Friday, December 13, 2019

December 13, 2019


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?
  1. Markers or drawing utensils of your choice 
  2. Plain white paper 
  3. No erasers   
  4. 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.


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