Congratulations to Cuatro! He created a new catapult using the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. technique.

A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices. Using the materials provided, design and build your own catapult.  Here is a “How to” video.

Now experiment! Who can launch the cotton ball to a specific target?

Challenges:

• Extra Time? Play Civiballs.  Cut the chains to launch a series of events. The journey of the civiballs is filled with catapults, ramps, moving platforms and more!
• Use your catapult to lob various objects. Measure the distance for each object. Let’s apply Newton’s 2nd Law to our own results. Watch here.
• Use S.C.A.M.P.E.R. to design a new catapult.  Use materials from home to create a catapult.  We will have a catapult contest on Friday, February 15th!

There’s been some record temperatures this past week and into 2018.  We can warm up with these challenges.

1.  Get your creative juices flowing Mrs. McBride’s challenge of the month – Snowflake Challenge.
2. Snowflakes also have their own unique characteristics. Thanks to the “Snowflake Man” we know that every snowflake is unique. Wilson Bentley was the first person ever to photograph microscopic images of snowflakes.Watch the documentary and the news report about his life. Watch this video of the images he photographed under his microscope.
   
3. Today we will play a physics game called Snowball Siege.  Let’s see what level you make it to!

It’s January, and we haven’t had much snow.  Let’s have a snow day in school!  Have you ever heard of insta-snow? It might not work for a snowball fight, but this instant snowball is very cool… almost freezing.  Wouldn’t it been fun to Make Instant Snow today?  Let’s find out how How Instant Snow Polymer Works.

Take this quiz to see how well you listened – Quia’s Snowflake Bentley
Here are the images he photographed under his microscope – Snowflakes.

Let’s enjoy some creative writing.  A diamante poems is an unrhymed seven-line poem. The beginning and ending lines are the shortest, while the lines in the middle are longer, giving diamante poems a diamond shape. “Diamante” is the Italian word for diamond, so this poetic form is named for this diamond shape.

A diamante poem is made up of 7 lines using a set structure:

Line 1: Beginning subject
Line 2: Two describing words about line 1
Line 3: Three doing words about line 1
Line 4: Two nouns about line 1, two nouns about line 7
Line 5: Three doing words about line 7
Line 6: Two describing words about line 7
Line 7: End subject

An example of a diamante poem

Read Write Think is a great resource to help you develop your diamante poem.

Challenge – Go to Mrs. McBride’s website to find out more about the Snowflake Challenge.

A magic square is a group of numbers arranged in a certain way so that the numbers have an interesting property. In a magic square the sum of any row, column, or diagonal is the same.

Historians believe the first magic square called lo-shu dates from Ancient China before 2000 B.C. There is a legend about its discovery that says an emperor saw the special number sequence on the shell of a tortoise near the bank of the Yellow River.

Magic Square Puzzles

Today you will use logic, task cards and plastic chips with numbers.  Follow the instructions on each task card.  Move the plastic chips to solve the problem. There is no need for erasing because if you make a mistake…just move the chips.  When you find success, record your answer on your sheet.  Good luck and have fun!

Challenge: Try this game online.  Click  Sum Shapes.  Here you solve puzzles by arranging numbers on a diagram so that they add up to a given value. Use perseverance to solve these logic puzzles!

Sunday, November 11th is Veterans Day. Our book of the month, America’s White Table. Listen to the significance of each item placed on the table and how Katie comes to understand and appreciate the depth of sacrifice that her uncle, members of the Armed Forces and their families have to make.

It is important Americans give thanks for their freedom. The perfect way to do this is by thanking our active troops, our veterans, our heroes. It is important to show gratitude toward those who serve. Consider writing a card to send to a veteran.

Additional Resources:

• Learn how to say thank you to veterans – The Gratitude Campaign!
• Bet You Didn’t Know: Veterans Day | History
• Men’s Basketball Veteran’s Day Recognition
• History of the Holidays: History of Veterans Day | History

This month we celebrate Thanksgiving and Veterans Day. It is important to show gratitude for your own happiness, health, relationships and impact on the world.

Cottage Lane will be growing a gratitude tree. The gratitude tree will show everyone that we appreciate the small things in life, are grateful for everything they have, are mindful of the things that are going right in their lives and hold people in our lives close to our hearts.

In your writing journal write daily gratitude responses. Feel free to go above and beyond and say thank you to others, write them a letter and share that letter with them. After 7 days of gratitude responses, receive a leaf for your teacher and add it to the CLE gratitude tree. If you need writing prompts, try these:

• Click this link to add your response to our Gratitude Wall.
• Continue this challenge in your journal using these writing prompts found here.