Mrs. PAndrews’ Homeroom

Science – This week we will be studying roots, stems, and leaves and their parts and functions.  On Friday we will be doing our first Scientific Method hands-on activity.

Social Studies – We are continuing with our Economics unit with a look at regional specialization in the U.S. and economic decision-making.

Important Dates: 

• Individual student pictures this Friday.
•  School T-shirt order forms due this Friday (will come home with students on Monday.  

Science – We will be beginning a unit of study on plants.  This unit is a fun one, and has quite a few hands-on labs for students.  I will be sending home notes requesting items that we will need for these lab activities.  Students will be learning parts/functions of plants, plant uses, plant reproduction, and other plant life processes. 

Social Studies – Our first unit will be Economics.   Students will be learning about  resources, supply and demand, opportunity in decision making, production of goods, and other economic concepts.  If any of my team parents are knowledgable in this area, and would feel comfortable doing a “real-world” demonstration of an economic concept, we would love to have you come and share with our students.

“Around the Word in 180 Days” is our theme for the 2009-2010 school year at Willard Intermediate School.  Coming to WIS is an adventure that I hope you enjoy. Being a part of the Green Team on “Safari in Zambia”  will give you an opporuntity to explore Math and Word Study with Mrs. SAndrews, Science and Social Studies with Mrs. PAndrews, and Communication Arts with Mrs. Toler. We welcome Mrs. Toler to our team as a new member of the WIS staff and look forward to a great year together.

Social Studies - Students will be receiving their final project points for their Civil War project today.  I will be letting those who still need to take the test to become a “Three Star General” know today. The test will be on Wednesday, and will be an open-note test. 

Friday – School will be a half day with ending time at 12:30.  Have a great summer!

Science – We will finish our simple machines unit this week.

Social Studies – All Civil War Project points are due this Friday, May 15.  We will be having a Civil War speaker, Mr. James Dougherty, this Tuesday to make a presentation to our students. 

Field Day – Friday, May 15.  Please make sure that students remember to:  wear comfortable shoes and clothing, wear sunscreen, bring or purchase a sack lunch, and bring money to purchase a cold treat from the icecream truck that will be on site. 

Science – We will continue this week with simple machine activities.

Social Studies – We have now begun our class study of the Civil War and will be working hard to complete this study before the end of the year.  Quite a few students are now bringing in completed work from their Civil War project.  *Reminder all work towards this project will be due May 15. 

Social Studies – Students should have brought home the Civil War project note last Friday for you to look over and sign and return.  The project will account for a large part of the 4th quarter grade.  If you have not been shown the note yet, please ask your child for it.  The project due date is May 15. 

Science – We continue our study of Simple Machines.  Currently we are working to complete a “Simple Machines” booklet in class.  Students will be participating in various lab activities using simple machines. 

Important Dates:

May 5 – Symphony Field Trip

May 8 – Career Day

May 15 – Field Day (afternoon only, sack lunches),  Boy’s Puberty film,   and all school library books will be due. 

No School this Friday

MAP testing next Tuesday – Thursday (April 14-16)

Science – We will be finishing up Space this week.  Our test will not be until the week of April 20 due to MAP testing next week.  We are also working hard this week to review what  we’ve covered this year in preparation for MAP. 

Social Studies – No Social Studies this week due to the need to review Science.

Science – We will be wrapping up our study of planets this week by creating a planetary distance model.  We will do a scale model of the distances between planets in our solar system using toilet paper.  Our scale will be based on the measure of “If Jupiter could fit on a square of toilet paper, this is how far the planets would be from one another.” The students are always amazed at how far we must roll the tissue paper to create the proper distance.  Next, we will look at the moon and its phases.

Social Studies – We will wrap up our Colonies study with our test on Wednesday.  We will not begin our next unit, The American Revolution, until after MAP testing.  We will be using those 7 days to continue preparing for the Science portion of the MAP test. 

Science – We will continue this week learning about stars and our sun.  We will be comparing the features of stars to those of planets. 

Social Studies – This week we will wrap up our study of the 13 colonies.  Look for a study guide to come home before Spring Break.  Our test will be within the first few days of our return from break.