Mr. Austin's Class

The squid dissection went wonderfully. All the students did an amazing job cutting into the matle of the squid to reveal the organs. They loved the ink sac and writing with that. We learned what the inside of one of the most famous invertebrates looks like.

To see some pictures of this day click the link below. I will be posting more next week. Our photographers did an amazing job capturing the classes in action! Thanks to Alex and Jennifer!

/photos/gaustin4180/category2382.aspx

You can also check out the pictures, and others, by clicking on the links button at the top of the page and there you can find those pictures and many more!

Here are some important dates to keep in mind as the year is coming to an end:

- In science we will be doing our squid dissection on Friday, May 12.

- Invertebrates Test is Tuesday, May 16

- Tigers game for the safeties and student council is Thursday, May 18

- C.J. Barrymores trip for the most minutes read per grade level is Friday, May 19

- Try outs for the Talent Show is May 16 - 19. Sign-up sheets are on the gym doors. Don't forget your permission slip otherwise you cannot try out.

- Talent Show is Friday, May 26. Times to be announced.

- Field trip money and permission slips for Greenfield Village are due in no later than Friday, May 26.

- No school Monday, May 29.

- Book orders are due May 30.

- Final book reports are due by June 5

- Band trip to Cedar Point is Monday, June 5

- Greenfield Village field trip is Wednesday, June 7

- Spring Fling is Thursday, June 8

- I think field day is the last day of school which June 16.

We are well into our unit on invertebrates (animals without backbones). So far the students are enjoying learning about these creatures that have been around for millions of years!

Last week we went out around the school grounds and searched for any insects we could find. I was amazed at how many the students found. They were looking under rocks (huge ones at times), under fallen branches, digging in the ground, searching the trees, and so on. They are really turning into true Entomologists!

With the insects we collected we created a mini ecosystem in our classroom. We have crickets that we have done a few experiments with mixed in with them. In another tank we have our meal worms which should be in their pupa stage of metamorphosis.

Neal  hoping to find just                 Megan, Rayven, and John         the right insect.                              working together.

Danny & Justin looking hard.  Matt trying to capture a centipede.

Emily found what she was looking for...now how to capture it?

I am so proud of ALL the participants in this years Social Studies Olympiad. You all made Eisenhower proud at the District and State competitions! Here are the results from the State Competition:

Monologue

Gold - Cal Lucido

Silver - Ben Shadik

Quiz Bowl

Bronze - 5th Grade Team (Kyle Lesher, Matt Mainhardt, Tyler Finitari, & Matt Cunningham)

Poem

Gold - Neal Deim

Poster

Bronze - Ben Shadik

Come and cheer on our Quiz Bowl team, and those doing monologues. The event will be held at Eisenhower at 3:45pm on Thursday, April 28.

The State competition will be Saturday at Malowe Jr. High in Shelby Township. It all starts around 8:00am and ends with the award presentation at noon. The Quiz Bowl team will battle it out and Neal, Ben, and Matt M. will get the awards for their outstanding poems and poster! Great work guys, I'm really proud of you!

Quiz on the parts of an insect tomorrow! Make sure you look over your notes that we took in class today.

Here is a blank one and one with the answers if you want to review.

If you click on this link it will take you to the two pictures.

/photos/gaustin4180/category1753.aspx

If you forgot your directions for the mobile, I posted them under the science link. You can check there or just click here!

/blogs/mr._austins_class/archive/category/1756.aspx

We just started our unit on intvertebrates in science. Remember the difference between a vertebrate and an invertebrate is that vertebrates have backbones and invertebrates do not.

We will be learning all about these animals and how they are the largest part of the population on our planet.

Great job to Neal and Jennifer. I'm proud of you. You both did wonderful.

Kaitlyn won the contest for our class of most minutes read with almost 5,000 for the month of March! She will be joining the winners from the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades on a trip to C.J Barrymores in May with Mr. Z.

Be sure to stop in on Friday, March 31st, to see Neal and

Jennifer, along with representitives from the other grades, in

the annual Poetry Contest! It all begins at 9:00am. I look

forward to seeing you there!

Jennifer and Neal, excellent job presenting your poems in

class. Even if you didn't make it, I'm still impressed and

proud that you tried! Good job to everyone!

I didn't send home a reading log for this week. One will go home Monday. I told the students (and students you will remember this if you were listening at the end of the day) that you can log your minutes in your planner at the bottom where it says "Notes". Matt I hope this answers your question!

On Tuesday we have the honor of going to see The Wizard of Oz performance at Fraser High School. We will be leaving around 9am and returning around 11 or so. I am asking that you dress a little nicer than usual for this. We are going to see a play remember and we talked about what you wear and how you should act when you go and see a play.

Don't forget to cheer on our fellow classmates Ben and Jennifer!

Don't forget to check the students' writing post to view the wonderful writings going on in our class. Right now there is only one but there will be more very soon!!

/blogs/mr._austins_class/archive/category/2099.aspx

The students have earned their 100 points so Monday will be their reward day! They may bring in a board game if they like, books to read, sleeping bag, & wear p.j's. We will be having a pizza lunch and watching a movie in the afternoon. In the morning we will be reading and going to special!

Good job room 103!!

What did you think about the Science Center? Which part did you like the best? Which part did you like the least and why?

