The Atoms Family Lyrics

The earth science unit we are starting teaches about electricity, it's uses, magnatism, and the applications in the world.  As an introduction and preview to more difficult science concepts we will be briefly introducing atomic structure as the building blocks to electricity!

Learn Online Here!

Electricity Safety

U.S. Energy Information

Static Electricity

Here is a song we're singing to help remind us of the properties of atoms!  If you don't know the tune go to this TV Theme Song site to hear the original version. 

The Atoms Family

Chorus (2x)

They are so small

(snap, snap)

They’re round like a ball.

(snap, snap)

They make up the air.

They’re everywhere.

Can’t see them at all!

(snap, snap)

Verse 1 (2x)

They’re tiny and they’re teeny,

Much smaller than a beany,

They never can be seeny,

The Atoms Family.

Chorus (1x)

They are so small.

(snap, snap)

They’re round like a ball.

(snap, snap)

They make up the air.

They’re everywhere.

Can’t see them at all!

(snap, snap)

Verse 2 (1x)

Together they make gases,

And liquids like molasses,

And all the solid masses,

The Atoms Family.

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Email Updates About Blog

With Spring comes a bit of cleaning

around the blog... as you might have noticed 

You can now have posts come right to your inbox as an email.

On the right sidebar find the "receive email updates" box.

Enter your email of choice.

A feedburner (the program that turns the post into an email for you) box comes up.

Type in the text.

Another Feedburner message will appear asking you to check and verify from your email inbox.

In the email, click the link to confirm you would like updates when a new post is on the blog.

You'll now get an email if new content is posted on the blog!

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 Feeling adventurous?  Don't know what a reader is?  Click Subscribe in a Reader on the right sidebar, pick your provider of choice, and explore. 

Google Reader is a HUGE time saver and helps me follow a variety of websites without having to check all the time if there is new content on a site I follow.

Treats

Update: We have 25 students in our class! Please plan accordingly for birthday treats, or any other event.

See other info from Mrs. Rose about birthday treat notes and ideas here!

Space Dodecahedrons

A Dodecahedron is a 12 sided object, in this case, made of inscribed pentagon's in 12 circles.

Students wrote mini reports on some given topics as well as picking their own interests to research!

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

Greek Myth Enthusiasts

I know we've got some Percy Jackson fans in our class, and more who are interested in the Greek Mythology.  Persue your interests!

Stornory has many myths to listen to or download


Here are some flashcards I found that have many of the characters names and attributes.  Print them out and play memory!

Greek Mythology Flash Cards - print baseball type cards about the characters

Memory Game Flash Cards - print baseball type cards about the characters


Parents, we can't always spend as much time on a topic as we might like.  If you find your child has an interest, persue it at home by having them teach you, learn more, read additional books, etc!

Just some Greek Mythology Book Titles...

• Collections &; Picture Books
• Z is for Zeus – Helen L. Wilbur
• Persephone and the Pomegranate – Kris Waldherr
• Pegasus – Marianna Mayer
• D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths – Ingri D’Aulaire
• Atticus the Storyteller’s 100 Greek Myths – Lucy Coats
• Black Ships Before Troy – Rosemary Sutcliff
• Mythology (Ologies series) – Lady Hestia Evans
• Middle Grade / Teen Novels
• It’s All Greek to Me (Time Warp Trio Series) – Jon Scieszka
• The Lightning Thief (and subsequent titles in the series) – Rick Riordan
• Medusa Jones – Ross Collins
• Myth-o-Mania Series (#1: Have a Hot Time Hades) – Kate McMullan
• Ithaka – Adele Geras
• Quiver and Quicksilver – Stephanie Spinner

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

Clay Snowmen Artwork

Kudos to an amazing art teacher, and creative artists! 

If you are enjoying a warm, cold, or medium weathered Spring Break, hope you find time to enjoy it with family and friends!

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

2 Liter Bottle Tornado

We've had this contraption floating around our classroom for a few weeks now, and it sure does provide a lot of entertainment!

Materials:
2 2-liter bottles
1 1" washer
masking tape

By swirling the top bottle it creates a vortex and then a tornado funnel appears.

This link has great information about what is happening, and how to make your own!
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/for_fun/TornadoBottle.pdf

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s.

Spring Break

Happy Spring Break!

Enjoy and Be Safe!

Genre: Diary

Our genre this week is a diary entry about a girl moving to a new country and experiencing the ups and downs with all those changes!

