Poetry Friday - February 29

This is what it looked like in our classroom this morning. This large group of students were huddled around the board creating a shared poem together. It was really fun for me to see this large group of students collaborate, compromise, brainstorm, and write together. They filled up one chart paper, and wanted another! I started the poem with the line "I couldn't believe what I was seeing," and I didn't know where the students would take it. Here is where it went...

I couldn't believe what I was seeing
a dark scary shadow seemed to float across the room
AHHH!
It's coming closer, closer, closer
Until I feel it rub against my skin!
I don't dare to open my eyes
but, I did!
I see
Nothing
Just nothing
The dark shadow seems
to creep behind me, but I can't see it
but I can hear it
I turn around swiftly
I crawl on all fours
charging towards the door
I stand
I run
I trip!
The silence of nothing
Just me breathing
The door slams
behind me
I'm locked in!
I see the window
opened and the curtains blowing
and I hear...
the screeching of the door
I hear the wooden floor beneath my feet
The scratching of the wooden door
louder, louder, louder
the yellow and red eyes
looking at
ME!
They disappeared
I can't move
frozen
hoping it's something else!
a switch turning
sounds like the bedroom doorknob!
I turn around
The door is opened
I stop
stare
and look!
I see it!

Isn't that scary?! Even though it is a scary poem (not my favorite genre), the kids did a terrific job using imagery and telling the events in a step-by-step fashion. While this group huddled around the board, other students were posting poetry to think.com, reading poetry with a friend, or writing poetry with a friend. Poetry Fridays are quickly becoming a favorite activity for our class. I love it when the students walk in and say (in a sing-song way), "Yeah! It's Poetry Friday!"

Room 241 Newscast - February 25, 2008

Here's a short newscast some of our students put together. We hope you find the update useful and informative. Leave us a comment with your thoughts.

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Poetry Friday!

Even though our study of poetry is over, we don't want it to leave our lives. So we've started having Poetry Fridays. Instead of having class meeting and read aloud on Friday morning, we spend time simply enjoying poetry. Students can read poetry by themselves or with a friend, write poetry, contribute to the poetry project on think.com, or contribute to the class poem. We just spend our first thirty minutes of the day enjoying poems! It's so rewarding for me as a teacher to see our kids living poetic lives.

Taurus is enjoying a poetry book by Jack Prelutsky.

Justin is publshing one of his poems on think.com. Our poetry project on this site allows our students to publish poems and receive feedback on their writing. Many students just enjoy visiting this project to read their classmates' work.

Naomi and Amy are contributing to our class poem. Each student could add one line to the poem. Here is the final draft:

The light casts small shadows across the floor
A faint sound of music flows across the room
The light shines down upon everyone
The sun sets in my eyes
It wakes me in my sleep
I rise from my bed, wiggle my toes, and think about the day ahead
I feel the cold winter floor on my toes and feet
I glide down the wooden stairs
and print my face in the glass-framed window
I never thought I'd see this but it's
snowing
I saw a white blanket of snow cover the field
I could smell the crisp ginger cookies and hot chocolate
I love cold winter days!

We invite you to experience Poetry Fridays with us. How can you bring poetry into your life on a Friday? Leave us a comment - we'd love to know your thoughts about Poetry Friday!

What's the Chance?

We've had a lot of fun this week exploring probability during math workshop. We started the week throwing wadded-up pieces of paper in the trashcan (you don't get to do that too often in school, do you?). We found you are certain to hit the trashcan from 3 cm away, likely to hit the trashcan from 150 cm away, unlikely to hit the trashcan from 250 or 350 cm away, and it's nearly impossible to hit the trashcan from 6m away with your eyes closed.

Our second activity this week dealt with dice. We posed the question: If you roll two dice and add them together, what sum will you most likely roll? There were a variety of predictions to this exploration, and most of us were surprised by what we found. Partners worked together to roll dice and record their results. We found that 6,7,8 were rolled most often, while 1,2,3,10,11,12 were not rolled as frequently. After we studied our results, Atticus shed some insight into why 6,7,8 may be rolled more often. Atticus proposed that 6,7,8 had more combinations for sums than the other numbers. We tested out his results, and we found out he was right! The sum of 7 has six possible combinations. You're more likely to roll a sum of 7 than any other sum. Isn't that interesting?

