Friday, May 31
*This week your child brought home the letter/email below and the experiment he/she chose for the Science Fair. Science Fair homework will start next week and will take the place of weekly Word Work homework. There will be 6 tasks to complete before the Science Fair event. Each week I will send one task home for students to complete and tasks will be due on Monday.
Task 1 - Due Monday, April 22nd
Choose an experiment
Buy the materials
Task 2 - Due Monday, April 29th
What is your question?
What do you think will happen?
Why did you choose this experiment?
Task 3 - Due Tuesday, May 7th
List of materials
Procedure
Task 4 - Due Monday, May 13th
End Results
What happened?
What did you learn?
Were there any problems?
Was your hypothesis correct?
Task 5 - Due Monday, May 20th
Poster Presentation (at least 6 photos and captions)
Task 6 - Week of May 27th
Monday --> Thursday Show and Tell Presentations (practice at school)
*Science Fair is on Friday, May 31st
Email sent home:
Dear G 1 – 6 Parents,
Science Fair is on the horizon and we are now getting the children ready to begin their individual projects. Please find below the information regarding science fair this year:
This year, it is the 50th anniversary of the periodic table so UST’s science fair is all about chemistry!
Important information:
- The Science Fair this year is on Friday 31st May.
- It takes place after school at the same time as the charity Art Fair.
- You and your children will sign up for a specific time slot where you will be invited to attend their presentations and demonstrations in their classroom.
- Before or after the presentation, you will also have an opportunity to attend the Art Fair, look at all the fabulous art the children have been creating and buy a piece or two.
Who does the science fair?
- EVERYONE! – All children are required to participate in the science fair.
- This year, the children will be preparing an individual project and presentation.
- They will present their science project using the traditional presentation board and do a short and simple demonstration.
How will it work?
- The science fair project will be your child’s main homework for the next 7 weeks, but they will also have reading and spelling as usual.
- ALL science fair work needs to be done independently at home.
- The children will have a task each week – they need to complete that task and bring it in or show photos of the completed task the following Monday for teachers to check so it is ready to publish (Grade 1, please help your children take photos with a camera, phone, and/or iPad); Grades 2 – 6 can take photos on their iPads to show they have completed that task).
- Each week, class Weebly pages will be updated with all the necessary information regarding the task your child has been set and what is required.
- Please help your child stay on task and complete the required activities on time and as independently as possible.
What they will do:
- Choose an experiment;
- Choose a question;
- Go home and talk about the experiment with parents;
- Collect/buy all the necessary equipment;
- Write a ‘What do you think will happen?’/hypothesis statement;
- Do the experiment (if appropriate, try to do it at least 3 times to be sure of your results);
- Take lots of pictures – you might want to print these out;
- Collect all results;
- Explain what happened (conclusions);
- Create the presentation board;
- Practice the presentation.
Who does the project?
- YOUR CHILDREN!!!
- They should be doing ALL of the work involved in the science fair project (unless adult supervision or assistance is required).
- Parents should be a guide and a support for them.
- All work including writing or typing should be done by them.
- We would rather the board NOT be perfect, but 100% their work.
- The most you can do is encourage your children to proof-read their text and make sure there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes. You can also help them arrange their boards neatly.
This week:
- Grade 1 & 2 children will be choosing an experiment and research question in class. They will also be provided with a materials list and example procedure.
- Grades 3 – 6 will need to select their own experiment at home using the provided websites which also provide materials lists and suggested procedures. Grades 3 – 6 then need to choose a research question that would link to that experiment. This question will be the focus of their project.
- Please discuss this with your child and read the information about the experiment with them
- Help your child to gather all the necessary materials to do the experiments and remind them to take photos on their iPads.
A separate email will be sent from the K Science Fair coordinator, Ms. Carina, to inform you about what is happening on the K floor.
If you have any questions about the science fair or any part of the project, please do email either myself or your child's class teacher and we will get back to you as soon as possible with additional information.
Best regards,
Mrs D.
Grade 3 Homeroom Teacher
Science Fair Coordinator
[email protected]
UST Plastic Consumption Survey 2009
Dear UST parents,
As you may know, here at UST we love our planet and every year we do a project or a fundraiser to help protect the environment. Last year we did a big fundraiser to support 4Oceans, an environmental charity that cleans plastic from our oceans. This year, the Student Council has been working on a Plastic Consumption Project that aims at reducing plastic in our lives and making environmentally friendly choices.
1. The first phase of our project, Understanding the Situation, involves asking questions about how UST families consume plastic and how we recycle. To collect such information, we would like to ask you to answer a quick Plastic Consumption Survey. We would like to complete this phase rather quickly. Could you please answer the survey by Friday, April 19th?
3. Once we have analyzed your answers, we will move to the second phase, Making an Effort. The Student Council will share with the UST community some easy ways of reducing plastic consumption at school and home. This phase would take about a month to really make a change with how we consume plastic and see a real difference.
3. The last phase of the project would be Seeing the Change, which would involve people who participated in Phases 1&2 answering a questionnaire similar to the first one so we could compare the data Before and After we have started to pay more attention to how we use plastic in our daily life.
We know you are very busy, but we also know that we need to do more to help save our planet. We can start by making the change at school and at home. Please help us by participating in our project!
Thank you very much!!!
UST Student Council
Spirit Week
Recess
Reading
Nonfiction Readers Learn about the World
As readers, students practiced predicting what a book is about by previewing the text features. While reading, students were using their best narrator voices to make the important and interesting facts/information pop out.
While reading nonfiction books, it is also an important skill to identify main topic and key details. Students completed a graphic organizer to practice identifying the main topic of the book, the topic of different sections in the book, and the key details that tell more about the topic. When writing details from the book, students also wrote the page numbers to show where they found the information.
Writing
Expository Writing *How-to paragraph
Last week students learned about how-to paragraphs and began pre-writing their expository writing pieces. This week our class worked on writing (draft), revising, and editing their paragraphs so they are ready to publish.
Science
Plants
We have started a new unit in Science called Grass and Grain Seeds. Our first task was to plan our own "little lawns." Each student planted ryegrass seeds and alfalfa seeds in a small cup. We will observe how our plants grow and change over the next few weeks. Everyday students will draw pictures on their Science calendar to record their observations.
Big Ideas:
- Seeds are alive and grow into new plants.
- Seeds need water to begin growth.
- Plants need water, air, nutrients, and space to grow.
Science Vocabulary
alfalfa fertilizer lawn light nutrient | ryegrass seed soil sprout plants |
Math
Addition to 40 - With Regrouping
This week our class practiced addition with regrouping. When students are solving an equation, it is important for them to:
- Draw a picture of the numbers they are adding (tens, ones)
- Add the ones (show this on the side)
- Regroup and carry the ten to the tens place (show the ten at the top of the tens place)
- Write the final answer
Please take time at home to help your child practice addition with regrouping. Thank you!
Have a wonderful weekend!
- Ms. Allison