Spelling Challenge- Week 9

Spelling Challenge- Week 9

Spell with Motion

Here is another opportunity to get your child moving! Have your child do jumping jacks as they spell their words out loud; do a jumping jack for each letter.

1.	door
2.	dart
3.	fort
4.	morning
5.	carpet
6.	ford
7.	core
8.	cord
9.	spark
10.	award
11.	smart
12.	charge
13.	worn
14.	argue
15.	stormy
16.	bore
17.	guard
18.	ward
19.	warp
20.	backyard

ENERGY- 5 Types

This six weeks our focus is on ENERGY! Last week we began our study learning about the five different types of energy. Below are some of the basic concepts discussed along with examples. 

Mechanical Energy- Mechanical energy is the most familiar form of energy. It is the energy a substance or system has because of its motion. Every moving object has mechanical energy, whether it is a hammer driving a nail, a leaf falling from a tree, or a rocket flying in space. Mechanical energy pulls, pushes, twists, turns and throws. Machines use mechanical energy to do work.  Our bodies also use mechanical energy to perform motions such as throwing a ball or moving a pencil to write on paper.

Example: Raising a flag up a flag pole


Sound Energy- Sound is the movement of energy through substances in longitudinal (compression/rarefaction) waves. Sound is produced when a force causes an object or substance to vibrate — the energy is transferred through the substance in a wave. Typically, the energy in sound is far less than other forms of energy.

Let's see this illustration.


A vibrating drum in a disco transfers energy to the room as sound. Kinetic energy from the moving air molecules transfers the sound energy to the dancers eardrums. Notice that Kinetic (movement) energy in the sticks is being transferred into sound energy.

Sound vibrations create sound waves which move through mediums such as
air and water before reaching our ears.

Example: The sound caused by the vibrations of the strings on a guitar.



Electrical Energy- A battery transfers stored chemical energy as charged particles called electrons, typically moving through a wire. For example, electrical energy is transferred to the surroundings by the lamp as light energy and thermal (heat) energy.

Lightning is one good example of electrical energy in nature, so powerful that it is not confined to a wire. Thunderclouds build up large amounts of electrical energy. This is called static electricity. They are released during lightning when the clouds strike against each other.

         


Light Energy- Light energy is the only visible form of energy. Light energy is the energy produced or given off directly from the sun causing the growth of plants and the existence of most life forms.

Example: Light from the sun, a fire or candle



Thermal/Heat Energy- Thermal energy is what we call energy that comes from heat. For example, a cup of hot tea has thermal energy in the form of kinetic energy from its' particles. When you pour some milk into your tea, some of this energy is transferred to the particles in cold milk. What happens next? The cup of tea is cooler because it lost thermal energy to the milk.

Example: Heat from the sun or a fire

 

Some of the information was taken from the websites:  www.eschooltoday.com and www.energyeducation.tx.gov

Spelling Challenge- Week 8

Spelling Challenge- Week 8

Tracing with Finger

This is a two person activity, however if that is not an option you can always use your imagination and spell the words into the air or on the couch, floor, etc. Have your child write their spelling words on your back or the back of a sibling with their finger.

1.	shred
2.	through
3.	sprout
4.	sprawl
5.	split
6.	throb
7.	throat
8.	shrink
9.	screw
10.	shrimp
11.	screech
12.	straighten
13.	sprang
14.	shriek
15.	splashing
16.	straps
17.	strand
18.	script
19.	thrill
20.	throne

Lip Clips....My Teacher is Crazy!

Has our teacher lost her mind? Well...the jury is out. However, I would wager to believe that my students will remember the lesson....well hopefully AT LEAST some of it. We talked today about hooking introductions. We discussed why you need them, the five types, and examples of each. Students know that from today on they are expected, in each paper they write, to have a hooking introduction. Quiz your students on the five types and challenge them to give you examples of each. Below are the examples from today's prompt....and an explanation why I look the way I do. :)

Students were shown the prompt below and challenged to brainstorm and write a paper over the topic.

While the students were ooooh'ing and aaaah'ing over the photo and daydreaming of the possibility, I quickly placed on my own lip clips. My chosen flavor for the lip clips happened to be...pickles.

See the options below listed (using the prompt and information above) when choosing what introduction to create for your composition.

Type #1: Action -You begin the sentence with an action verb.
Licking my lips for the third time, I still could not believe I could actually taste the flavor of pickles on my tongue.

Type #2: Onomatopoeia -Sound Words
Smack! My lips tasted so good, I could hardly control my excitement.

Type #3: Dialogue -Talking
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love my new lip clips Willy Wonka!"

Type #4: Question
Do you like the flavor and taste of pickles?

Type #5: Feeling
I rushed to the mailbox and peeked inside. My heart leaped out of my chest in excitement when I saw the box addressed to me from Willy Wonka!

*Students for every piece of their writing need to choose ONE of these types to use as their introduction. Hooking your reader is so very important. If you received a boring paper, would you want to read it?

My Teacher Is Missing!!!

Recently I was stricken with a bad bug and wound up in the hospital briefly. Well I have always had this lesson in my emergency sub folder, but never had to use it. The assignment was that your teacher, Mrs. Welch, is missing. Where is she? The students had to individually brainstorm where they thought I was and then write a story about it. The kids did awesome!! :) Some of the stories were really great. Examples below.

Spelling Challenge- Week 7

Spelling Challenge- Week 7

Jump on it Spelling!

Get moving, work up a sweat and practice your spelling at the same time! Write each letter of the alphabet on a 4x6 blank index card.  Spread all 26 of the cards out on the floor.  Call out one of your child's spelling words and have them jump, or hop, or skip to each of the letters as they spell the word.  If having all of the cards out is too overwhelming, just spread out 10 or so and call out words that they can spell with the 10 letters.  Slowly add in letters as they become more confident.

This week's words:

1.	choose
2.	kitchen
3.	touch
4.	chance
5.	sketched
6.	ketchup
7.	snatch
8.	stretching
9.	pitcher
10.	chef
11.	rush
12.	thirty
13.	northern
14.	graph
15.	photo
16.	whole
17.	fifth
18.	headphone
19.	whirl
20.	width

Mad for Mad Libs

Today during our Writing RTI (In school tutorial) time part of the time was spent with the students creating their own Mad Lib. The students went crazy doing this and had so much fun. There are plenty of websites out there and apps that you can do mad libs on but this is one of my favorites.

http://www.itsamadlibsworld.com/

Two of the features I really enjoy are the "help/assistance" you get when you place your cursor over the word type they are asking for you to do. For instance, if they ask you to insert an adverb and you are unsure of what an adverb is, if you place your cursor over the word adverb a small box pops up with the definition and some examples. Very cool!

Second, I really like that you can print your story afterwards and that it places your word selections in bold. This really helps to re-iterate and show the students what they did to add to the story and highlight their word use.

If your child has a moment and goes on to create their own, let me know and I will give them 10 points extra credit for doing so. If you also have printer access you can print your student's stories or e-mail them to me and I will print them for you.