Busy times in Room 23

Today we have two new guest bloggers to tell about the hectic final days of fifth grade.  We had a police officer come in for DARE graduation.  He brought the dog officer, Officer Gilboy, and his dog, Ari.  Ari was able to sniff out drugs hidden in the cafeteria.  Officer Mucciarone had us write a report about what we learned in DARE this year.  He picked the best essay from each class and gave the winners a prize.  He also gave us DARE graduation certificates that showed that we graduated DARE, and he also gave us t-shirts. 

Mrs. Duke, the reading specialist from Remington Middle School, came to Parmenter.  She gave us book ideas for summer reading.  She also told us about the expectations for middle school.  We are expected to read two just right books over the summer.  We should take notes and will give a book talk on one of them in the fall.  All of the information about summer reading, including forms to fill out, is available on the middle school web page. 

We visited Remington Middle School on Friday.  The band, strings, and chorus performed for us.  The strings played a really scary song!  It was called Rosin Eating Zombies from Outer Space.  Mr. Peri and Mr. Wilderman talked about middle school expectations, including the dress code.  They tried their best to make us ready for middle school.  Then we met our sixth grade buddies.  They showed us around the school and let us open their lockers so it would be easier for us in middle school.  We got to meet a lot of teachers.  The Spanish teacher, Mrs. Hayes, used to teach at Parmenter School, and knew a lot of the incoming sixth graders. 

Today we had our last time seeing kindergarten buddies.  We had ice cream and had a little party.  The kindergarten buddies have learned a lot since September.  Some of the activities that we did with them were:  tapping out words, blending sounds together, retelling stories, and brainstorming charts for writing.  The coolest thing about working with them was knowing that they couldn’t read in September, and now they can!  They looked sad to see us go.  Hopefully, we’ll see them again sometime. 

In science, we are making magazines about different biomes.  We are researching the climate, animals that live there, and the plants that live there, as well as other interesting facts.  It is really fun because at the end we will put all of the articles into a magazine.  We can also make games, such as word searches, crossword puzzles, and matching. 

In social studies we are creating a three branches of government project.  We brought in a branch and made a bunch of flashcards based on facts about the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government.  Now we are tying the flashcards onto the branch to make a mobile of the 3 branches of government. 

In reading we are working in literature circles to read Tiger Rising, Ruby Holler, Tale of Despereaux, Pleasing the Ghost, and Things Hoped For.

In math we are reviewing a lot of concepts with games and manipulatives.  Our class has solved 80,000 problems on IXL this year.  Our goal is to reach 100,000 problems by the end of the school year!

In writing we are finishing up personal essays.   We each chose a thesis statement, supported with three reasons, and we developed three seed stories to support each reason.    After taking the essays through the writing process, we went to the lab to publish them.  We are finishing the year by creating a free choice project.  Many of us are making up our own creative story.  Some are using fairytales, and fracturing them to make them unique.  Some are using the Chris Van Allsburg story, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, to create unusual mysteries.   Some are developing seed stories that they began earlier in the year. At the end of the year we will have an author’s party to share stories with each other.

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!