Our last probability activity for the week involved pulling colored cubes from a bag. The students already knew that if you put 2 blues and 2 whites into a bag and pulled one, you would have a 50-50 chance. So...we posed a new problem. What if you pulled 2 cubes at once? What combinations and chances would you pull? Most students' predictions followed one of the following:

Blue-Blue - 25%
White-White - 25%
Blue-White -50%

OR...

Blue-Blue - 33%
White-White - 33%
Blue-White - 33%

After conducting the exploration, we found out all our predictions were wrong! Our results were close to this:

Blue-Blue - 15%
White-White - 15%
Blue-White - 70%

We started thinking about the possible combinations, and we found that there was only one combination for Blue-Blue, one combination for White-White, but 4 combinations for Blue-White. Therefore, 4 of the possible 6 combinations would produce a Blue-White - which is 66% of the time. WOW!

But we didn't end there. We posed a new problem...What would happen if we put 3 blues and 1 white in the bag? We quickly predicted that we would be more likely to pull Blue-Blue than Blue-White. That would make sense, right? But our results of the experiment proved our prediction wrong once again! Our results gave us an equally likely chance to pull Blue-Blue as Blue-White. Can you figure out why? (Hint: Think about all the possible combinations.) I challenge you to pose NEW problems to this exploration and see what you can find out. Have fun!

Studycast - Social Studies Chapter 8

Click here to listen to our first ever studycast! This is a podcast that will help you study (hence the name, studycast). Hopefully this studycast will give you some needed tips for studying and understanding the material in Chapter 8. Please leave me some feedback if you used this podcast (just click on the word "Comment" below and you can leave a message). If this is something you'd like me to do for each chapter, I can possibly do that. What parts were helpful? What do I need to do differently? Let me know what you think.

Valentine's Day Party

Here are some pictures from our Valentine's Day party. During the week, the kids made me a scroll for Teacher Appreciation Week. They included poems and messages of thanks - it is a wonderful present. There are several pictures of the scroll presentation at the end of the movie. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Valentine weekend.

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Virginia's Poetry

There were so many wonderful poems that weren't shared at Brownbuck's Bistro - there just wasn't enough time. As I was reading through the rough drafts of our students' poetry this evening, I found two by Virginia that I thought were wonderful. These are two she didn't include in her final project. I thought our blog would be a great place to share these. Click on the "Comments" link at the end of this post to share your thoughts about this poem. I know Virginia would be thrilled to hear what you think.

Book
The world spills out in words
They settle into open minds
When the book closes, silence returns
to the mind
Just reopen the pages


Window
Clear as an untouched pool
Another eye to look out into the world
Out side me.
It brings light and peace
Invisible
Invisible
Invisible
A shortcut to anothe world -
Outside mine.

Brownbucks Bistro

For those of you who weren't able to visit Brownbucks Bistro last week, you missed an incredible event. Twenty-five poets from the area came and shared their writing with a captive crowd of friends and parents. We laughed, cried, and wondered as these poets let their words impact our thoughts. We were moved. Please enjoy the pictures below!

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Road to the Revolution Tableaus

While Challenge was out this week, we reviewed what we had learned about the "Road to the Revolution" by creating tableaus. Whenever we do tableaus, we always deepen our understanding of what we've learned. Each group's tableau brought new perspectives and understandings to our previously held ideas.

George, Emily, Garvin, and Atticus are depicting a scene from the French and Indian War. Do you know why the importance of this event as it relates to the American Revolution? (Your child should!)

Amy, Naomi, Charlie and Kandice have created a tableau that shows the Sons of Liberty. Each of their poses (the three on their knees) represents a way this group protested the taxes imposed by Great Britain.

This tableau created by Jaylin, Kelkcee, Maribeth and Katie illustrates the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was the first tax imposed by England. Kelkcee and Maribeth's poses show the colonists' reactions to these taxes!