Wednesday!

Writing: 
The students completed their brainstorming (graphic organizer) and have started writing their rough drafts about their toy design. It's an expository writing piece that explains how their toy works. I modeled how to brainstorm ideas using the 3-Box plan yesterday.

Writing Prompt-

Your recent design challenge was to create a toy for a company called Jakks Pacific. The company had asked you to create a toy that would make more money for the company, but there were some must haves and restrictions to the toy. Explain what kind of toy you designed and its parts, how it met the company’s criteria (must haves), and how you plan to market (sell) your toy to consumers (buyers).  

Be sure to−

•      clearly state your central idea

•      organize your writing

•      develop your writing in detail

•      choose your words carefully

•      use correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and sentences

Science: Students were finishing up designing their toy using TinkerCad (designer software program) and their stations. 

Monday!

Planting flowers for red ribbon week!

We began our Science stations: 

STEMscopes Station

Concept Task Cards Station

-Energy (Higher order questions)

-Properties of Matter (Higher order questions)

-Models (Higher order questions)

Science Probes Station

-Birthday Candles

-Mitten Problem

-Making Sound

3D Toy Design Station

-TinkerCAD- Designing our 3D Toy using a Designing Software Program

Vocabulary Card/Picture Station

-Matching vocabulary terms

-Identify forms of energy in pictures

Enrichment Station:

-Add to KWL with sticky notes

-Elaborate Inquiry Wheel 

 Spelling Words 

(Test on Friday)

1. headless
2. seas
3. teams
4. meaning
5. greatest
6. bears
7. yearly
8. dreaming
9. bears (homophone)
10. hearing 
11. sweeping
12. cheers

Important Dates

10/26-10/30	Red Ribbon Week - see information below
10/26	GCISD School Board Meeting - GMS Cafeteria 7:00 pm
10/28	GCISD Pink Out Day - Wear Pink to raise awareness about Breast Cancer
10/30	Dental Hygiene Day - Kindergarten-2nd grade
11/01	Daylight Savings Time - change your clocks!
11/11	Veteran's Day Assembly - see information below
11/16-11/20	Book Fair @ Cannon
11/19	Family Engineering Night & choir concert 5:30-7:30
11/23-11/27	Thanksgiving Break - no school

OCTOBER NEWS FROM THE LEARNING COMMONS! Mrs. Berumen, our wonderful librarian, has shared some great October learning opportunities with all of our staff & students.  At our last Friday Assembly, she spoke with the students about the October Book of the Month and the related Design Challenge.  This month's book, Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf is a wonderful book to share during the fall season.  She has challenged all of our classroom teachers to engage their students in a challenge to design Leaf Rafts in class.  Using only approved materials, students will design sustainable rafts that can hold the largest number of marbles.  These designs will be tested "live" on KCAN in November and the winning class will receive a $50 gift certificate to the upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. Click here to read about this month's book & challenge.  Also, from the Learning Commons, Mrs. Berumen has invited all students to participate in this Annual Storybook Pumpkin Challenge. 

FUN FAMILY EVENT!  Make plans now to attend Shrek! The Musical, a Grapevine High School Theater Production. On October 30th & 31st @ 7:00 pm, parents and children are invited to attend! Children may attend in costumes for this musical fantasy at Halloween!  Student tickets are $10 & adult tickets are $15. Click here to make reservations now!  If you attend the October 31st performance, you can buy a $5.00 Swamp Pass for trick or treat at the concession stand before the show or at intermission.  You can also have your photo made with cast members and get candy treats & autographs from each character!

NEW ATTENDANCE INCENTIVE  Attendance at school each day is critically important to each student's academic success at school - if students are not present, they cannot learn!!  Also, did you know that our students' attendance plays a part in our campus accountability ratings and funding from the state?  For all of these reasons and more, we want to remind all parents that student attendance at school each day IS important!!  Effective Monday, October 26th, all students who are in attendance each day for the remainder of the year, will receive a free pass to NRH20 Water Park at the end of the year!!  As a reminder, all students should be in their classrooms at 7:45 each day, ready for instruction.  Thank you for getting to school on time!

Reflections

The students worked on their toy design reflections. If they did not finish their responses in class, then they were asked to work on them over the weekend. The reflections are due on Monday.

Criteria (must haves)

•Your toy must be an exciting, interactive toy that is appealing to children

•Your toy must use at least two or more forms of energy

•You must advertise your toy through a commercial or slideshow that persuades children and parents to buy it

•You must have a expository writing piece explaining how your toy works and what forms of energy it uses

 

Constraints

•It cannot be a toy that is already existing today

•Use only K’Nex to build prototype

•Time- one week

 

How did your toy meet the criteria (must haves)? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Explain how is your toy exciting and interactive for children?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What was different about your final design from your initial plans?   