If you know 7-12 year olds, you've seen these....


Jeff Kinney has made "diary" a cool word and they are fun to read!

Other diary genre's in our school library.

Historical Diaries are an imporant part of social studies as well!

Playground Vocabulary Lesson

To enjoy the beautiful weather we've had this week we did our vocabulary lesson outside.

We taped the words onto cones, and the students had to find the words and meanings they needed!

Some reading, writing, running, and sunshine!

Dr. Seuss Literacy Night - Yertle the Turtle

Our school wide Dr. Seuss Literacy Night is TODAY, March 16th!

There are games, a book trade, crafts, and reading!

Look for our classes' entry in the door decorating contest with our theme:

The turtles are all happy.

and know that reading, not people, will help you soar to high heights!

See you tonight!

Live Eagle Video Stream

An email flew into my inbox about a neat video stream of nesting bald eagles.

I checked it out after school, and the eggs hadn't hatched yet.

The next morning, by the time I could show the kids, there were 2 eaglets!

We're looking up in some library books to find more information and enjoying the view!

The nest is in Norfolk, Virginia, and therefore 2 hours later than we are. Check it out morning or afternoon before their sun sets.

WVEC Eagle Video Camera


Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

Pi Day Activities

On 3/14 our class celebrated Pi day!  We had an awesome lineup of fun activities to introduce young learners to Pi.

We measured the diameter and then multiplied 3x that of the basketball court circle, hula hoops, cups, and other circles.



A midevil tale of how a boy saves his father by finding out the value of Pi.


Number strips to make a Pi chain!
 It's a great visual to remind us that Pi doesn't repeat and has no pattern.

Check out how long it got!  If you stop by school in the next few weeks, you'll see it in the hallway too!

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

Pi Day

Pi Day!

Most of us have heard of it, used, it, but may not remember what it is for! Learn here!

You use Pi when dealing with circles.

Equations that use Pi

finding area of a circle

finding circumference (perimeter) of a circle

 

The area of a circle is calculated using Pi and the radius of the circle.

This formula inspired the joke "Pies aren't square, they're round!"

This Monday we'll be celebrating a math holiday - Pi Day. Why Monday?

Well it's 3-14

You might ask what time we'll specifically celebrate?

at 1:59.

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube.

Read and Feed 3-9

Because of our outstanding effort during the state testing the last two weeks we will be enjoying a Read and Feed on Friday March 11th.


Students may bring healthy snacks to enjoy throughout the afternoon. They can bring items to share or items for their own snack.

Dress for Success

March 10th our students can Dress for Success. We know many important jobs require us to dress up and look our best. To encourage students to do their best on our tests Student Council is sponsoring a Dress for Success day. Students are encouraged to wear “nice” clothes such as slacks, button up shirts, ties, and girls could also wear skirts, dresses, etc.

Math Centers Extravaganza

As a 4th grade team we set up over 20 math centers as a fun review session of the many math skills we’ve covered so far this year. Students rotated between classrooms in small groups to complete different tasks.

Students used math games, flash cards, computers, hands-on manipulatives, our Promethean board, and good ol’ pencil and paper to practice dozens of math skills and concepts.

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s.

Math Centers Extravaganza II

Patterns, Designs, and Geometry

Students used computers in my room to get on Virtual Manipulatives

Fraction circles to identify parts of the whole

Area and Periemeter Review


Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

Can you B-I-N-G-O ?

After a wonderful lesson from our Library Technology Educator on Friday, we reviewed Reading Standard 5 material with BINGO!

How well would you do?

What are the uses of an encyclopedia, thesaurus, dictionary, almanac, atlas, map, table of contents, glossary, index, title page, and more!

Here are some online materials that you can use at home. Most have links from our school site if they need a password, so I would recommend going there first.  If you need a password please send a note in your child's planner!

Encyclopedia World Book Kids

Dictionary.com

VisualThesaurus.com


Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s.

Dr. Seuss Birthday

Read Across America Day is March 2nd! We’ll be reading a few Dr. Seuss books, but check your bookshelves, and read a book by the good doctor tonight to celebrate a great American author and illustrator.

Parents or voracious readers….check out from the public library Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, a biography about Dr. Seuss. It was a fascinating read about this influential author!

Our school will be doing a Literacy Night themed around Dr. Seuss on March 16th. More information will be coming home soon.

Posts on More Than the ABC’s may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of More Than the ABC’s. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube.