Week of Oct 27-31

Congratulations to our 8th graders!  They made $236 from their Fright Night fundraiser!


Events this week:

• Field Trip Thursday to see leopard sharks at La Jolla Shores.  Need drivers!
• Recycling Drop off Friday mornings curbside or any time in room 509. We can take cans, plastic or glass bottles .
• Overnight to Borrego Palm Canyon State Park 9:00 am Thursday Nov. 20 - 12:00 Fri Nov. 21

A field trip this week?  YES! If we can get enough drivers, we have an unscheduled field trip down to La Jolla Shores. I heard the leopard sharks are still down there.  One of the reasons is because of the warmer than normal water still on our shores. (An effect of El Nino ocean patterns)  Since we are studying the effects of weather on sea life, I thought this would be a great opportunity to see wildlife of San Diego.  If we are lucky, students will be able to snorkel with the sharks in just a few feet of water. 


This week during our project, 'Where's the Water? From Drought to Deluge' we gathered information about the El Nino and La Nina ocean-atmospheric phenomena.  We wrote an evidence summary after reading an article from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  We also did a web quest to learn details about El Nino weather patterns compared to normal patterns. Current Event #2 was due on Friday.  The topic of the  biweekly current event was "Weather.  "  Next week we will choose individual research topics as well as investigate possible water capture systems we can build for our school.  These systems will be on display at next month's exhibition night (Thur. Dec 18)


In Math, students learned about inverse variation, a nonlinear relationship in which the product of two variables is constant. An inverse variation can be represented by an equation of the form y=kx , or xy=k , where k is a constant. In an inverse variation, the values of one variable decrease as the values of the other variable increase.

We used scenarios such as finding area and determining speed to investigate:

• How do the values of y change as values of x increase?
• Describe the pattern in a graph of (x, y) values.
• Describe the equation that relates the values of x and y.
• How is an inverse variation similar to a linear relationship? How is it different?

During Writers' Workshop,   students use Bradbury's story "All Summer in a Day" to write intro paragraphs.

In Wes' Science class, students learned about convection, conduction and radiation.

Our Friday fun day included a spooky morning meeting with our Kinder/First grade buddies.  We spent the morning touring their classroom and seeing their games and activities they created for their Stormy Halloween party.  Buddies then worked together to make up spooky stories.  Friday Sci-day included a demonstration on gas pressure volume and temperature.  We saw what happens to a can filled with a small amount of  boiling water and vapor when it is inverted into a bowl of ice water.  We also watched what happens when a balloon filled with air is place in boiling water and ice water.