Oliver and I edited the first two paragraphs of his historical essay. We changed word choice to make his message more clear. We also corrected grammatical errors. Oliver finished editing the rest of paper by himself. We printed the final version. We read and discussed a chapter in "Legend." Oliver identified words as prepositions or adverbs in sentences. He read an article on read theory.org ("Spring Cleaning")and completed the comprehension questions.

Oliver should review spelling words for homework.

Oliver continued to work on his historical essay. The first draft is completed and he is revising to be sure he addressed the prompt. Oliver completed an assessment on prepositions and prepositional phrases. We read and discussed a chapter in "Legend."

Oliver should review spelling words and read a chapter in "Legend" for homework.

First we reviewed and then we took a quiz on Lesson 3: The Outer Planets. Then we began Lesson 4: Dwarf Planets – We learned that a dwarf planet is a sphere that orbits a star. It has objects similar in mass orbiting near it or crossing its orbital path. The dwarf planets in the solar system are Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. Ceres is the smallest dwarf planet in the solar system and it is the only one located in the asteroid belt. Pluto has a rocky core surrounded by ice. It has three known moons. The Eris is a largest dwarf planet. It is three times farther from the Sun than Pluto. Makemake and Haumea are dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt. Next we learned that asteroids orbit the Sun in a band between Mars and Jupiter. They are made of chunks of rock and ice. The largest asteroid is named Pallas.

The lesson gave Oliver a chance to solve equations with radicals that ranged in difficulty level of algebra I through algebra II. The difficult radicals involved solving quadratic equations and extraneous roots.

Oliver completed two articles and the comprehension questions using read theory.org. The focus of the questions were on integrating personal experience and knowledge with new information. In grammar, Oliver worked with prepositions and prepositional phrases. He identified the prepositions, phrases, and the objects of the prepositions in sentences. I introduced spelling words. Oliver read a chapter in "Legend" and continued to write his first draft of his historical essay. Today he completed the introductory paragraph which includes his thesis statement. For homework, Oliver should read a chapter in "Legend" and review spelling words.

This activity had Oliver solve quadratic equations of a equal to 1 and a greater than 1 using all three methods: qraphing calculator, factoring and the quadratic formula. In this lesson he solved 10 quadratics using all three methods.

The lesson involved factoring the most difficult trinomials where a is greater than 1. Oliver's activity involved learning the cast out method. In this lesson he completed 30 factoring problems using the cast out method.

Today Oliver learned about the outer planets. We reviewed vocabulary in preparation for further study, and he completed a key concept builder activity. The final few minutes were spent looking at videos of the outer planets taken from Voyager 2.

Lesson 3: The Outer Planets – Jupiter: We learned about the outer planets which are made of materials that are usually gases on Earth so we refer to them as gas giants. Gravitational forces produced by the large sizes of these planets change gases into a liquids. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Although it takes 12 years to revolve around the Sun, Jupiter rotates faster than any other planet. Jupiter has a system of rings around it. The atmosphere contains helium but is mostly made of hydrogen. Jupiter’s rotation stretches its clouds into colorful bands. The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a storm that has lasted more than 300 years. Jupiter’s entire structure is made up of about 80% hydrogen and about 20% helium. It has a solid core that is surrounded by liquid hydrogen. The four largest moons of Jupiter are called Galilean moons. These are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Lesson 3: The Outer Planets – Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune: We learned that Saturn rotates rapidly and has clouds in bands. It is mostly made of hydrogen and helium and has the largest ring system in the solar system. Saturn has seven bands of rings, each of which contains thousands of smaller rings made mainly of ice particles. Most of Saturn’s moons are small, but one of them, Titan, is larger than the planet Mercury. We learned that Uranus’s atmosphere contains mostly hydrogen and helium with small amounts of methane. Beneath Uranus’s atmosphere is a slushy layer of water, ammonia, and other materials. Then we learned that Uranus might have a rocky core. Next we learned that the rotational axis of Uranus is tilted more than that of any other planet. It has at least 27 moons and a small ring system. The atmosphere and interior of Neptune are similar to Uranus. Neptune has at least 13 moons and a faint ring system.
Assignment: Create Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting the 4 outer planets.
Discussion Question:
Compared to the inner planets, why are outer planets more likely to have rings around them?
The outer planets are so massive that they have very strong gravitational forces. These forces apply tremendous pressure on the atmosphere of each planet. If a moon from one of these planets shattered, its pieces would remain in orbit around the planet, forming a ring.

Oliver continued to write his first draft of his historical essay. We discussed what should be included in the conclusion and he began writing it. He completed a spelling test. We read two chapters in "Legend." After reading a couple pages, we stopped to discuss the events of the story and updated our conclusions as to where we thought the storyline would go next. Oliver is to read a chapter for homework.