ITBS Dates

Students will be completing the Iowa Test of Basic Skills the week of October 25-29. They will be testing between 8AM-10AM each day. Please schedule appointments outside of this time frame if possible. More information to come! :)

FOSS Website

Today in science we checked out the FOSS website. There you can find vocabulary, games, and even information for teachers and parents. You can find the FOSS website by clicking here.

Working to Create a Bully Free School: Social or Relational Aggression

This year we will continue to work with the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. Our Anti-Bullying Rules are:

1. We will not bully others. 
2. We will help students who are bullied.
3. We will include students who are left out.
4. If we know that somebody is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at home.

Bullying is damaging to students not only physically, but also emotionally. This year I would like to focus on  educating students on, and providing strategies to prevent, a type of bullying that is known as social or relational aggression. Often this type of bullying is associated with girls, but boys are also affected by this type of aggression.

Dr. Laura Martocci, professor at Wagner College, refers to this type of bullying as "emotional violence."

According to the Ophelia Project website http://www.opheliaproject.org/ :

Relational aggression encompasses behaviors that harm others by damaging, threatening to damage or manipulating one's relationships with his/her peers, or by injuring one's feelings of social acceptance.

For example:

•  Purposefully ignoring someone when angry (giving the "silent treatment")
• Spreading rumors about a disliked classmate
• Telling others not to play with a certain classmate as a means of retaliation.

Please check out these websites and books for additional information about social/relational aggression and bullying:

Olweus
The Ophelia Project
Relational Aggression
Hope House Online
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolecent Girls by Mary Pipher
Queen Bees and Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World by Rosalind Wiseman
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls   by Rachel Simmons

Amateur Pilots

We are "flying" through our latest science investigation. This week students have been building and piloting planes made from straws, popsicle sticks, and propellers. The planes fly on 4 meter flight lines, and we have been investigating the minimum number of propeller winds (rhymes with kinds) it takes for the plane to fly the distance of the line. Tomorrow students will be planning and completing an investigation they designed with their groups. They will be experimenting with variables such as slope, mass, and additional power to determine how these things affect how far their plane flies. Controlled variables will include design of plane, and a standard number of winds that will be used in each trial.

Estimation and Computation

We wrapped up unit one in math today, and will be delving into computation and estimation in unit two.

By the end of the unit, students will be able to:

• Devise estimation strategies for solving problems where an exact answer isn't possible.
• Add and subtract multi-digit decimal numbers.
• Solve number stories.
• Use statistical landmarks to describe experimental data.
• Estimate the probability of events.
• Make magnitude estimates for the products of multi-digit numbers.
• Multiply multi-digit whole numbers and decimals.
• Grasp relative size of large numbers (million, billion, trillion)

Sinking Ships

We recently completed an investigation where students experimented how changing variables affected how many passengers their "lifeboats" could hold. Students constructed lifeboats of different sizes out of Styrofoam cups and floated them in tubs of water. We measured boat capacity using syringes and graduated cylinders. After deciding on which variables we needed to control (how the pennies were placed, the condition of the sea, wet vs. dry pennies) they placed pennies in the boats until they sank, recording how many passengers (pennies) their lifeboats (cups) successfully held. Students discovered that the greater the capacity of the boat, the more passengers it held. They graphed their results using a two coordinate graph, and predicted outcomes of future trials by using their graphs.

Important Content Notes/Vocabulary:

• Capacity is the maximum amount of fluid a container can hold.
• A two-coordinate graph displays the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in an experiment.

** Did you know that pennies minted since 1983 are copper-plated zinc? Older pennies are made of solid copper. Because they are made of different metals, the new and old pennies have different masses. All of the pennies used in our investigations were "new" pennies, so that they would have a standard mass.

Problem Solving Friday

Throughout the school year, students will be working on challenging word problems, learn problem solving strategies and develop mathematical ideas and thinking. This is 21st century learning! :)

Today the problem proved difficult. In fact, no one came up with the correct solution. However, there was some EXCELLENT conversation, problem solving, and deep thought involved. The students asked that I share the problem on the blog, so that they may challenge you to solve it as well. The solution is in the comments section. We went over how to solve the problem in class. Challenge your student to explain the solution to you if you get stuck. Please feel free to comment, and let us know how it went for you!

Here is the problem:

2 diamond rings and 4 silver rings cost $1,440. A diamond ring and a silver ring cost $660. How much does a silver ring cost?