The Washington State Science and Engineering Fair is held in Bremerton in the end of March. I would like all the students in my class to participate. We looked at the WSSEF page today. The registration is not open yet, but we saw how to register using the online forms--three per person. We reviewed the rules, including the extensive rules regarding working with humans or vertebrate animals or hazardous materials. (Hm, do catapults count?)

Then we went to the discovery education page for the excellent tips they give on how to do science fair projects. Most of the students in the class have some idea already about a topic they want to pursue for a project since we talked about science fair projects all during the Variables unit. 

I told the students they could start on a project right away. Plant projects take a long time. Other projects take less. Students can turn in projects as they get done. We will share them in class in January, February, and March as they come in. Then we will take them all to the fair in Bremerton in March!

We finished the Variables unit and are now reading a couple of chapters in the science book. I assigned two pages to each child and asked them to be prepared to read aloud. They can go to the science text online to find their pages and practice their sections. They should know how to pronounce all their words correctly!

After looking at the schedule for social studies for the second trimester, we worked together to come up for reasonable due dates for reading for the second trimester. I just updated the Kragen calendar with the new due dates and posted it to the site here. AND I updated the second trimester reading contract and reposted it to the site.

I've taught a couple of art lessons in the last few days. The students are continuing to play with the art projects. As they work they listen to each other read their short stories.