Monday, June 8, 2015

Hatching Chicks...A Study of Animal Traits

During the month of May, third graders in room 177 learned about traits of animals.  To help us delve deeply into this exploration, we hatched chicks.  In lieu of a lengthy blog post on this topic, I opted to put together a movie slide show (the first I've ever made)  so that you could see first-hand some of the amazing things that the students experienced in our classroom.

On May 4, Ms. A. drove to Cincinnati to the Mt. Healthy Hatchery to pick up three Buff Orpington eggs whose chicks that had already begun to peck through the shell.  She placed them in an incubator that was plugged into an outlet in her car and drove them back to HSA-DE.  From there, the incubator was placed under the document camera and the image of the incubator was projected on the STAR Board during the day.  Students were given the opportunity to come up to the incubator for a close up view as well.

During the school day, the chicks worked to peck through the shell.  Ever so often, we would see a little bit of activity and then there would be long periods of stillness while the chicks rested.  Hatching is a tiring job!  Students would begin to get very excited when they could hear the chicks chirping!

Unfortunately, none of the chicks had hatched as of 2:15 p.m.  But right at dismissal time, one of the eggs began to really shake, rattle, and roll!  Students were glued to the screen of the STAR Board.  As busses were called, students from other grades filtered into our classroom to see this miracle of life happening right before our eyes.  Approximately 20 students from grades 2-5 sat with baited breath as we watched and waited for the baby chick to hatch.





This was the only chick to hatch while we watched.  By the time Ms. A. arrived at school the following morning, the remaining two chicks had hatched.

Please enjoy the following movie/ slide-show of the development of our classroom chicks.






Friday, June 5, 2015

Fourth Quarter Honors

The fourth quarter of the 2014-15 school year is behind us and with that Horizon Science Academy took some time to recognize students who demonstrated outstanding achievement in academics, character, and citizenship. The following students from third grade were recognized at the fourth quarter awards assembly in May.

Merit Roll


Merit roll is achieved when a student earns an overall GPA between 3.0 and 3.49.  The following third graders achieved the Merit Roll for the fourth quarter of this school year:

Kaylin
Shy'Diamond
Adriana
Abubakr
Alivia
D'Aijah
Marion

Honor Roll


Honor Roll is achieved when a student earns a GPA between 3.5 and 3.99.   The following students achieved Honor Roll during the fourth quarter:

Khadijah
Cayla
Diamond
Darren
TaMya
Da'Marieon

Super Honor Roll

Super Honor Roll is achieved when a student obtains a GPA of a perfect 4.0,  The following students achieved Super Honor Roll during the fourth quarter:

Ray'Von
Jayda
Angel
James

Special Honors and Awards

Highest Average in Science


Kaylin

P.E.

Marcus
D'Aijah


D'Aijah (Marcus, not pictured)


Highest Average in Reading

Cayla
Ray'von
Jayda
Angel
James

Ray'Von, Jayda, Cayla, Angel


Highest Average in Math

James
Angel
Ray'Von

Model Student

Khadijah
Cayla
Diamond
Jayda
Diamond, Jayda, Cayla, Khadijah



Most Improved

Reading: D'Aijah
Math:  D'Aijah
Science:  Ra'Jhay
Social Studies: Ra'Jhay
Behavior:  Ra'Jhay, Adriana, Alivia
Overall:  Cayla

D'Aijah, Ra'Jhay, Cayla, and Alivia


Horizon P.R.I.D.E. Award

Cayla

Citizenship

Cayla
Diamond
Jayda
Angel

Back Row:  Cayla, Diamond
Front Row:  Angel, Jayda


Multiplication Masters

Shy'Diamond
Lavon
Ray'Von
Jayda
Diamond
Marcus
D'Aijah
Angel
TaMya
Da'Marieon
James







Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Games to Help Your Child Practice Math Facts This Summer

Summertime can be a time of great fun for children.  But, if your children are like my children, it won't be long before you hear these words, "Mom, I'm bored!"  This is when you have a great opportunity to take things you may already have around the house and use them in a different way AND help your child be prepared for that first day of school in the fall.  Here are a few simple games that can be played with a partner or a small group.  They are fun and I bet your child won't even feel like he or she is studying!

