Book Buddy Pizza Party

Today we celebrated our book buddies with a pizza party.  It was so much fun to meet our friends that we have been corresponding with all year.  There was lots of great conversation over delicious pizza.  Here's what it looked like.

Thank you so much to Mrs. Bissanti, Mrs. Higginbottom, and Mrs. Rappa for the beautiful quilt they made for me.  I will think of you each time I snuggle under it with a good book!

The Freedom Trail Field Trip

We had a fabulous time on our field trip today.  Our animated guide led us through the streets of Boston, teaching us all kinds of interesting facts.  Here are some pictures to get conversations started in your house.

What is our guide doing to our friend in this picture?  And what was he demonstrating?

What building is located in the background of this picture?  What did we learn about the roof of this building?

What unusual thing happened to James Otis?  What was the famous saying that we heard at this location?

Whose grave marker is this?  What is missing from his grave?

What is special about this table grave?

Whose grave marker is this?  What is he most famous for?

Whoa!  What are these people doing?

What was Sam Adams most famous for?

 Whose grave marker is this?  Why is it special?

Who is this?  What important building is he standing in from of?

What is the story of this donkey statue?

 What is this building?

 What is the significance of these two statues?

 

 What building is this?  What important document was read from the balcony?

What is the tour guide pointing to?

Name the animal at the top of this cupola.  Explain why it was important to know the correct name.

The happy group at the end of the tour.

Thank you so much to the PCC for funding this wonderful experience!

Guest bloggers

This week we have another set of guest bloggers.  They are going to tell you what is new in Room 23 this week.

Mrs. Grinley’s class is participating in the Recorder Olympics.  We will be practicing four songs.  There is a blue medal, a red medal, a silver medal and a gold medal.   To get a blue medal you have to perform To Make Words Sing.  To get the red medal you have to perform NewWorld Symphony.  To get a silver medal you have to perform Ode to Joy.  To get a gold medal you have to perform My Country ‘Tis of Thee.  People who perform blue through silver will perform at the Night of the Arts.  Gold medalists will perform at the Memorial Day celebration. 

We just finished unit 10 in math, which was algebra and some geometry.  We learned about pan balances, interpreting data and creating charts, as well as diameter, radius, circumference, and area of circles.  We also learned that pi equals 3.14. 

We just finished a Jean Fritz author study.  She wrote books on important characters in the Revolutionary War.  We read about Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, King George III, Patrick Henry, Sam Adams and John Hancock.   We have moved on to literature circles while studying author Andrew Clements.  The books that our class is reading are:  A Week in the Woods, Things Not Seen, The Jacket, The Report Card, and Room One.  We are also restarting book chats again. 

In Science, we just started learning about animal adaptations.  We are learning about how animals adapt to obtain food, survive their environment, move, and protect themselves.  We will be presenting posters on Friday.

In social studies we are studying the American Revolution.  We have been looking at a book that has a lot of primary sources about the Declaration of Independence and other documents from that period.  Friday we will be doing a web-quest of the important battles of the war.   

In writing we are doing personal essays.  We have been brainstorming topics, and are ready to focus in on one topic and bring it to publication.  

Animal adaptations

Monday the children will be starting an animal adaptation project.  This link has a fun matching game that helps review the adaptations of the polar bear, turtle, monarch butterfly and beluga whale.  Enjoy!

Food chains and food webs

Before vacation the children helped me put together a food web bulletin board.  They did a wonderful job identifying organisms within the New England biome, and then helped me place them near their food sources.  Please discuss with your child where all energy comes from, as well as how it travels through the food chains.  Here is the final product.

Rhode Island Philharmonic field trip

Yesterday we had a wonderful field trip experience.  The children got to play along on their recorders in a concert with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.  Here is a link that you can open to read an article about it, and view part of the concert.  The students were completely engaged and had a fantastic time.  Afterward we had a delicious picnic lunch on the sunny lawn of the Capital building.  Thank you to Mrs. MacMurray for arranging a grant to sponsor this trip, and for making all of the arrangements to make it happen!

Here's what's been happening lately!

It has been another busy week in room 23.  We have started working with Hands on Equations, a program which makes algebra fun and easy to learn.  Here are some pictures of the students hard at work.  

Ask your child about what they have been doing and learning with this program.    

We have been reading Bridge to Terabithia and discussing character traits, figurative language, and foreshadowing.  We will finish off the book by watching the movie and comparing and contrasting the two.  

We have begun to look at the differences between personal narratives and personal essays.  The children may come home from school sometime soon with some excellent strategies to persuade you for something special.  Be ready!

Last Wednesday and Thursday we took the ELA MCAS.  The students worked very diligently and should feel good about the excellent effort they exhibited.  

We have finished Earth Materials and are moving on to our last science unit of the year, Ecosystems and Food Chains.   We have begun our study of the American Revolution and are getting ready to take a close look at the heroes of that time.

Finally, we have started our DARE classes.  Officer Mucciarone comes in each Thursday, teaches a lesson, has some great discussions with the children, and answers any questions they may have.  The students are quite engaged and really seem to enjoy their time with him.