It May Be Cold Outside, But It Is Burning Hot in Our Classroom!

This week the boys and girls settled into class quickly and were ready to work hard!  We started our day by meeting our newest Quirkle, Hallie Heat.  From Hallie and her friends, we learned that dark colored clothing captures the sun's heat, while light colored clothing reflects the heat.  We also learned that heat rises and cold falls.  Ask your child to share their Quirkles science log, to tell you about their hypothesis and about our experiment shown below.

After our hot and cold water experiment, we conducted two more using a candle and balloons.  You can watch them in the video below.



After recess and lunch, we worked on our individual Exploratory tasks.  The new students each chose a center, filled out their Exploratory contract and began the knowledge level task (reading and watching a video) to learn more about their center topic.  The rest of the students continued working on their projects. Ask your child about his/her current center and task.

In the computer lab, the boys and girls continued to explore Microsoft Power Point.  After getting our new students set up with a presentation, we all learned to insert a shape, resize it and move it around the slide.  The students also learned to format the shape's fill color.

Understanding the basic tools and functions of this program will transfer in the application of other Microsoft products and web based slide show applications.  Power Point is a good slide show program, but it is also great for digital story telling, book reports, posters, and even holiday cards.  Primary students soak up the functions with minimal instruction.  When my own children lost their "computer gaming privileges" for one offense or another, they would always say, "But can we still do Power Point?"

If you have Power Point available on a home computer, consider allowing your child to practice.

Another busy, but fun day!  Have a great week!