Happy Halloween!

We got into the Halloween spirit on Friday with costumes, treats, and mummifying ourselves!

Check out the video below to get a glimpse into our day.

Reading Class Activities

This week we finished sharing our StoryJumper projects in reading class. The final three projects are below. The students did a wonderful job presenting them with their partners, as well as participating in "group edit" sessions, where we carefully reviewed and edited all of the stories as a group. This proved to be a wonderful exercise, and allowed us to become comfortable with the proof-reading process.

The Warriors:
http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/3171862/kgentry
The Mystery of the Stolen Pineapples:
http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/3171852/kgentry
The Mystery of the Stolen Money:
http://www.storyjumper.com/book/edit/3171772/kgentry

Additionally, we began a new story, "Heat Wave" which is a humorous fantasy story, with a few elements of realism. The students created fantasy/realism charts which we filled in as we read. Today in class we used the information from the charts to create a cohesive paragraph, listing the various elements of the story. Each student also chose their favorite fantasy/realism combination to illustrate. Enjoy the short video of this process below.

Math Word Problems

To demonstrate our confidence with word problems, we spent time creating our own! Check out the short video to hear some of our challenging problems.

 The topics ranged from car trips to escaped zoo animals!

Real Food Farm Planting

We spent time enjoying the beautiful weather outside yesterday, while helping our community by planting seeds for the Real Food Farm project. Enjoy the short video below of our efforts!

Reading Class Activities

We have finished our Storyjumper mysteries in class. The students collaborated with a partern to write and illustrate their own virtual mysteries, several of which were presented in class today. The remainder will be presented in class tomorrow, corrected during group editing, and posted to the blog. Enjoy!

The Case of the Haunted Lighthouse:
http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/3171892/kgentry
The case of the Missing Elephant:
http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/3171782/kgentry
The Case of the Banshee:
http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/3171762/kgentry

Manipulative Work in Math

We spent time working with our Math Connects manipulative site. The students were able to work with virtual money and base-ten blocks. Great work everyone!

The Great Pyramid

How GREAT is the Great Pyramid? We have spent time in history and composition focusing on the Great Pyramid, but this left us asking, "How tall is 481 feet?"

We learned 481 feet is VERY tall.

Check out the video below for shots of the Great Pyramid height representation!

Hoppers vs. Crickets

The boys competed in their first Hoppers vs. Crickets game this week. The hard work that they have put into their soccer skills was impressive. Terrific job, boys!

Story Jumper

Today in reading we used Story Jumper to start our virtual mysteries. I will update them on the blog when we are finished!

9-1 Musicians

We were treated to a concert in class this week. Check out the video to hear some of the musical talent in our room. These boys really must be working hard on their instruments!

Character Partnership

We met with our Sixth Age buddies today for character class. We shared our "All About Me" presentations, then learned three new facts about each of our buddies. Following this, the Ninth Age boys taught their Sixth Age friends how to create "All About Me" photopeach presentations!

Online Estimation Review

As much fun as a barrel of monkeys? How much fun would an elevator of monkeys be? Click here to have a great time with some math-loving monkeys AND practice your estimation skills!

Tomorrow in math we will spend some time reviewing rounding with "Mathionaire". Feel free to explore that website at home.

Egyptian Hieroglyphics

We are exploring the use of Egyptian Hieroglyphics in history class. Check out the video below as the boys created messages using this ancient writing.

"Boss of the Plains" Virtual Storyboards

Below are the storyboards created in our reading class after completing the short story, "Boss of the Plains". We spent time exploring other facts about cowboys, so the students could use those facts as well. Students collaborated with a partner to select and dowload photographs, upload them to Photopeach, title the presentation, select music, time the slides, edit captions, and present in front of the class.

 Great work on your first creations! 

Anna and Emma Cowboy on PhotoPeach

Ben and Jonathan Cowboys on PhotoPeach

Carter and Eliza Cowboys on PhotoPeach

Cowboys by Gavin, Jake, and Charlie on PhotoPeach

Tommy and Ilan's Boss of the Plains on PhotoPeach

Heath and Tucker's Boss of the Plains on PhotoPeach

Class Pet Visits

Daily Math Challenges

During the first ten minutes of class we complete "Math Challenges".

These problems are review exercises, as well as "teacher challenges", which ask the students to act as a teacher to create "mini-lessons" on various math topics.

One teacher challenge asked the students to create a math lesson on rounding using an image of a mountain. Students find different ways to teach the challenges, which allows all of us to learn the topics through different methods.

Here are a few quick photographs of the students, hard at work.

Virtual Storyboards in Reading

In reading class we have been working with PhotoPeach to create virtual storyboards for our most recent short story, "Boss of the Plains". This story is about John Stetson, the creator of the cowboy hat.

We will be presenting them on Monday in class, and I will upload them for you to watch as well.

Check out this video of the students collaborating on this project.

Properties of Addition

To review properties of addition, we will be using the "Study Stack" group that I created.

 We are focusing on the first three properties of addition: Associative, Identity, and Commutative.

Feel free to review at home!

 Properties of Addition Study Stack