Classroom News
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Quick Find: Thomas Banchoff South Africa Photos Ms. Tomlinson & Teach-In Junior Achievement Service Learning Project Our Class Pumpkin Pumpkin Investigation	On Tuesday February 19, Tom Banchoff, a math professor from Brown University visited our class. Dr. Banchoff showed the students a short animation film – Flatland (based on one of his favorite books!) He then took them through a discussion about the concepts involved in the 1^st dimension (points moving on a line), 2^nd dimension – (shapes – closed figures, angles, sides, vertices), the 3^rd dimension – (cubes, solids, prisms, pyramids) – THEN the 4^th dimension - ….. Also – he connected his discussion with the book – A Wrinkle In Time that I read to the children earlier in the year! It has a lot to do with “dimensions” and the kids loved that he loved that book too. He was also a personal friend of the author – Madeleine L’Engle (who recently died).  Dr. Banchoff also teaches a class in the 4 dimension at Brown – Salvador Dali (yes – the painter) was so intrigued by him – that he took the class himself!! His website is:  http://www.math.brown.edu/~banchoff If you’re interested in our science unit you can visit www.i3cubed.com The children wrote thank you letters to Dr. Banchoff. Go to the students page and click on a student name to read a letter! Ms. Hayes
	Armando’s parents had the unique opportunity to visit South Africa recently. If you would like to view their photos, go to www.campospics.shutterfly.com.
	Thank you to Ms. Tomlinson! Our own Lynn Tomlinson, (Sam’s mom), was our guest speaker during Teach-In. She has been very busy working on a documentary for months! There was an article in the Orlando Sentinel about her documentary a few weeks ago. If you missed it - the complete article can be viewed at: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/winterpark/orl-orflash1407oct14,0,6014712.column
	Junior Achievement
	· We have been participating in the JA program · Our volunteer is a Rollins College graduate student, Miss Weisner. J · The 5th grade program is called - Our Nation® · This program matches many 5th grade curriculum standards in Social Studies / Math / and Reading. · The lessons presented examine how businesses operate in the United States. · Students role-play business ownership, interview for jobs, and learn different methods of production while exploring various economic issues that affect business. ***Ask your child about the different kinds of businesses, types of product production, and what constitutes good advertising! Next week they will begin writing a business plan! You might want to hold on to these plans – I think we have some future “entrepreneurs” in our midst! *** Miss Weisner has been a real asset to our classroom learning! And we’ll have a chance to apply what we’ve learned when we go to BizKids in December! ***
	There are pictures of “unit production” and line production– Junior achievement – making pens (unit – each child made an entire pen on their own, line – an assembly line process where each child did one part of the job. The kids discovered that you can make a lot more pens with a “line” HOWEVER – lots of problems with “quality control” (some pens didn’t work – because some members of the “line” did not do their job correctly!!).		“Unit” production – the kids decided you felt more “pride” because you could see the finished product and you were the only one responsible for making the pen functional!
	Advertising Lessons! Here are some pictures from our “advertising” lessons (what makes a good advertisement? The posters are ones that the students were responsible for evaluating!)   Then the children worked their own advertisements – “Spang” – the new soft drink created by Josh and Greg, “Whack-a-Mole” – game created by Paul, “Rocket Wars” – Jackson’s new video game. Hayley, Armando & Will – produced a commercial advertising “Apple Pie Bars” (healthy snack with an enticing name!)   Sam $ Jake – another commercial for “Edible Video Games”! (the commercials were not taped – just performed)
	Our Service Learning Project!
	“Give Thanks, Give Food”			Greater Orlando Food Outreach’s 7th Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive
	Our Class Pumpkin “Ms. Hayes’ Class Mud Fest”
	from pumpkin . . .
	. . .to pig!
	Pumpkin Investigation October 31, 2007