Wills' Wax Museum 2015

I just finished the Animoto movie about our Wax Museum...I'm so bummed because I am missing some pictures...but I've spent over an hour searching my computer and now I give up...the one thing I wanted you to see was the timelines the kids built with their note cards...that was the coolest part of this project.  After writing all of their facts on note cards, they built an actual time line of their famous person's life...then they numbered the cards and drafted from that!  The kids did such a wonderful job drafting their biographies, practicing their biographies, and then PRESENTING their biographies...I couldn't be more proud.



This post will be closely followed by another FULL of pictures...we have been super busy and I can't believe we are winding down!



Enjoy the movie...just click on Wills' Wax Museum 2015 below!

Wills' Wax Museum 2015

Happy May! Can you believe it's MAY!?!?

I have so many pictures to post, info for you to read, and thoughts to share....

OUR BUDDIES!

We visited with our buddies recently...we brought a favorite picture book to share with them and they read the books they've been practicing to us!  Then we all took a walk to the wetlands to see what signs of spring we could find. We have so much fun when we're all together!!  Take a look....

OUR PEN PALS!

So...we have been exchanging letters with our pen pals all year...they are the high school students involved in the Future Educators of America club at UHS.  Our very own, Ms. Runkles, is President of this club and served as the liaison between the high school students and our class.  Just last week, we finally got to meet our pen pals...using FACETIME!!  Wow...where technology has taken us....  I couldn't get everyone talking to their pen pals because we were using three devices and I was passing them back and forth to all the different kids...but I caught some on camera...here's a peek...

Way cool, right??  The kids thought it was awesome and have written one last letter to their pen pals. We should be receiving our replies within the next two weeks!

CULTURAL PROJECTS

The kids did a FABULOUS job on their cultural projects!  We got to tasted foods from different countries, we saw beautiful clothing, fun games/toys, and many other interesting props the kids shared with us.  I was trying to fill out rubrics while listening and watching, so I only captured a couple pictures...sorry about that!  The posters are hanging in the hallway of the media center and are SO much fun to look at.  Feel free to pop by and take a look!

WAX MUSEUM UPDATE....

Grab your calendars!!  We have a Wills' Wax Museum date and time! The Parent Presentation will be Friday, May 29th at 9:15 in the cafeteria.  Your children have been working SUPER hard on their biographies (written from the first person) and are now starting to put on the polishing touches.  I have tons of pictures, but will save them for a movie once the entire project comes to a close.  We will have a dress rehearsal the day before the Parent Presentation, so your child will need an outfit or prop to represent their famous person on May 28th and 29th.  They will begin bringing their biographies home to practice the two weeks prior to their performance.  Helping them practice and helping them with an outfit or prop are your only two jobs...your children are taking care of the rest of it themselves!!  I'm so proud of their perseverance with this project and cannot wait for you to see them!!

FIELD TRIP!

On Monday, June 1, our class will take our last field trip...it is a ton of fun!  Any and all parents are invited...there are two important things to note if you are planning to come....1. You must drive yourself.  2.  You must be a trained volunteer.  If you have not gone through our training, you can do it online from the UES website.  Email me if you have questions.

MATH

We are in a Unit written especially for gifted children called "What's the ME in MEasurement All About?"  We spent the past week measuring to the nearest centimeter using decimals.  This unit covers third grade standards and exposes the kids to fourth and fifth grade math standards as well.  There is a lot of verbal discourse and a lot of thinking outside the box with this unit.  They will also be doing a fair amount of writing.  I LOVE these units!!

My Thoughts....

