Party Time!

It looks like Santa has visited room 14!

Mr. Prefix and Mrs. Suffix!

Winners of the E.T. Challenge!

These students scored 100% on their Addition with Regrouping Test! 

Their math skills are 

OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Look at our Inspiring Young Artists!

The Power of Prefixes!

Robotics Learning Lab: Sneak Peek!

Look at our future Engineers:

The students have been working hard on their STEM Robotics projects. For those of you who aren't teachers, that's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Learn more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_education

This group is currently working on a robot that responds to voice commands!

In room 14, we know you're never too young to invent!

Look what arrived from Poland!

Today we received a Christmas present all the way from Poland! The nice people at www.displate.com sent us a beautiful work of art for our classroom featuring a fox in a misty forest full of trees! This kids absolutely adore our new edition and we've placed it right on the inside of our door thanks to the the included magnet!

Thanks again Displate!

Van De Graaff Generator Hair by Bianca!

Van de Graaff generator: Nearly as simple as combing your hair

How does a Van De Graaf generator work and what is it made from?

Does your hair sometimes stand up on end after you comb it? The culprit is "static electricity." A Van de Graaff generator is a machine that produces and stores static electricity, and it operates much like a comb running through hair.

To understand a Van de Graaff generator, you must first understand static electricity. All matter is made up of atoms — tiny objects that contain positively charged particles called protons, and negatively charged particles called electrons. In most materials, the number of protons exactly equals the number of electrons, and the material is uncharged. Some materials, such as hair and nylon, lose electrons very easily. When you run a dry comb through your hair, your hair loses some of its electrons to the comb. As a result, your hairs become positively charged (too few electrons), and the comb becomes negatively charged (too many electrons). This has two effects. First, if you bring the comb close to a metal object, such as a doorknob, you will sometimes see a spark as the extra electrons jump from the comb to the metal — static electricity! Second, your hair may stand on end. Because each hair is positively charged and positive charges repel one another, your hairs repel each other! To get as far away from each other as possible, they stand up.

A Van de Graaff generator is only slightly more complicated than a comb running through hair. Van de Graaff generators have several parts: a motor, a belt, two rollers, two "combs," and a metal sphere. In the generator I built, the bottom roller was made out of nylon, and the upper out of Teflon. As the motor turns, the rubber belt first goes over the nylon roller. One comb pulls electrons from the nylon (which loses electrons easily) and transfers them to the rubber belt. The belt then travels to the Teflon roller. The second comb collects the electrons from the belt and stores them on the metal sphere. The motor turns very fast, so the sphere quickly collects a lot of electrons and becomes negatively charged. Touching a charged sphere is truly a "shocking" experience!

Souce: http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/education/ask/?quid=1103

Some Smart Cookies!

In kindergarten, we studied letters and sounds, in first grade we studied words and sentences, and in second grade, we're studying about paragraphs and how to LEARN from the things we read. Teachers call this COMPREHENSION, but you can just call it a fun way to find out more about all the things you love!

What is something fun you've learned about in a book?