Week of September 10-14

Dragons,

Here's what happened this week:

• Kindergarten played my "magic box game" to preview and predict what we might do in Science Lab this year. We also decorated the cover page of our science notebooks.
• 1st Grade learned about lab safety. We started off with a demonstration that exploded! Then we talked about how to keep ourselves safe during experiments. Finally, we practiced wafting and wrote about it in our science notebooks.
• 2nd grade learned about lab safety and some science tools. We played a game called "What's in my Bag?"
• 3rd grade learned about lab safety and some science tools. We went on a scavenger hunt to identify various science and safety tools around the room.
• 4th grade learned about lab safety. We borrowed some iPads and had a QR code scavenger hunt!

Some classes had the opportunity to send a tweet this week, too! I told the students about our class Twitter and explained how Twitter works. Then I gave students an opportunity to contribute a sentence to our summarizing tweet and encouraged them to tell the world what we learned and did in Science Lab that hour. I typed exactly what students asked me to type -- right down to smiley faces and hearts (for "We < 3ed it!" -- a student request).

You do not have to have a Twitter account to read our messages; just go to www.Twitter.com/MrsKHasClass and scroll to read. If you prefer to have updates sent to your phone via text message, you do not have to have a Twitter account for that, either! All you have to do is text "follow @MrsKHasClass" to Twitter's shortcode, 40404, and you'll start getting realtime updates. (Standard messaging rates do apply, so I don't recommend this option for anyone without an unlimited texting plan.)

I hope to begin posting pictures of the students in action (both on the blog and on our class Instagram) sometime next week. (I'm currently waiting to make sure that all parents have given permission for their student's picture to appear on district-related websites.)

I've spent some time reviewing the supplies in the lab, and I've realized that I could use a few donations. I don't want anyone to go out and buy these things, but if you've got them hanging around your house and you're not going to use them, I'd love to see the following items make their way to the lab:

• Food coloring
• Snack size baggies
• Aluminum foil
• Colored paper
• Beans (dry)
• Rice (dry)
• Cinnamon essential oil
• Peppermint essential oil
• Baby powder
• Vanilla extract
• Plastic cups (preferably clear and 9 oz, but we will take what we can get!)
• Straight pins
• Clear tape
• Glue sticks
• Coffee filters
• Paper towels
• Kleenex
• "Wet ones" or Clorox wipes
• D cell batteries

I also wanted to let you know that the sign-up sheet for volunteering in the science lab has been posted; you can find it by clicking on the "Volunteer" tab at the top of this page.

Thanks for making my first few weeks at OUES so fabulous!