Today was our final day of instruction on the physics and math connected to scuba diving. Fourth graders spent this final day working on lift bags and learning how to raise objects from the Ocean floor.

Fifth grade learned all about gas under pressure as we witnessed a Diet Coke geyser created by placing Mentos in a Diet Coke. This demonstration helped students understand the importance of Charles' and Gay-Lussac's Laws which deal with the temperature, pressure, and volume of gasses. Cadets learned that placing a scuba tank in a hot car trunk or getting a "hot" tank fill can both be dangerous and they used their algebraic thinking skills to determine what conditions would be unsafe for a scuba tank.

As you all know, next week is our trip to Diver's Supply. I have posted a great deal of important information about the trip on a blog entry titled "Diver's Supply Last Minute Reminders." It can be found under the field trip section of the blog; please make sure to read it carefully prior to your child's trip to the dive shop next week. Because we will be returning after school is over for the day, the clinic will not be sending medications for your child on this trip. Please make sure to follow the directions on the blog when sending any necessary medications.

In addition t being the week of our field trip, it is also the week our big Travel Time projects are due (YAHOO!) I know all of us are excited about finishing up this big project. Because our field trip is next week and students are out of school on Tuesday for elections, here is how we will work turning in the projects. All student projects will be due on Friday, November 11th. Students should meet me in the media center between 7:15 and 7:50 a.m. with their projects. You are welcome to park and help your child carry in his or her project. Once in the media center, please look for a shelf that has a sheet of construction paper with your child's squad color on it. In other words, the Monday class will be looking for red paper, the Tuesday class yellow paper, the Thursday class blue, and the Friday class purple. Students will place their display boards on the correct shelf facing the same direction as other student projects. At that time I will also be taking up the corrections from the 4th grade Dive Table quiz.

On a totally different topic, if standardized test results come in as expected, we will be conducting school wide Target testing the week of November 14th, November 28th, and other selected dates in December. I will be getting out a November calendar later in the week, but if tests do arrive in the next week or so, the trip to Diver's Supply will be your child's last Target class until sometime in December. With this in mind, we will need to start thinking about Christmas parties for the grade levels. I am working right now to coordinate some dates and will be reaching out to room moms soon. At this time, the following parents have volunteered to help out with the room mom duties:
Red Squad (Monday class-4th) - Cassandra Fitzroy
Yellow Squad (Tuesday class-4th)- Stephanie Conboy, Serena Meyer, Heather Woods
Blue Squad (Thursday class-5th)- NONE
Purple Squad (Friday class-5th)- Mary Harmon, Danielle Voss
We will need at least one parent per squad who can volunteer to help with organizing the parties. If there is anyone whose child is in the Thursday class who is willing to help, please let me know.

4th Grade Target Tally- Download Target Tally 10-31 & 11-1
5th Grade Target Tally- Download Target Tally 11-3 & 4