. I am sure you will all enjoy the many adventures you can read about.

Out classroom board is now decorated with our solar system art and Charlotte's Web comics. Parents you are welcome to come and have a look next time you are at school.


Easter Egg coloring and hunting was lots of fun. Thanks so much for bringing in eggs from home and a big thank you to all the moms who joined us to hide the eggs.I hope you have all had a good long weekend. Don't forget we have our regular English test tomorrow.

See you tomorrow
Mrs DB