As this year is starting to rush past us, I want to take a minute to tell you how much your kids have grown up!  They are creative thinkers...who are confident.  They know how to defend their ideas and have learned that seeking knowledge and taking your learning into your own hands is both important and completely doable.  They are opinionated.  (Not new news to you, I'm guessing..)  But they recognize their opinions matter and can only be considered if backed up by reasons and evidence.  They are strong readers and need to continue to read EVERY day even over the summer.  One of the things you as parents can do to continue this growth is to continue to make your kids accountable in their thinking and their actions.   They are old enough to remember to pack their backpacks.  They are old enough to remember to charge their devices.  They are old enough to remember to bring their recorders.  And if they forget...they are old enough to learn there are consequences.  We have to stop spoon feeding our youth.  They will only become responsible big people if we make them responsible little people.  I hope no one is offended by my advice...I have to take my own advice and its not easy and I'm in no way, shape, or form perfect at following it.  But I see lots of kids not having to be responsible...and it's our job to help them.  So thanks for allowing me to jump up on my soapbox...I'm off now and planning to grade some papers and then head to bed.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend...Mother Nature sure was good to us!  Good night.

Grab a Snack and a Drink....this is going to be a LONG ONE....

Hello!  I take so many pictures each week, but can't always find the time to post...well, lucky you I can't sleep this early Saturday morning, so I'm blogging!! (and for the record, loading pictures takes so long...I left it and came back to finish this evening...hence the late post!!)

FIRST OF ALL...IMPORTANT REMINDER...PARCC ROUND TWO!

The kids will take the PARCC tests this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings...please ensure your child gets a great night's sleep and has a good breakfast.  Thanks!  Due to testing your child will have a week off homework...with the exception of reading, of course.  

NEXT....what can I say about your child's Cultural Project other than....WOW!!  What fun we had watching and listening to the students' projects...they were so AMAZING!  They will be displayed in the hallway near the media center, so next time you're in the building...take a look!

For the past two weeks we've had the Maryland Agriculture Mobile Science Lab at our school...this year we had the Aqua Lab...and all of our lessons centered around the importance of water to agriculture...take a look....

As if that wasn't enough fun...we got to go AGAIN...this time we focused on the WETLANDS...and the instructor was so impressed at the kids' background knowledge...gotta give that credit to Mr. Kidd...his lessons about the wetlands and how they serve as a filter really made an impression on these kids...they rocked her world with facts!!  Ask your kids about these pictures...they created four "rain storms" and saw the effect of wetlands vs. no wetlands...it was quite impactful!

Our students are soooo lucky...not only do we have The Great Heron Wetlands on our school property....we also have Mr. Kidd and the Environmental Learning Center out in Portable 14!  We had a lesson this week about soils and then we went into the wetlands to learn more!!  Take a look!

 The kids recently finished their final drafts of their opinion pieces...here are some shots of them working in writing groups listening intently to each other and offering suggestions for improvement!

Wanna see what BYOD looks like in the classroom?  The kids use their devices for many different things...they complete Google Classroom assignments, they completed their final drafts of their opinion pieces on Google Drive, they visit the Scholastic Book website to Read for Stamina (they can read first chapters of books that they might want to check out from the library!), they watch instructional videos to introduce or reinforce a concept, and they practice math skills...AND THEY LOVE IT!!  In these pictures they are working on many different assignments, so not everyone is working on a device...that's what the room looks like a lot...I usually teach in rotations, so they have different assignments at different times...take a peek...

I told you this was a long post...now to my favorite part...a while back the kids celebrated hitting their Soaring with Pride goal by having a Beach Day.  The morning was pretty chilly, so we hung out inside....then in the afternoon the sun came out and we ventured outside...still pretty chilly, but they were determined to have an outdoor Beach Day!!  

They were definitely soaking up the sun....

While getting their work done!!

WE LOVE MS. RUNKLES!!

AND LAST...only those that hung in this long will know this news way ahead of time!

Our final field trip is Monday, June 1st.  We will go to the Frederick News Post, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, and the Frederick Keys Stadium.  It is from approximately 9-12 and I can take as many parents chaperones as want to come...you just have to provide your own transportation.  More info to come soon, however, I wanted to give you a heads up in case you needed to put in for time off work.

I hope the rest of your weekend is great!

REMEMBER...great night's sleep, good breakfast!

Thanks!!