Reading Comprehension

Today after some free reading, we played a game with our "reading comprehension beach ball." Students toss the ball to each other and answer questions on which their right thumb lands. To name a few examples, Ben had to choose a passage to read with his best expression, Xander discussed if the setting of his book mattered to the plot or not, and Grace had to decide on an alternate title for the book she's reading.

Appalachian Teacher

Mr. DeVoe, a 7th grade science teacher at Groton Middle School, has been granted a sabbatical to hike the Appalachian Trail and use the technology of his IPhone to share the experience with students and community.  I hope to use his blog for teaching moments in my own classroom.  For example, we have been studying longitude and latitude.  Mr. DeVoe can take a reading of his current longitude and latitude when he's on the trail and send us a picture and it will be a real-life example of the system.  

On average it takes people 6 months to hike the whole length of the Appalachian Trail which runs from Georgia to Maine.  He will be starting the trail April 4th from Springer Mountain in Georgia.  Follow Mr. DeVoe on his website here.

The kids seemed excited and curious about his journey.  Where will he sleep?  What is he bringing?  What does he do all day for five months?  So Mr. DeVoe stopped in for a visit today to show the class his website, a Google Earth presentation of the Appalachian Trail, and to talk about life on the trail.

Sophia tries to lift his 43-pound backpack!


The students expressed interest in putting a food package together for Mr. DeVoe and mailing it out to him in a couple of months. Since he has to consume 5,000-6,000 calories a day, Mr. DeVoe told us that light treats high in fat and calories are best. Here are some suggestions:
-candy bars
-poptarts
-oatmeal
-granola
-instant rice
-ramen noodles
-stovetop stuffing
-tuna (in a bag, not can)
-pasta
-lipton noodles
-granola bars
-trail mix
-cookies
-sunflower seeds
-hard candy
-power bars or any other energy hiking snacks

Feel free to donate any extra of these things lying around the house if you're able!

St. Patrick's Day poems

Today the students copied poems in cursive handwriting onto St. Patrick's Day paper.  Some students recited them aloud!

Gymnastics!

What a great way to get your energy out! Our class was chosen to be models and helpers with a kindergarten class in PE today. I cannot post those pictures because the kindergarteners might not have permission to be on the internet, but here are a couple of just our class:

The class on the monkey bars!

Happy teachers look on!

European Explorers

Today we broke up into 5 small groups to study and present the 5 different explorers we are studying. Each explorer reached a different part of America from a different country in Europe.
Sophie, Andrew, and Hunter present Jaques Cartier:

Tristan, Xander, Jaquan, and Cody create a poster on Henry Hudson:

Ben, Ruth, and Evan studied Samuel D. Champlain:



Alanna, Celia, and Grace present Giovanni Verrazano:


And Sophia, Nick, and Ethan presented Christopher Columbus:

In the News!

Our class and the Hangar Theatre project was in Tompkins Weekly today! (March 3rd 2009) Check out the article on page 8 for yourself, or click here to see it online!