Studycast - Organisms

Click here to listen to Room 241's studycast on Organisms. The test is this Friday, and I hope this studycast will be helpful to students and parents alike. Please be sure to study use your studyguide and science notebook to help you study. If you have any questions, click on "Comments" and leave me a note. I'll get back to you as quick as I can. Thanks for listening!

Westward Expansion Studycast - Chapters 12-13

Click here to listen to the Chapter12-13 Studycast covering Westward Expansion. You can right-click on the "here" and download it directly to your computer. Just choose "Save Target As" and then choose the appropriate location on your computer.

If you have any questions or comments, just leave them in the comments section underneath this post. When you leave a comment, just choose "Anonymous" and type in your response. Thanks!

Podcast Reflection

On Friday, April 4th, we had a few spare minutes at the end of the day - a few students shared their reflection of the week. For some reason, I forgot to post it! Click here to listen.

Tall Tales, Folktales, and Fables

We're in the middle of a two week study of tall tales, folktales, and fables. This is the first year I've done a really intensive study of these genres with my class, and I've really enjoyed it (I think the kids have, too). I've learned a LOT. Did you know that tall tales have lots of exaggerations? Did you know that many tall tales are set in pioneer days and center around themes connected to frontier life? Did you know that many folktales use the number 3? Did you know the animals in fables usually represent one human characteristic - like greed or cleverness? After demonstrating to the class how I read a tall tale and identified its elements, groups of 3-4 students read their own tall tale and created a grid to show the characters, setting, problem, resolution, exaggerations, and other noticings. We created this huge grid on our carpet - here's what it looked like...

This enabled us to easily compare the various tall tales groups read. After creating this chart, we noticed that many tall tales are set in the pioneer days, and most of them deal with "taming" the west. We also noticed that lots of tall tale characters have super human strength and often times have a companion. We used the same strategy when we studied folktales, but we created an even bigger grid. Here it is...

After studying this chart, our students noticed that many folktales use trickery or magic. Most folktales have some sort of monster or evil character that has to be overcome. Justin and Adam noticed that many of the folktales are set outdoors, like the woods (we also noticed that many folktales do not use a specific setting, but start with "Once upon a time..."). Here is a close-up of some of our work...

Camp Thunderbird

We had a wonderful time at Camp Thunderbird - a really incredible experience. We studied Native Americans, pioneers, animals, and astronomy. We went on a night hike, soared down a zip line, paddled canoes, played predator-prey, had Wacky Olympics, and shared skits by the camp fire. We also hung out, played cards, talked, had gum-ball fights, and laughed. I hope these pictures bring back some good memories for our kids. Enjoy.

Click To Play

Science Fun Day

It was fun! We learned about dry ice from a Clemson student, then Mr. Benjamin taught us about the rods and cones in our eyes. Ask your child how our eyes turned an orange, black, and green flag into a red, white, and blue flag (it has something to do with complimentary colors). We then went to the cafeteria to experience a presentation from Roper Mountain Science Center - Adam even got to be a volunteer! From there, we went to Coach Rohrer's gym where we played an extremely active game teaching us about the food pyramid. Ask your child which foods required the most physical exercises. Finally, Mrs. Stucky integrated science, math, and art as we painted tiles. The video below has pictures from our day...

Click To Play

Book Club Projects

All of our clubs just finished reading and discussing their book club book. Students then chose to create their own projects to show the class the big ideas they came away with. All of our clubs chose to use drama to show their new learning (our class loves to act). Here are a few pictures from the presentations...

In this picture, Madison (reporter) is interviewing Madison (Adam from The Wish Giver). I love the use of pencils as microphones.

In this picture, a newscast is taking place. There were anchors, on the scene reporters, and even interviews with important characters.

Tour of the Planets

As the students in our class began studying the solar system, we wanted to create a project to showcase our new learning. Instead of presenting normal reports, our class decided to create a "Tour of the Planets." We would transform our classroom into a solar sytem touring spaceship, become tour guides (as well as visiting scientists and resident aliens), and give a first-rate tour of our solar system. Students formed teams and researched their planet, quickly becoming experts. Our students wrote very creative skits for their tour guides - many involving interviews with aliens from each planet. The final part of this project was creating powerpoints (How good can a tour be without incredible visuals?).

We handed out tickets (free, of course) and were extremely pleased with our turnout. Our spaceship was packed! The video below contains pictures from our tour. You may want to pay attention to some of the food served - Milky Ways, Moon pies, and Tang (most of our students didn't get that last joke). Some of our wonderful homeroom moms also carried on the tradition of a Mr. Brown facecake - this may be the best one yet. The Tour of the Planets is one of my favorite projects of the year. It involves research, science, writing, drama, reading, technology, and teamwork.

I was so pleased with the creativity of our kids. Their voices and humor shone through each part of their presentation. We hope you enjoy!

Click To Play

Poetry Friday Podcast - March 14

During our last Poetry Friday, some students decided to publish their poems on a podcast. Click here to listen to a few poems written by the poets of Room 241. You can also download the podcast by right clicking on "here" and choosing "Save Target As." Choose the location on your computer where you want to save the file, and you can download it.

If you like the poems, leave a comment for our poets. I'm sure they'd love to receive your feedback.

Poetry Friday - March 14th

We had another wonderful poetry Friday on March 14th. We had kids reading poetry, writing poetry, and publishing poetry. We created another class poem where several students contributed. Enjoy!

Nature's Way
The thick green grass beneath my toes
Walking,
Walking towards...
The oak tree.
I see the Great Lake behind Old Oak.
The sun is shining and smiling down on me!
The silent wind whooshing through my hair
whoosh
whoosh
whoosh
Birds flying above me
Squirrels nickering, grabbing, darting away from me!
I feel something I have never felt before
wondering
wondering
what could it be?
It's a wonderful, excellent feeling
As I walk through the field
I feel the leaves trickling my back
The wind wrapping me, keeping
that soft breeze that is familiar on me.
I hear the sound that the beautiful animals make
I smell the scent of the crisp
crisp
crisp air
I twirl while listening to
nature's way of communication