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   

What do you think could improve your design?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did you do that worked well? Why?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did you do that didn’t work well? Why?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What challenges did you face in your design process?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How do you know that energy was involved? What evidence do you have?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

List and describe 5 properties of matter (texture, color, shape, mass, magnetic, sink or float, length, flexibility, etc) of your toy.

______________  -- _________________________________________

______________  -- _________________________________________

______________  -- _________________________________________

______________  -- _________________________________________

______________  -- _________________________________________

List all four forms of energy and two examples of each one.

______________    Examples: __________________________________

______________    Examples: __________________________________

______________    Examples: __________________________________

______________    Examples: __________________________________

Spelling Words- Test on Friday

Spelling words this week: Best Friend Suffix Rule! 
Test will be on Friday! Please study!

1. greedy

2. needless

3. cheering

4. greeted

5. speechless

6. weeps

7. comes

8. a lot

9. keeping

10. weeded

11. sneeze

12.outcome

Home Challenge: I gave an optional challenge to my kiddos today. They need to take the concepts we have been learning about forms of energy and make it into a song. They can take current songs they know and use that beat to add "energy" lyrics to. Due on Friday! It is not required but it's an opportunity to earn extra credit. 

Toy Design Day 3!

Toy Design Engineering Project

First, we added to our KWL Chart on Energy. Then, the groups finish filming the 1st stage of the engineering project (Imagine). Groups continued on to complete their 4-box plan on their toy design. Afterwards,  students began filming themselves discussing the 4-box plan and their final plan (See Below). Some groups were even able to begin creating their prototype with K’Nex. 

 

Engineering Project: Toy Design Day 2

Toy Design:
Today, students were put into groups for their engineering project involving forms of energy. We discussed expectations and went over the grading rubrics for the challenge as a class. Then the students began filming for the first stage of the engineering process in which they identified the problem. Afterwards, the groups started to plan their design using the 4-box plan. 

I had them download 123D Design app today! It's a 3D design app used to submit their final plan for their toy.

National Unity Day!

Parents,

Wednesday, October 21st we will join the nation to celebrate UNITY DAY! That’s the day everyone can come together in schools and communities to send on large ORANGE message of support, hope, and unity to show that we are united against bullying and united for kindness, acceptance and inclusion. Please have your student wear an ORANGE shirt in support of Unity Day on Wednesday, October 21st!

Thanks!

Red Ribbon Week

Dear Family Members, 

Our school will be joining all the schools across the nation Oct. 26th – 30th in celebration of Red Ribbon Week.

This special week is to remind everyone about the dangers of drug usage. The red ribbon is the symbol behind the nation’s fight against drugs. There are a number of activities we want you to be aware and participate in as much as possible.

In addition to the following Red Ribbon Week activities, we are also having a poster contest. Posters must be on 11 x 17 paper or poster board and should have a message about being drug free. The 1st place winners will go on to the district contest. GCISD is also sponsoring a Public Service Announcement (PSA) competition. Please submit your PSA to amanda.coburn@gcisd.net and title it Red Ribbon PSA. All posters and Public Service Announcements must be turned in to your students’ classroom teacher or Mrs. Coburn by Friday, October 23rd.

Cannon’s Red Ribbon Theme: Say NO... It Helps Us Grow

Monday, October 26th: Plant the Promise
Scholars will be making a promise to be drug free as they plant tulip bulbs outside in the front of the school. Red tulips blooming in the spring will serve as a beautiful reminder of the promises scholars made this week. 

Tuesday, October 27th: Grow Healthy... Don’t Let Drugs Mix You Up! Please have your student wear mixed up clothes. It is also National Mix It Up Day. Students will be encouraged to sit with a new friend at lunch or find a new friend to play with at recess. 

Wednesday, October 28th : Growing My Healthy Drug-Free Selfie! Students can wear healthy hobby/extra curricular activity attire. (sports uniform, boy/girl scouts uniform, choir shirt, art smock, etc...) Students and staff will be taking Healthy Selfies to post Students should all wear red and sunglasses. Students will receive a sticker today. on blogs and Facebook during the day!

Thursday, October 29th: My Drug-Free Dream ... When I Grow Up I will Be... Please have your student wear their pajamas. Students will make a pledge to be drug free and set a career goal.

Friday, October 30th : BEE Drug Free... So Friendships GROW! Students can dress like a friend(s). (You can wear the same Cannon shirt.) Each student will receive a “BEE a Friend” spirit stick.We want this week to be fun, educational, but most important; we want our students to know it is OK to

Say No To Drugs! Please discuss each one of these areas with your family. Let’s do everything we can to make our community healthy, safe, and drug free.

Storybook Pumpkin Challenge!

Friday!

Toy Design Challenge!


Scenario:
You are a senior designer for a toy company called Jakks Pacific. You and your design team are responsible for designing and marketing a new product that will excite children. Ask adults and children what the exciting toys were when they were younger and record your findings. The excitement often comes from advertisements on the television. As someone who creates and builds toys, you will need to help develop the advertisement that goes with your toy. You want your toy to be successful. Creating a fun and exciting toy will be important. Working with the marketing team will also be important.

