pH

This was probably the windiest day of the school year.  It really made me want to fly a kite.  Too bad we don't have a stash of them at school. 


I had a nice chat with the Bookmobile librarian.  She helped me find a few good books to read.  I found a few that I've been wanting to read, so I got those too.  Good thing Easter break is coming up!  I'll have plenty of time to read!


We only have one more ITBS test to take... social studies.  I wanted to try to squeeze it in this morning, but we ran out of time.  Instead, we played the States Slap Game.  I call out a state and two 5th graders go head to head to try and tap it first (on a map of the US).  One of our musical songs is called "Sing the States" and we sing the states in alphabetical order.  I grabbed our songbook and went through the order.  Pretty soon the 5th graders caught on (especially when I began to sing the verses and paused right before the next state they'd have to find).  They did pretty well on the song... not so much locating the states.  We need to work on that.


There were a lot of hard questions on the ITBS science test we took.  A lot of the 5th graders were stumped by the topics we won't cover until next year... pH, protons, solvents.  Some guessed right.  Some guessed wrong.  All were outraged that they were being tested on stuff they hadn't learned yet.  "How are we supposed to know what the answers are?"  They did use their brains on the test though!  After one boy finished, I saw a light bulb flash on over his head, "Miss H., can I go look at the Periodic Table?"  Another boy finished and he wanted to look at the poster too.  They stared at the table for a long time.  Finally I wandered over and asked what they were looking for.  "We're trying to find which element Ph is.  It's got to be on here somewhere."


The 2nd graders weighed their shoes today.  Mrs. M and I sat down to figure out what math we absolutely need to get through by the end of the year and what stuff it's okay to skip.  We pieced together a few math packets centering around certain concepts that need a little review.  Today's was all about measurements.  I forgot to borrow a scale from one of the other teachers and all I had was a metric triple beam balance (kind of like a mini scale they used to weigh people on at the doctor's office... or the kind we have in our feed shed to weigh feed).  We learned how to use the scale and that we can measure things in grams.  Then we predicted which 2nd grade shoe would weigh the most.  And then someone had the bright idea to compare a 2nd grade shoe to a 5th grade shoe.  The 5th graders all wanted to watch too.  So we did.  (I tried to shoo the 5th graders away, but they still hovered near enough to see).