Mrs. Lyjak

Target on 05/08/09

Today was almost the best day in Target.  When we came in to Target, we tried to solve Pie Games.  It was fun and hard.  We did Bubble Research.  We learned why bubbles are round.  Bubble molecules squeeze together to form a sphere.  We learned that bubbles pop because they get too dry.  We learned recipes for really good bubble soap.  Three people presented Above and Beyond projects which were Introducing Me, Cheetahs and Butterflies.  They were very interesting.

Next week is the last week of Target.  Remember to bring your Target binder and signed Target Tally, water bottle and a nutritious, delicious snack.

  

Target on 05/01/09

Today we had a fabulous day in Target.  When we got into Target, the first thing we did was a creativity packet.  We had to look at the examples of Glorfs very closely and figure out what was different from the faces that were not Glorfs.  We figured out that Glorfs were faces that were closed figures which means that outside line of the face is connected together.  We had to figure out how many pieces of pizzas we should draw for four people who wanted two slices of pizza each.  We think that creativity packets are sometimes hard and sometimes easy.

We presented our Introducing Me presentations.  They were all about us.  Everyone was nervous about talking in front of the room but everyone did a great job!  Introducing Me was our first Above and Beyond presentation so we learned how to do them.

After lunch in Bubble Clusters, we tried to blow clusters of bubbles with three to six bubbles or more.  The same number of bubbles sometimes makes a different cluster and there are many different clusters of different numbers of bubbles that we could make.  We made butterfly bubble clusters, ladybug bubble cluster, caterpillar bubble cluster, a star and a bee.  We also made ultra-gigantic bubble clusters.  Bubble clusters are a bunch of bubbles together.  We learned to record our data by observing and drawing a  picture of what we saw.  

Remember to bring your Target binder and a nutritious, delicious, yummy snack.  Bring a water bottle and a signed Target Tally.  If you want to practice Above and Beyond presentations, you may prepare one to give in the next two weeks.  Be sure to practice, time it, bring something to look at, and have note cards. 

Target on 04/17/09

This week we had a really, really fun day in Target.  First we used our brain to complete our Creativity packet.  One of the challenges was to make cuts along lines but we could not cut the square in two pieces.  Another challenge was to figure out what a thin, crunchy, fried white vegetable that comes in plastic bags was.  Can you figure out this riddle?  We did!  After we finished the creativity packet we could solve logic or analogy puzzles.  We are creating an Introducing Me project where we tell about ourselves in front of the Target class.  We can use words written on index cards to remind us what we want to say about ourselves.  We need to be prepared to practice what we are going to say so we need to bring our note cards back to Target.  Next we blew bubbles using different shaped tools for our Taking Shape project.  We learned that no matter what shape your tool was, the bubble was a sphere.  We had several hypothesis about why the bubbles were always spheres.  One was that our mouths created a circle when we blew.  Another was that God always made it as a sphere.  The bubble can't make anything but a sphere.  One student thought the bubble couldn't hold air if it was another shape.  Another hypothesis was that when we blow the air swirls and makes a sphere.  Someone thought that the bubble made a sphere because the air formed a sphere.  One other hypothesis is that gravity pulls it into a sphere.  We need to do more research and experiments to figure this out.  

Remember your Target binder and signed Target Tally.  Also bring your note cards for Introducing Me.  Finally, bring a delicious and nutritious snack and water bottle.  

Target on 04/03/09

Today we had a fun day in Target.  First thing we did when we came was a creativity packet.  Since we do creativity packets a lot, we are getting much better at them.  On one of the pages we had to draw a path to get to each planet and we had to think hard about it.  Next we learned about Above and Beyond projects and started to learn how to do them.  Our first project is going to be about us.  We had to answer the questions about us as our research.  Next Target day we will learn how to make note cards.  After lunch, we did an experiment called It's a Touchy Subject.  First we had a question.  Our question was which surfaces are more likely to pop bubbles, wet ones or dry ones?  Then we made a hypothesis.  We designed our experiment by giving ideas about what wet and dry surfaces to try.  FInally we tested each wet and dry surface.  We found out that dry surfaces are more likely to pop bubbles.

Remember to bring your water bottle, Target binder, a delicious, yummy, nutritious snack and a signed Target Tally. 