Click this link to view pictures!

As you can see, some things have really changed on this site. I was checking it one minute, signed off then signed back on and it was completely different. I'm going to to my best to work through it with you!

All the links to other websites are now at the top of the page under LINKS. There you will find a link to picutres as well.

It looks like this:

Daily Homework

Today's Homework

Homework Helper

Websites

Eisenhower's Website

Fraser Public Schools

Scholastic Parent Page

Science Websites

Time For Kids (TFK)

Everyday Math Site

Multiplication Help (Lessons, Worksheets, Activities, Games)

Math Worksheets for primary grades

Funbrain (Math games)

Language Arts

Homework Help and Practice

Kidgird (safe sites for kids)

I know that

Space.com

Astronauts of the past

Pictures

Science Photos

Egg Drop

Classroom Pictures

After School Activities

Detroit Science Center

Make sure to check out the link below to see some of the pictures that I have already put up!

Detroit Science Center Pictures

How do you think you did on the Constellations Quiz and why? Share with everyone else about how you feel you did! I just finished grading them and most of you will be happy!:)

Which player led the East in scoring and with how many points?

Which player led the West in scoring and with how many points?

Remember when you post a comment under a certain heading and I reply, the reply to that comment will be where you posted yours at. I hope this makes sense. For example, if you post a comment under the post I made called "Students" then that's where I will post my reply to yours at.

I hope this cleared up some confusion.

What are you looking forward to seeing the most at the Detroit Science Center? Post your response and earn Eagle Bucks!!

Visit their website to see what we're going to be doing at http://www.sciencedetroit.org/home.htm.

Don't forget about the science quiz on Friday. There is a copy of the study guide under the science link if you "lose" yours.

For the quiz you will need to be able to do everything on those pages. There will be 5-7 of the vocabulary words on there, not all thirteen.

Mrs. Austin and I were EXTREMELY IMPRESSED by all of you at the band concert Thursday night! You all did an absolutly wonderful job! All your practice and hard work really payed off! I look forward to hearing you all again soon! Keep it up!

We have started our astronaut biographies in class. The students are to look up a former astronaut and do some research on him or her. After, they are to type out the information in Microsoft Word using a two inch left and right margin. Finally they will glue the information (in a paragraph) to their astronaut.

These will be all around the classroom and 5th grade area so stop by and look at them!

You can find the information about astronauts by clicking on the link to the left that says, "Astronauts of the Past".

The Mad Scientists for the 2nd Card Marking are......

Jason K.

Frank M.

Alex B.

Jake C.

Shane S.

Congrats to all you guys on an excellent job this past card marking. Keep up the GREAT work!

As Kyle has requested here is a sports trivia question....

In Foxboro during the 2004 season, the Patriots played their first game against the Colts. How many interceptions did Tom Brady throw?

The Guests projects turned out GREAT! I was very impressed at the time and effort you all put in to them! Congrats on doing a great job!

Alright all my little astromoners the extra credit question for today is....

What do the letters in NASA stand for?

Good luck!!!

As promised here is the valuable Eagle Buck and Extra Credit Question....

How long is a light-year? **HINT - It is a distance not an amount of time**

Good luck! I will post all the answers on Monday!

We have just started our third unit in Science on the Solar System. We made our "Solar System Note Books" on Monday and began our K-W-L chart on Tuesday. Don't lose this because you will need to turn it in when we are finished with the unit.

If there is anything you are just DIEING to know about the solar system let me know. This unit should be a ton of fun as we are going to be learning about the various constellations, plantes, moon, comets, and meteors. We will also be discussing the Earth.

Remember, part of your grade comes from participation points. I know you are all smart and wonderful students who know so much; don't be afraid to share that with the class!

We have come to the end of our Mixtures and Solutions unit!! What was your favorite part? Which part didn't you really like? Don't forget that your K-W-L chart is due on Monday along with the worksheet from class. (That's if you are in Mrs. Biondi or Miss Crane's class). My class, the worksheet and K-W-L are due on Monday!

Have a great weekend!

I just want to say how impressed I am at Mrs. Biondi's Class! You all did a GREAT job on the group test today! The way you worked so well as a team with each other, you were able to accomplish a great deal.

You showed me how much you have learned about Mixtures and Solutions in the past weeks! I am EXTREMELY impressed! Keep up the great work. I'm sure you ALL will do wonderfully on the individual part of the test!

Have a great loooooong weekend and I will see you TUESDAY AT 12:25!

Don't forget about our Mixtures and Solutions test Friday! To review, I suggest you do the things talked about in class like: read through your chemisty notebook, make sure you are familiar with the definitions, look over ALL sheets used in the labs during class, and study with a friend!

Remember you will be able to use your chemistry notebook and ONLY your chemistry notebook for the test. Also, this test will be done with your group. Make sure you understand how to do any and all experiments done in class as you will be tested on those.

If you have any questions, come prepared with them on Thursday! We will be reviewing.

You can also post any questions you have on here! (10 Eagle Bucks to those who post them on here.)

Don't forget about your reading log! Remember you must read AT LEAST 10 minutes every night. They are due back to school Tuesday, January 31st.

Book orders were sent home today! They are due back Wednesday January 18th. Remember everytime you order books it gives me a chance to order books for the classroom!