Our 4th and 5th graders were able to learn with the Borenya African Drumming and Dance Group during our artist in residence experience last week. The 5th graders learned African drumming while the 4th graders learned African dance. Our class worked extremely hard all week learning and perfecting our dance. I was proud of their focus and hard work! Below is a video of our performance.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
African Dance
Camp Thunderbird - Part 1
Mrs. Selby (Alex's mom) took some incredible pictures of our kids while we were at Camp Thunderbird. I highly recommend you watch these pictures with your kids - let them tell you all about the activities we participated in - canoeing, camp fire, predator and prey, aquatic ecology, wildlife ecology, living history, hanging out in the cabins, rec time, and dinner time! Be sure to thank Mrs. Selby for sharing these photos with us!
Investigating Weight
Last week, I set out several different scales and let the kids explore with weight. On this particular day, we were exploring the US Customary system (ounces and pounds). Kids were finding the weight of various classroom items; they really enjoyed using the balance. Here are a few kids describing their investigations...
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Our Very Groovy 70's Party
As a reward for filling up our marble jar (based on excellent effort and teamwork during related arts), the kids decided to have a 70's party today. Everyone was invited to dress in their favorite 70's wear, and I told the kids we would play some 70's music. To be quite honest, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I knew we'd enjoy the music, but I wasn't sure what the kids would do once the music began. When we cranked up the music (a big thanks to Mrs. Duckett and Mrs. Selby for sending in some tunes), the kids immediately made our blue carpet into a dance floor. As you can see from the pictures below, it soon turned into a limbo line - which was a TON of fun. Everyone was laughing, smiling, dancing, and enjoying themselves. It was one of those really special moments in the life of our class. When the limbo line fizzled out, we started doing a line dance Mrs. Waddell-Poole taught them during related arts. Again - everyone danced. The 70's had made their way into Room 241! Enjoy the video below...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Science Fun Day
Here are some pictures from Science Fun Day. We started our day with Coach Rohrer learning about nutrition, and then we had a guest scientist (or more like a mad scientist?) from Roper Mountain Science Center who dazzled our kids with explosions. We spend our next session with Mrs. Waddell-Poole (see video in the post below) dancing our way across the solar system. After a bag lunch outside, we spent the afternoon panning for gold. Our last experience of the day was Mrs. Selby, who introduced us to her tortoises. It truly as a fun day!
Science Fun Day
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Solar System Dance
One session of our Science Fun Day was spent with Mrs. Waddell-Poole, our incredible dance teacher here at Stone. She led our kids through a solar system dance. Groups of students had to create a dance to explain or showcase a specific aspect of our solar system. The kids got to use these "shape-shifter" costumes that were really fun. Below is a video of the kids performing their dance. After each dance, a student from the group explains what their motions and movements represented.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Studycast - Organisms
Click here to listen to the studycast on organisms.
The test will be this Friday, April 24. The study guide came home on Monday, April 20. If you need an extra copy of the study guide, click here to visit our homework page. You can download a copy.
If you have any questions, just leave me a comment or send me an email. Good luck!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Book Clubs
After reading The Tiger Rising as a whole class, we decided to form our own book clubs. I put the kids in groups, and each book club came up with their own name and constitution. We have the Frazier Five, The Golden Eclipse Dragons, The Kewlios, The Chalkers, and the Five Star Readers. After deciding this information, I showed each club 3-4 books that I thought would be "just-right" for them to read. Each club selected a book and created a reading assignment for themselves (how many chapters to read and how to respond in their journals). We alternate between reading days and discussion days. I wish you could hear the wonderful discussions our kids are having. By listening to each other's ideas, building on different perspectives, and proving their ideas in the text, our kids are become deeper and stronger readers and thinkers. I'm really proud of them. This past Friday was a discussion day, and here are a few pictures of our kids participating in their discussions...
Book Clubs
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