Target on 03/20/09

Today we had a good day in Target.  The first thing we did was a creativity packet.  The activity where we had to change a letter to make a certain word was hard for most of us.  We learned to make a bird by cutting and folding paper.  We drew pictures from ideas in poems.  Next, we finished the Egg Experiment.  The egg shell on the egg in the vinegar seemed to just disappear.  Maybe vinegar is an acid that melts stuff.  Then, we got laptops and started to do Detergent Research.   We used World Book online to learn about detergent.  No one knows who the first person to use soap was.  The ancient Romans had been using soap for 3,000 years.  Soap is made of alkalis and animal fat so it has a strong odor (it smells).

We learned a lot about soap and detergent today.

Remember to bring a water bottle, a delicious, nutritious snack.  Bring your signed Target Tally and Target binder.  There will be no Target next Friday. 

Target on 03/13/09

Today was a good day in Target.  We learned how to research on the computer.  Today we learned how to get to an online encyclopedia.  We learned to put details when we communicate.  Mrs. Kajyl, our substitue, tried to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from our directions.  We found out that we did not put enough details in our directions because she could not make a pb&j.  We started the egg experiment.  We dropped a raw egg into a jar of vinegar.  I wonder what will happen by next week? 

The first thing we did in Target was a creativity packet.  They are getting easier to do because we are getting smarter and more creative.  After that we worked on logic and analogies.  All of us are advancing to harder and harder logic problems and analogies.  

Remember to bring a nutritious and delicious snack, a signed Target Tally, a water bottle and your Target binder especially since we have to finish the egg experiment and our detergent research so we need those papers to use next week.

Target on 3/6/09

Today in Target the first thing we did was a creativity packet.  We thought about how to match pictures to sentences, what the difference between a bottle and a jar was, and how to classify words to take them away to find the remaining word.  We then worked on solving logic problems and analogies.  Then when we got back from lunch we talked about communication and wrote directions for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I wonder who Mrs. Lyjak will have read our directions.  In our Whet Your Appetite activity we learned how to make a bubble frame with string and straws.  We made a lot of bubbles of different sizes with our frames.  The really big bubbles were wobbly.  I wonder why that was.  We also made bubbles with our hands.  Next week we are going to use what we learned today to brainstorm questions about soap bubbles.  We had a fun day in Target.

Remember to bring your Target binder, signed Target Tally, a yummy, delicious, nutritious snack, and a water bottle.  

Target on 02/27/09

Today in Target we did a creativity packet and then we solved logic problems.  We learned how to keep a bubble in the air by trying out our hypotheses.  Everyone tried hard to keep their bubble in the air the longest.  Next we had to think what things would fit in the green box. Then we lifted the box and predicted what was in the box.  Finally, we could shake the box to try to find out what was inside.  We are wanting to see what is inside.  Our last activity was Communication which was kind of hard.  When we were the artist, we had to draw what the communicator wanted us to draw.

Remember your Target binder, snack, water bottle and signed Target Tally.  We had a fun day at Target.

Target on 02/20/09

Today we started with analogies.  In analogies we figured out how shapes were related.  Soon we will be figuring out how words are related.  Related means how something is the same and how it is different.  Then we figured out a puzzle called Magic Square where you used all of the numbers from 1 to 9 in different combinations of horizontal, vertical and diagonal to add up to 15.  It was challenging.  A couple of people still need to finish it by next week.  If we finished, we would solve our logic problems.  In the next activity we learned about classification by putting erasers into groups using their characteristics.  Characteristics are something that describes something.  Next we brainstormed as many ideas as we could think of about things that pop.  We learned about creativity.  Creativity has four characteristics.  They are fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration.  Finally, we made a hypothesis about how to keep a bubble in the air.  We should have at least three ways to keep a bubble in the air to try next week.

Remember to bring your Target Tally, a signed Target Tally, a water bottle and a nutritious snack.

 

Target on 02/13/09

Today when we came in, we did Balloons and Surprises.  Balloons and Surprises helped to get our brains ready to work.  One of the problems in Balloons and Surprises was a poem where you had to find a rhyming word.  We also had to make words go with pictures.  Balloons and Surprises was kind of hard. 

Next we started an experiment to see how far our bubble would travel.  We learned how to measure with a meter stick.  We predicted how far our bubble would float and then checked to see if our prediction was right.  We found out that predictions are often not exactly correct.  It was hard to figure out how far the bubble was going to go.  

Remember to bring a water bottle, and a snack.  Also bring your Target binder and signed Target Tally.