Friday, February 15, 2013

Guest Blogger- Dylan!


Ole! Oh yeah hi! I’m Dylan and here is what is goin’ on. On Tuesday Lisa came in to share something called Lisa’s African Animals Presentation from 8:30 to 9:30.
Break: GREAT BREAK! J J. GREAT LUNCH! J J. Science & P.E. were great J. All Day=JJJJJ Here dad Nos Vemos = later!! JJJJJJJ

Wednesday: GREAT DAY! Had a guest, made cards and had fun! JJJJJ

 Thursday: Happy Valentines Day! Going to BENNETT HOUSE by FOOT!     Awesome Variety Show at Bennett House! J Awesome afternoon!

Friday: We finished our concluding paragraphs of the literary essays. Break was great! J Capoeira was good, rated medium. We literally broke our necks.
Lunch = A-W-E-S-O-M-E J  P.E. was two thumbs up.  














Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Capoeira and Sharing Their Success!

How about a glimpse into our new Capoeira class?! Daniel is amazing with them. I love the focused energy and intention he brings as a Capoeira teacher. The kids love the class and they always end up staying late into their lunch break because they want to try "one more thing!"










Congratulations, Team! I love reading the Pioneer Journals. They're serious page-turners. It was a huge accomplishment to show what they know through their writing, to tell an engaging story, to push themselves to produce more writing that ever before, and to wrap up the stories by a deadline. Wow! Here the authors are, sharing their favorite passage with their fellow writers:












Monday, February 11, 2013

Guest Blogger- Alex!


This week Hugo had his birthday party in class. We had Lolly Pops fore he class dessert. They were really good J. The birthday boy or girl gets to pick a class game or activity like Dodge Ball or games like that. Hugo picked marble runs. I thought it was really fun. And I think everyone else liked it too.

Gloria had her class meeting this Thursday which I am in right now. We are voting about an overnight class field trip and what we will eat. And we are going to get money by having a fundraiser. But we don’t know what kind yet.




Also this week are pioneering journals were due this week. Everyone is in a rush to finish. But I think everyone is going to finish (maybe).



Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Stranded!, Novel Study, Word Work, and Birthday Fun

Our Wagon Trains are on the home stretch, but there's one last obstacle on our path! The pioneers were on the way over a Sierra Nevada pass when a storm blew in, stranding them in the snow. The teams had to decide how to handle the situation... hunker down, build shelter, and hope to find food? split up and send the strong ahead for help? stick together and struggle slowly ahead?... then present their experience in a short performance.







Here the students are reading aloud in their novel study groups. The 4th graders are reading Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie and the 3rd graders are reading Sarah, Plain and Tall. They're looking for character traits that define a chosen character and pushing their thinking about it with some sentence starters. They designed a poster to share the ideas that came out of the discussion.

Here are some examples of their ideas:

"Hattie likes being barefoot. She says that she will walk barefoot to Oregon. This makes me think that she likes the feel of nature on her feet."

"She notices small details, like when she sees Mrs. Kenker steal a silver spoon."

"She likes traditional names more than people that re named after trees. The thought I have about this is she is a more traditional person."

"The dogs like Sarah. This makes me realize that she is kind-hearted."

"Sarah loves the ocean because she was born in Maine. To add on, she is sort of wild."

"Hattie doesn't give up. For example, she was looking for the three sisters in a different wagon that had disappeared."

"Hattie has inside humor. The thought I have about this is it shows that her friendships are important to her."



 Reading Buddies with the Kindergartners






 The 3rd graders are playing a game to work with the Long "O" sounds in their spelling list.

 Happy birthday, Hugo!!!! Hugo shared this sweet monkey that he received as a baby and a photo of a place he would love to visit in the future: Nepal!




Friday, February 1, 2013

Tiny Class- Big Learning

 Check out the students playing math games on Wednesday. The 4th graders are playing Race to 1000. They roll two numbers on a 9-sided die and multiply them together. Then they build the product with base-10 blocks and roll again. They re-group the numbers as they make their way to 1000.




The 3rd graders are playing High Card Wins. It's "War" with multiplication facts.




Success!