Language Arts: We had a spelling test as usual.  Now everyone is finishing up their books.  Moving on to other books was fun.

Math: This week the green group took a test on Wednesday about graphs and a pretest.  Purple group did long division.  Also a mathematician came and talked to us a bit too.  We had to figure out how many squares we could find in a 3x3 grid, a 4x4 grid, a 5x5 grid, all the way up to a chess board (8x8 grid).  We found a cool pattern to it, so some of us found out how many squares there are in a 10x10 grid.  

Writing: We started on a new story this week.  Everybody has to write a story from somebody or something else's point of view that you can't talk to.  For example, we could write from Santa or a reindeer's perspective.  When you are done, you get to draw pictures around your paper.

Social Studies: For Social Studies this week we are starting to work on the Civil War and we just finished the presidents.  Also, Mrs. Price read a story about the civil way and it was VERY realistic, let's just say that.  We also started talking about what it was like for a slave.

Science: This week in Science we started our study of microbiology.  We're learning about things like bacteria, cells and germs.  We started by highlighting things in microbiology papers.  

Art: We are making very cool wrapping paper.  What we do is we have this tub of water and a little paper circle.  We put the circle in the water.  Then we have paint dropper thingies and we drop the drops of different colored paint onto the circle and it makes a really cool design in the water.  Then we put a piece of paper on the water and when we take it off, the design that was in the water will be on the paper.  

Gathering: The Octopi sang "12 Days of Christmas".  We started up SOS (Seabury on Stage) again.  This is where students can sign up to do some special talent at Gathering.  

Recess: Right now we are mainly playing blazer wars and freeze tag.  We also play with little fortresses of dirt and wood chips.  We use the wood chips as bricks and things as barbed wire.  

Math Games: This week we played 1,2,3 Nim.  The traps are multiples of 4.  For the original when you can take 1 or 2, the traps are multiples of 3.  We also found that for 1,3 Nim, the trap is an even number.  

French: We're getting into the holidays now so we're playing a really fun Christmas game.  We also learned Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman in French.  Also the decorations are good too!

PE: In PE we went to the Norpoint Center and did the climbing wall.  Then when we were done with the climbing wall, we went into the gym and played games.  

Here we are with the mathematician who came and taught us a cool lesson!

This post probably won't be nearly as interesting, as the kids weren't able to write about the week.  So, here was the week, according to Mrs. Price.

Language Arts: We are working hard to get our election chapter books finished before winter break.  The students also worked on a book report for their realistic fiction book.  They were asked to write the usual items, the characters, setting, problem, solution, and summary.  Then they also took one of the main characters and create a FAST Chart about them.  This included the character's feelings, actions, sayings, and thoughts.  We will begin books on the Civil War when we get back in January.

Math: The "green" group is finishing up their work on reading and creating graphs and probability.  They will have a test on this information next week.  The "purple" group is working hard to understand long division.  They too will be tested on this either next week or the week after.  

Writing: We are finishing the publishing of our 5 paragraph papers and will begin a new story next week.

Social Studies: The students finished their PowerPoint presentations on one of the presidents at the beginning of the week, then showed them to the rest of the class.  Many of the students showed an understanding of animation and the pasting of pictures into their work.  We also began our study of the U.S. Civil War.  We started a timeline of the events before the Civil War and will continue it with the battles and other important dates during the war.  We also watched 2 short films from the History Channel about the war.  

Gathering: Today was First Friday Gathering.  The students gathered together and spent about an hour snacking on hot chocolate and graham crackers, then read books with other students from a variety of grade levels.  It was a great, wearing pajamas and reading!

Recess: The students were very excited to earn four-square back during recess.  There are a few new rules and it was decided that if individual students are having issues with the game, they will not be able to play.  So far, things have gone smoothly.

Brownie Party: We had a brownie party on Tuesday this week.  They were s'more brownies with graham crackers and marshmallows.  Yum!

Our 2 candidates from the mock election fulfilled their duties on Friday.  They led the First Friday Gathering, brought all the teachers a drink from Starbucks, went out to lunch, and visited the middle school.  They also made some important decisions regarding the school that were important to their constituencies.  

Next week we will begin our study of Microbiology!

Here are some pictures from our read-in!

Our Head of School and Secretary busy at work.