Sunday, March 28, 2010

EXTRA CREDIT!

Want to earn some extra credit for the subject of your choice?
Just check out these pictures taken by Miss Jaster in Washington DC and see how many of these places you can identify. Some are really easy, but some are harder and worth more points!
Name as many as you can, and you may use the internet for help!

Famous Buildings and Monuments.
Worth 1 point.

#1.

#2.


#3.


Worth 2 Points.
#4.

#5.

#6.
This one is easy, but there are 2 things to name in this photo!

These are harder, and come with clues.
Museums.
Worth 5 points each.
(You must tell the full name of the museum to get the full points!)

#7.
This is where you can see the ORIGINAL Constitution & Declaration of Independence.

#8.
The only place in DC where you can touch a rock from the moon.

#9.
This museum has the Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz & Julia Child's Kitchen.

#10.
This zoo has 2 Pandas (and not much else!)
Admission is FREE.

#11.
This museum has all sorts of bones and the Hope Diamond too.

You don't have to do them all, but the more you do the more points you can earn!

Please write on the top of the page: BLOG EXTRA CREDIT: DC

Spelling List Notice

This week's words are reading vocabulary that you should know for the AIMS test.
You will not have to spell them, just know what they mean and how to use them.

Wednesday's homework will also be different, not the usual tic tac toe.
This week you will be expected to
USE THE VOCABULARY WORDS IN SENTENCES
that show you KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN.

For example:
Synonyms are words that have the same meaning as another word.
OR
You can find synonyms in a thesaurus.
OR
Huge and gigantic are synonyms.

NOT
Synonyms are cool.

Next week expect a similar list & assignment with math test vocabulary.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Iditarod Project

Here are some images from our Iditarod Unit. I'll be posting some of the writing we've done about the Iditarod soon!


Our bulletin board in the hallway with Iditarod map and photos.


Bar Graphs with Musher Stats.




Our Checkpoint descriptions and Mushers.
We move them everyday as they move along the trail!
They're almost to Nome now!



The Iditarod Map in our classroom was created by students.
We use it to track the mushers' progress.


This was taken near the beginning of the race



What the pushpins mean.



One lucky student will get to take this guy home at the end of the race.
Whoever's musher makes it Nome first gets him! He's made quite the trip around the room as the standings have changed!


Check out this photo blog... BEAUTIFUL images of the race, including some of the mushers we are rooting for!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Here's our Thursday

I brought my camera to school on Thursday (when we went on the field trip) and took pictures all day. None of them include clear faces of children (just backs of heads and blurry faces in the background) , but they give you a pretty good idea of our day. From our regular morning routine to the fun we had on the field trip! :) Enjoy!


This is what I do before you all arrive at school.



Then we do our morning routine. I hand out stickers, we review the morning work, do some spelling, and if we have time play our favorite game on Spelling City.


After that you go to library.


I go back to the classroom to do things.



One of those things is to check the status of our mushers.


Then you come back for journal writing.


Today we wrote about Alaska.


Then we move the pins in the map to show our musher's location.
Cruz gets the dog on his desk today becuase his musher is in the lead!


Time to leave for the field trip!



You all seem to enjoy the 45 minute drive,
playing with the Brain Quest cards, eye spy bag, and tornado I brought.



The White Mountain Symphony was great! They played music from
Harry Potter, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mary Poppins, and more.
See that trumpet play in the back row on the far right? That's my friend Stephen!


Then we head back home.


We eat lunch on the bus, and I take some aspirin becuase you guys are awfully loud!
Though I did enjoy the Taylor Swift song you serenaded us with.


We get back in time for the assembly,
where we hear Bruce Isham, author and storyteller,
tell us all about life in the old west.



Since you were good all day and had been sitting for it, we decide you deserve some recess. :)


Coming soon, pictures of our Iditarod unit. The winner is expected in Nome on Tuesday!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Iditarod Project

The Iditarod starts today!

Check out some cool articles
HERE @ the Official Iditarod Blog: EYE ON THE TRAIL

Scholastic also has a very kid friendly Iditarod website
Check it out HERE!

Starting Monday we will be moving our mushers along the trail and tracking them on our Musher Maps in class! We'll also be making some Iditarod graphs with statistics, reading Akiak, and writing our Musher bios! Lots of fun to come! :)

I've added links to some of the games we play in class to the side of the blog in the links list.
New links include...Spelling City(use Mrs. Smithson's page), Playing with Perimeter & Area, & Shape Surveyor (more perimeter & area).

Have a great weekend! :)

~Miss Jaster