During the past couple of weeks students have
been working on articles for the class blog. Here are some of the
articles that students have been working on.
Next week, I will post the rest of the articles.
Morning
Meeting
By Hazel and Maxwell
Good morn-… well, whatever time it is. The first
thing we do is get our stuff, sign in, and head to the rug to do morning
meeting. We usually start with a greeting like a ball greeting. This is where
we get two-three balls and toss them to each other and greet the person with
Hello, Buenos Dias, Bonjour, etc.
Another greeting is a
handshake greeting where we go around and greet each other with different
handshakes such as a fist bump, jellyfish, lumberjack, fireworks or thumbs up.
Those two greetings are the most common that we use
We then do an
activity. These activities include everyone, cover different parts of the
curriculum and are a fun way to start the day. Two of the class favorites
are Caught Red Handed and Pass the Monkey.
You can ask your child for more details.
Morning Meeting is a fun
way to start off our day.
Student Leadership
By: Lexi, Claire
and Morgan
The six graders have the
option to do student leadership. The sixth graders had to fill out an
application to join student leadership. We have student leadership meetings
every Thursday mornings. In student leadership we have to be a good role
model for the younger students.
In student
leadership we help with many school events. One of the events we have helped in
is the Monster Mash. In the mornings we do the morning announcements for the
school. We announce the weather, if recess is outside, birthdays, lunch, and
events that are going to happen.
We help clean the
building before school. We also have a group of student leaders that help
recycle, collect trash, and organize classrooms. The student leadership also
does an event called school store and we sell things like pencils, erasers, and
many other things. In school store there is a cashier and other leaders to help
kids, School store helps the student leadership learn business. Student leaders
also, help on Friday mornings in PBIS morning meetings.
Writing
and Poetry
By:
Claire
This year we have been
doing writing and poetry in the morning block with both 5th and 6th grade. In
the writing unit, we have been doing both fiction and true story narratives. We
first did a narrative pre-assessment, on this one we got to choose if we did a
fiction or a true story narrative. Next, we had to write a narrative on
something that happened to us. We had a couple of brainstorm papers with
sentence starters on them. For example, I was in so much trouble
when….. I laughed so hard when…. My favorite vacation was... After that, we picked our favorite one and
did an oral narrative to a partner. Then the next day we wrote our rough drafts
in our Chromebooks. Next, we got a checklist a did a revised narrative. The
checklist had questions like, did you show no tell and did you use dead words
or wow words? On Halloween, Mrs. Shedd gave us all a picture of a
creepy-looking house and we had to complete an on command narrative using the
picture and this prompt: There was always something creepy about that
house…
In the poetry unit, we have done many different poems and
made watercolors to go with them. So far we have done a rain poem, a fall poem,
a hopes and dreams poem, a November poem, and a Thanksgiving poem. We do
a rough draft on paper and then conference with one of the teachers in the
room. Then we get their initials so we can type it on our Chromebooks. We get
to change the font and color if we want. We have also been working on
figurative language. We have done onomatopoeia, metaphors, hyperboles, similes,
alliteration, personification, and idioms.
5th Grade Math
By
Abbe,Charlee and Delaney
One of the things that
we have been working on is volume. We also have been doing math games
since the beginning of the year. Another
thing we have worked on is Math Menu and I-Ready.
One thing that we are doing in math is volume. The first
thing that we did was learn what volume is and how to calculate volume. The
next thing that we did was Mrs Shedd gave us print outs of boxes. We cut
them out, taped them together and filled them with cm cubes. The next thing we
did was learn how to calculate the volume with repeated addition. That is when
you pretend to peel the different layers of the rectangular prism and then add
layers. Next, we learned how to calculate the base of the rectangular prism
and then multiply the base by the height. Finally, we learned the formula
(l * w)*h which a lot of people do as a procedure.
We have played a lot of
math games in class. We usually play games in pairs. A couple of games we have
played are Skunk, I Have Who Has, Trash Can and games with Math Menu. As you
can see, we learn math through many games. They are fun and we have
learned a lot of math with these games.
One of the other things
we have done in math is on the computer in I-Ready. There are lessons in
I-Ready that are just right for you. We got all of this information from a test
we took at the beginning of the year. In I-Ready there are lessons, quizzes and
some learning games. You have to get above a certain % to pass each lesson.
We hope that you had a
fun time learning about our 5th grade math class and maybe if you have the
materials, you can play these games and activities with your children.
Technology
By
Nate and Owen
In technology, we have been learning how to use
Tinkercad, as well as Book Creator. The fifth-graders had done Monarch Book
Creator and green screen and they had the choice of Book Creator or a Green
Screen with WeVideo. The 6th-grade class made books about what we were
researching ancient history in Mr. Willard’s
class.
Tinkercad
Tinkercad is where you
can make 3-D model designs and more. Mrs. Shedd’s class made special
personalized name tags. Students had to put at least one hole or empty
spot in it.
Book Creator
Book Creator is an app
where you can make books. These books are either a comic or regular layout. Comic had
more choices for the layout.
Green Screen
Green Screen is where there is a green screen behind the
speaker. You can edit the background so that has any image you want. You use Wevideo with the green screen.
Through this app you can add music and
images to create your own video.
Ancient history
With Mr. Willard, sixth
graders studied ancient history. We had to pick something that was ancient
history and research it. After we were done, we had to make a book. We had to use google docs
and the slide docs. I did ancient Egypt. We had to research on the
internet.
Book
Club
By
Rilynn & Maddie
At book club we talk about Dorothy Canfield Fisher (DCF)
books. We have 4th graders through 6th graders that go.You have to read the
book to be able to go. The teachers who are in charge are Mrs. Shedd, Ms.
Gallagher, and Mrs Arlin.
We
have completed three book club sessions and the ones that we did so far
are Bob ,Small Spaces and The Truth Story As Told By Mason
Buttle. We had a special guest - author Katherine Arden who wrote the
book Small Spaces. The next book club will be about Lifeboat 12.
We get snacks, drinks
and a special treats. Then we eat, talk about the book, and make a craft about
the book. Mrs. Shedd make many of the special
treats.
The final book club for the books this year we will have a party.
To go, you need to read 5 or more DCF books. There will be games, snacks,
drinks, special treats, and voting on the book that we enjoyed the best.
Sketchnoting
Mollie\Taylin
In Mrs. Shedd's class we
have been focusing on sketchnoting. Mr. Willard’s
class has been doing
this too in the afternoon.
Here are
directions to sketchnoting tips so you can get started.
- Record your thinking
- Be creative
- Make a visual of your notes
- Combine your ideas
- Sketchnotes are not meant to be
an art project
- Mistakes allow thinking to
happen
If you want to get
started, go to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0IEYeLlq4 and watch the video on sketchnoting. By
the way, you’re going to have a great time. It’s just as easy as drawing!
Why do we
sketchnote? One reason is to be creative. Another is to combine ideas together. Also, we
sketchnote to make a visual of our notes.
What materials do we
need to get started?
- Markers or drawing utensils of
your choice
- Plain white paper
- No erasers
- A topic on what you are going
to take notes on
We will be using
sketchnotes throughout the year during Science and Global Citizenship.
This is a fun and creative way to take notes.
