Happy Halloween!

Trout in the Classroom

Our class is the first class to bring the Trout in the Classroom program to Caroline Elementary! Last week Bill Foster came into our room and helped Miss Coffey assemble a 500-pound tank. On Monday trout eggs will be delivered and we will watch them as they hatch and grow into adult trout, monitor their environment, and learn about water sources and ecosystems. In May we will release them in the creek in the back of our school! Check out the program's website or the Trout in the Classroom Blog!

Classroom Clans

Today we learned about the Haudenosaunee clans, which are families. We discussed animals (land, air, and water) that we thought were important to the Haudenosaunee and then learned that some common clans are Bear, Turtle, Wolf, Deer, Beaver, and Hawk. Our class broke up into clans and designed and colored pictures naming their clan to go on the front of their desks. Like you can't choose your family (you're born into it/assigned), students were assigned to their clans.

Wordle

I am just full of fun technology ideas I can't wait to do with the class! Here's an example of a Wordle, which allows me to list off a bunch of words about a topic and then place them together in a colorful, poetic-looking way! This Wordle is one I made up about "school."

Naughty Number Nine

This Schoolhouse Rock video has many tricks on how to memorize your 9s table...


...and don't forget your hands trick!

My First "VoiceThread"

Teamwork on a Nice Day

I took advantage of this near 60 degree day and we went outside for some teambuilding at the end of the day. Today one group of 5 or 6 decided to try to move the tennis ball from one bottle to another using strings, while the rest of the class did Alligator Crossing, where they had to get from one place to another without falling in and without losing their boards!

Writing Workshop

Today we paired up with our reading buddies to go over what we've been working on in our journals so far. We shared our ideas and read some stories we have written. Great job writers! What thoughtful, hardworking students you are!

Native American Names Activity

Hello class! Today you are going to adopt your own Native American name. This is the site on which I found my dog Takoda's name. You will choose a name which either sounds cool to you or the meaning of the name is significant to you or reflects your own characteristics. Write the name and meaning on your notecard, then post a comment about what name you chose, its meaning, and why you chose it.
Boys click here
Girls click here

The History of Columbus Day

Today we do not have school in honor of Christopher Columbus. This year in social studies we will learn more about him and other European Explorers who came over to America. Here's some history of Columbus Day, taken from this website.
"The first recorded celebration honoring the discovery of America by Europeans took place on October 12, 1792 in New York City. The event, which celebrated the 300th anniversary of Columbus' landing in the New World, was organized by The Society of St. Tammany (also known as the Columbian Order).
San Francisco's Italian community held their first Columbus Day celebration in 1869. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison urged citizens to participate in the the 400th anniversary celebration of Columbus' first voyage. It was during this event that the Pledge of Allegiance, written by Francis Bellamy, was recited publically for the first time.
Colorado was the first state to observe the holiday in 1905.
In 1937, President Roosevelt proclaimed October 12 as "Columbus Day" and in 1971, President Nixon declared the second Monday of October a national holiday."

Evaporation/Condensation

Over the last two days we did a neat science experiment to see what would happen to a damp paper towel overnight. On one side of the balance scale the paper towel was placed into an open cup with the top under the cup. On the other other side we put the top on the cup. 24 hours later, as you can see, the cup on the left with the top on it had a greater mass than the other side. In the cup on the left we found that the water condensed (water droplets were made) on the inside of the cup, and the cup on the left had no water in it and the paper towel was dry! It had evaporated (turned into a gas!)

Graphing Head Size

Today we measured each others' head size in centimeters. We wrote our own measurements on sticky notes, lined up in chronological order so we could find our median (middle number), and then created a bar graph on the board. We found the minimum, maximum, range, median, and mode.

Mode means...???

Happy Birthday Caroline Elementary!

This afternoon Mr. Buell, the building's first principal 50 years ago, came to answer some questions about what Caroline was like in 1959.



Then we all came back to the room to have a party!


Hope to see you at the celebrations tonight behind Caroline from 5:30-7:00! Don't forget to bring something for the time capsule!

Vermiculture

Today we set up our new composting system: vermicomposting! This uses worms (red wigglers) to compost our food scraps! Here we are with our materials to set it up:


Now here we are putting it all together!


Finally, here's a picture of a food scrap put in the corner, ready to be devoured by the wigglers!