10/6/11 Update by Kevin C., Mili M., Lucas S., and NIcholas S.

Our weekly bloggers ponder what to write about...

Left to right:  Kevin, Lucas, Nicholas, Mili

Below we are holding the Cinderella puppets we made in science class.  We created them by tracing our hand shadows.  In language arts we read Cinderella stories from different cultures and created plot maps and shadow puppet shows to share the stories we chose.   We learned that different cultures influence the stories people tell.  We also learned that shadows are sharper when there is a bright light from a single source rather than when there is are many lights.  We learned that a shadow is created when a solid object is in front of the light source.

Here are some of our shadow puppet shows!

"Sootface," a Native American Ojibwa Cinderella story by Jasmine & Katherine

"Yeh-Shen," a Chinese Cinderella story by Elton, Shane, & Samson 

"Adelita," a Mexican Cinderella story by Max & Lucas

The Golden Sandal," a Middle Eastern Cinderella story by Sammi & Lauren

"Kongi and Pongi," a Korean Cinderella story by David R. & Andrew






"Angkat," a Cambodian Cinderella story by Matt & Nicholas

At lunch on Wednesday, Mr. Morse came to our room and let us watch him repair Mrs. Pearl's computer.  We learned about the tools he uses and the parts of a computer, including the motherboard.  We also learned how to put the computer back together.

Mr. Morse asking what we know about how computer hardware works.

Lunch and learn!

Mr. Morse answering our questions.

The most exciting thing that happened this week was today when Maria and Tracy from Kraft Foods visited Thomas to help us with our packaging design product.  They told us about Kraft products, income, international business, and different packages.  We got to ask lots of questions and see some of their products.  Next week we are going to choose a product we are interested in and redesign the packaging.  Some things we are thinking about are the environment and resealable packages.  We were really excited when Maria and Tracy gave us goodie bags of Kraft products to take home!  We can't wait to start this project!

Maria showing us the product packages we will help redesign.

Tracy answering our questions about Kraft's most popular products.

Goodie bags!!

What should we try first?

Students practiced remembering their multiplication rules when using negative and positive numbers.