Challenge:

Make a toy that uses at least two or more forms of energy: thermal, sound, mechanical, and light. You will design your prototype with Kinex, paper, and tape. Your toy must be exciting for kids to play with. Afterwards, you will create a slideshow or commercial that will advertise your product. You must explain how your toy works and its parts in detail. You must also persuade children and parents to buy your product. The management and marketing teams, as well as the target group for your toy design will be evaluating your ideas.

Students were asked to go home this weekend and talk to adults and other children about what toys they play/played with and why. They will use their recordings as part of their research for the challenge. 

This engineering project will last all next week! Please email me if you would like to come in to be a part of this challenge. 

Secret Agents

We began science class by giving ourselves secret agent names. Our objective as agents were to walk around the school building (inside and outside) to find real life examples of objects that use energy.  They took pictures of these objects with their IPad. Afterwards, they classified their objects by mechanical, heat/thermal, sound, and light. Then, as a whole class, we created a tree map with all four forms of energy. Each student contributed to the Map with examples of each type of energy they identified around the school. Tomorrow we began our next engineering design project!! 

Reminder- Tomorrow is the spelling test!

 

Forms of Energy!

Forms of Energy!

I CAN... explore different forms of energy in every day life.

These are the essential questions that will be answered throughout the next two week:

• What is energy?
• In what form does energy exist?
• How does energy change matter?
• How do we use energy in our everyday?

Today, we discussed in further detail the different forms of energy: sound, mechanical (kinetic and potential), light, and heat/thermal. 

Practice at home: Ask your child to identify objects at home and the types of energy evident in them. Electrical energy is not part of the third grade curriculum, but feel free to have them identify that as well.

Writing: Students continued to work on their expository writing piece. Most of them are peer editing or on their final draft. The final draft is due Friday! Please continue to ask your child what their writing goal is so that it remains fresh in their minds as they write. I give them stickers to put on their goal sheet when they can prove to me (on paper) that they worked on their goal.

Forms of Energy

Science- Today, we started our new unit on Forms of Energy! 

KWL Chart
Students discussed what they already knew about energy from past years. We wrote this in the “K” section. In pairs, students discussed what they wondered or wanted to know about energy. We wrote these in the form of questions in the “W” section. Throughout the unit, we will go back and begin filling out the "L" section, which stands for what we learned. 
 
Afterwards, I passed out pictures of several different objects. The students explored energy using these objects. The four forms of energy we will be learning are: mechanical, light, thermal/heat, and sound energy. 

 Spelling words start this week! Our first spelling test will be this Friday (October 16th)!!! I gave each student a copy of their list. I also provided the word list on here just in case your son or daughter forgot to bring it home with him/her. 

1. cheek

2. sweep

3. cheer

4. freeze

5. teeth

6. green

7. lived

8. father

9. sheet

10. bleed

11. somebody

12. wayside

Important Information

Dear Parents,

The school has decided to leave the cardboard creations in the hallway until Tuesday.  By Tuesday morning the students will need to make sure that the card with their name on it is taped to the creation.  On Tuesday afternoon we will have the students bring their designs to the cafeteria to be on the stage. If students have items as a part of their creation that they don't want lost or stolen, please have them take those items with them.  They can bring them back the night of STEM family night.

Reminder: World’s Finest Chocolate fundraiser ends October 21, 2015. All money must be turned in by this date to participate in the rewards.

October 12^th- No School for students

October 16^th- End of the 1^st nine weeks grading period

October 20^th- Cannon Family Night at Spring Creek BBQ

October 26^th-30^th- Red Ribbon Week

Science- For the next two weeks we will begin talking about different forms of energy in everyday life.  Please be sure to ask your kids what they learned in Science that day!

Thursday

We spent the day working in 8 stations for Language Arts: 

• Word Work
• Writing (mini-lesson, brainstorming, and rough draft)
• Reading (independent and Education Galaxy)
• Handwriting

 The students are beginning to do expository writing. Since this is typically more difficult than narrative writing, I highly recommend that parents practice with students at home. 

Example expository prompts to practice at home: 

Most people have a favorite season or time of year. 

Think about the time of year you like the most.
Write about your favorite time of year. Explain what makes it special to you.  

There are rules that we must follow everywhere we go. Rules are important and are there to help us stay safe. Think about the rules at your school. Write about the most important rules in your school and explain why they are important. 

We all have something we are thankful for. Some are thankful for their toys and others are thankful for their friends and families. 

Think about things and people that you are thankful for. Write about what a person in your life you are thankful for. Explain why you are thankful for this person.

      

Field Trip- Tuesday

Our field trip to downtown Grapevine! 

Matter and Energy Stations

Today, I created stations that covered important TEKS that have been discussed throughout the past few weeks. I purposely created each one after collecting data from their tests. It's always important make sure the students understand the concepts before moving forward!