Domino Games

Domino Keepers Addition

  • a game for 2 players (or two teams)
  • All of the dominoes are placed in the centre face down.
  • Both players pick up a domino at the same time.
  • Each player tells the sum of the dots on their domino, e.g. 2+4=6, 5+3=8.
  • The player with the highest answer keeps both dominoes. If both players have the same answer, each keeps a domino. The winner is the player or team with the most dominoes when all dominoes have been picked up.

Domino Keepers Multiplication

  • a game for 2 players (or two teams)
  • Play this game as above but instead of adding the two numbers on the domino, multiply them.
  • These games tick all of the boxes - the kids love them, they are simple to play and all you need is a set of dominoes!
 

Card Games

Addition/ Subtraction War

Like in the regular game of War, you are trying to get all the cards by having the highest card value. But in addition war you have two piles and flip over two cards at the same time. You must add your cards together to see if you have the highest value. To make it more challenging you could even have three piles and add three digits. This mental math practice makes computations a lot easier, even for adults.

Obviously subtraction war is played the same way, except you use subtraction to find the value of your cards. The great thing about using the speed cards is that you get to see the mathematical patterns that the 2’s cards make. Your children will start to notice that the patterns are different from the 3’s, 4’s cards etc.

Multiplication War

Like in the regular game of War, you are trying to get all the cards by having the highest card value. But in multiplication war you have two piles and flip over two cards at the same time. You must multiply your cards together to see if you have the highest product. This mental math practice makes computations a lot easier, even for adults.

Defensive Multiplication

Your child will become a multiplication genius with this exciting card game! Players strategize to earn points as they place playing cards on their handmade game board.



What You Need:
Deck of playing cards, face cards removed
4 sheets of paper
Tape
Pencil
Scratch paper
Black marker
2 Players, or 2 teams







What You Do:

  1. Have your child and her friends create a game board by drawing a 2 x 2 grid on each piece of paper. Tape the 4 sheets of paper together on the back and create a 4 x 4 grid.
  2. Announce that aces = 1.
  3. Ask one of the players to remove all of the face cards from the deck. Then divide the cards they removed into red and black cards. Each player gets either the red or black cards.
  4. The game consists of 5 rounds. A round of play is made up of 16 turns (8 for each player) and features a different target product. You can decide on whatever target products you'd like, but the target products we used are: 60, 72, 84, 90, and 96. These number have lots of factors so they're easier to work with.
  5. The two players must face each other. Players take turns placing any one of their cards into one of the spaces on the game board.
  6. Whoever completes a line of 4 cards in a row in any direction (including diagonally), successfully creating the target product, wins one point. An example of 84: 7 x 2 x 3 x 2 = 84.
  7. Once the board is full the round is complete. Clear the board and redistribute the cards back to the players before starting the next round.
  8. The player who has the most points at the end of 5 rounds wins!

Other Games

Egg Carton Shake-Up

Here’s a fun way for kids to practice their math facts & also reuse egg cartons!*

-To prepare the egg carton, simply number the bottom of each space 1-12.
-Pop two counters into the egg carton. (Marbles, Pom Poms, Dried Beans, etc. work great!)
-In pairs (or even groups of 3 or 4) or individually, take turns shaking the egg carton.
– They then place the egg carton right side up & open it to see where the counters ended up.
– On a sheet of paper record the numbers the counters are on, multiplying or adding (whichever you re practicing) them for their score.
– Add scores as they go.
– First player to 200 (or whatever number you set) is the winner!

*Remember to check for egg allergies in the class before using egg cartons.


Place Value Practice

This one can be done as a whole group or as a small group with a student acting as the number caller. Students set up a game board with dashes for each digit, plus a trash can. You can decide how many digits you want the number to be, depending on what your students are learning. In the above pictures, the game board was set up for a 3-digit number, plus the trash can. Teacher (or student) pulls one card from the deck, tells it to the class and each student must decide where to place the number on their game board, trying to end up with a number with the greatest value. Continue pulling cards one at a time and make sure that students place the number for each turn. Students can use the trash can to discard a number they don't want to use, but they can only use it once during each round. This game can also be done to create numbers with the least value and can be used for numbers with as many digits as you'd like.

I like this game because it requires skill and a bit of luck - any student can win. It can also reveal a lot - for instance when students are discarding eights and nines and placing ones in the hundreds place. Finally, I like it because it requires students to read their answer - reading large numbers can be a skill that students may not practice enough.