Freedom anyone?

We started our Civil Rights unit at the start of January. We have had the kids studying and researching important civil rights, contributors and the impact specific people had to help make a positive step towards civil rights for all. Martin Luther King, Linda Brown and Ruby Bridges are the three we have focused on. Last week in Social Studies,each group member created a tree map about Ruby Bridges life. During reading, we enjoyed the story Henry's Freedom Box. After completing the story, various thinking maps and having GREAT group discussions they were to then create their very own "freedom envelope." In this envelope they wrote a paragraph describing who they were, where they would mail them selves, to whom and why. Once they were done they then created themselves as a slave (think Flat Stanley). Also in the envelope they were to include clothing, drink/food, and a cherished item that they would need to take on their trip to freedom. These turned out amazing.

A New Discovery....

To round up our adaptations unit Mrs. Peterson had a great idea of having the students create a new animal. First they were given a specific ecosystem, outlining its weather, location and possible food sources. Then they were to write up a paragraph explaining what animal they were going to create and include several adaptations that their animal will need to survive in that specific ecosystem. After this they were given a piece of clay and they created their "new" animal, including all of its adaptations. Once they were done our wonderful art teacher Mrs. Fernandez fired them and they were then painted the following week. While the students were waiting for their animals, they then created a 3-d model of their ecosystem. Above are just a few examples of the finished products. Everyone's animal had some very cool adaptations and they all turned out amazing.

Competition, Camouflage and Symbiosis

Over the last few weeks we have been working with animals and their adaptations. We first studied camouflage, competition and symbiosis. During Exploration Alley the classes created boxes showing various combinations of these vocabulary words. This picture shows what one group created with only the instructions: Bird/Competition. They created two male umbrella birds fighting over their mate.

Pep Rally Number 2

Wow our second Pep Rally was a HUGE success!! All of the kids had a great time dancing and cheering. The SGA rocked the stage again with another flash mob dance to Dynamite. Mrs. Anderson led the crowd while the SGA members danced on stage and then filtered out on to the floor to dance with all of the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. As you can see Mrs. Vaughn was excited and dancing along. Mrs. Schrader and Mrs. Sydeski were helping out to pick our contest players and to start it all off Mrs. A and I were on stage getting the crowd pumped up along with our SGA VP, dancing while in a cast.

Spirit Week

This week to ring in the new year and to start off our second chance at field day we have had our Spirit Week!!! Monday was crazy socks, Tuesday our favorite sports teams, Wednesday mismatch/nerdy and today was a flashback day. We have had so many students participating in our classes along with the whole school. Mismatch/nerdy and flashback days were the most interesting ones with Mrs. Peterson being a peace loving hippie and I brought back hip hop from the 90's with a Kriss Kross inspired outfit. This whole week leads up our ZONE Pep Rally on Friday. Our fabulous SGA kids will be leading our "flash mob" dance with Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Peterson and myself participating. Remember to Stay in the Zone!!!

What's on Your Menu??

This week we rounded out our unit on adjectives with one of my favorite activities. The students were asked to design a menu for a restaurant of their own. In their menu they were required to include 4 adult meals and 4 kids meals. The adjectives came into play in the descriptions of their menu items. The students were to tempt us into wanting to choose their restaurant and their menu items to enjoy!!

A Web of Wicked Writings!!

This web of short stories was created using story starters. Each student wrote a different story using a story starter. They were able to blindly pick two and then narrow it down to the one they wanted to use. It was a super fun activity and produced some spooky results.